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This change may affect the area to be covered as well as the kind of carpet to be used. You will be able to adjust to this change if you have obtained all the details and if you have shown them on your plan or drawing. Otherwise a second measuring trip may be the only way out if you want to avoid embarrassing and costly mistakes.
An example of this secondary but valuable sort of information is the actual case in which the same pattern was to have been used in two adjoining rooms. However, there was a last-minute change of mind, resulting in the selection of different patterns or colors for each room. There happened to be French type doors between those two rooms. It was important that the seam come under the doors when closed, so that the carpet of one room would not be visible in the other room. In a case of this kind, there might be a difference of 3 or 4 inches, which would have to be allowed for in the cutting. If the plan is drawn to show the exact position of these doors, the workroom can cut the carpet so as to place the seam where it ought to be, and without unnecessary waste.
USE OF TEMPLATES
When measuring curved and intricate sections, such as circular stairs, irregular offsets, arcs of circles or ellipses, etc., a template is absolutely necessary. Templates have been referred to on several occasions in the present chapter and their mention here is in the form of a reminder about their use. The word applies to patterns, generally made from heavy paper, which are accurately laid out with ruler, compass, and T-square and are then cut to fit accurately in the curved or irregularly shaped area that is to be measured and carpeted. When the template has been accurately fitted in the area, the carpet itself may then be cut, using the template as a pattern.
When using templates, it is well to remember to mark on the sketch the section for which the template has been made, and to clearly indicate the "top" or "upper side" of the template.
PRACTICE AT HOME
The apprentice carpet layer or measurer doesn't need a classroom or trade school to practice measuring and making templates—he has his own home, apartment, or hotel or "Y" room to work on! If your friends' rooms offer even more challenging problems and configurations, by all means practice on them, too, if you can get permission! Another way of working out problems beforehand is to cut out "carpet" in the form of cardboard or wide gummed paper or sealing tape, adapting the scale of your drawings to the material at hand. Some carpet layers actually use gummed paper approximately 8 inches wide as a sort of scale model of carpet for working out problems in estimating—a subject fully covered in the next chapter.
