01how to measure your body for clothes

How to measure yourself

Four measurements, one tape, about ninety seconds. What each one is, where the tape goes, and the mistake that makes most self-measurements wrong.

02What our suppliers publish

Counted per size row from the catalogue, so one piece appears under every size it publishes.

What the charts say they measure

Garment: Measured flat, relaxed. Directly comparable to your own measurements.; 11
Body: A person. The garment will be smaller by the pattern’s ease.
Unstated: The supplier did not say, so we print it unlabelled rather than guess.; 104

03How to measure

Bust: Around the fullest part, across the front and under the arms.; The mistakeMeasuring over a thick jumper. The tape should sit against the body or against the bra you will actually wear with the garment.
Waist: Around the narrowest part of your natural waist, usually just above the navel.; The mistakeMeasuring at the narrowest point of the garment rather than your body — which tells you about elastic, not about you.
Hip: Around the fullest part of your seat, roughly 20cm below the natural waist.; The mistakeLeaving the tape angled at the back. It should be level all the way round, and it usually is not.
Length: Measured on the garment, usually from the highest shoulder point to the hem.; The mistakeExpecting it to tell you how it fits. Length tells you how long it is — it is a fact about the clothing, not about your body.

Two charts can both say “waist 72” and mean completely different things. Here is how to tell them apart.

Garment, laid flat: The measurement is of the clothing, measured flat and relaxed. This is the more useful of the two when you already know your own measurements, because you can compare the two numbers directly.
Body: The measurement is of a person. A garment cut from a body measurement will be smaller than that number by whatever the pattern spent on seam allowance and ease.
Not stated: The supplier did not say. This is the majority of charts in this catalogue, and it is the reason we print the basis on every one of them rather than guessing.

05Buy against it

Each with its own measurements