Made to measure

Before you measure anything

Decide: Bra or no bra? Your bust level and circumference measurement will change with and without a bra on, so if you plan on wearing a bra with your finished garment, make sure you wear one during the measuring process. Otherwise, make sure you are wearing form-fitting clothing (like a tank-top and leggings) and your typical day-to-day undergarments.

Get help. Stand in front of a mirror and have someone on standby to assist you (especially for those back measurements.)

Use the right tape. More specifically, use a flexible measuring tape (rather than a fabric one, as those tend to stretch out over time.)

Check your posture. Stand upright in a relaxed position with your feet together. When measuring, breathe normally and make sure the tape is comfortably fitted to the body.

1. NECK AND BUST

To measure your neck, pull the tape around the middle, coming from the back to the front. It should sit at the base of the neck above the collar bone.

To measure your bust, bring the tape around your back and around to the front. Pull it around the apex (or fullest) point of your bust. It should be aligned parallel to the floor, making a straight, horizontal line across both your front and back. If you have someone to help, you record the measurement at the front with your hand down at your sides.

2. WAIST AND HIPS

To measure your waist, don’t measure where your pants finish – this is not your natural waist! Your waist is the smallest part of your torso and right underneath your rib cage near your belly button. Make sure the tape is even across the front and back and parallel to the floor.

To measure the hips, keep this in mind: it is not where the top of your hip bone is, it is actually around the largest part of your hip area.

3. FRONT WAIST LENGTH

Start measuring from the side base of your neck, at the top shoulder line, and going down towards your waist level passing over your bust point. Try to keep the tape as straight as possible. To measure bust depth, use the same starting point on the shoulder as your front waist length, measuring down to the apex of your bust point.

4. BACK WAIST LENGTH

This one is definitely a two person job, so call a friend and have them measure from the nape of the neck, down your spine and to your waist. To measure the back width, measure horizontally between your arm attachment points (underarm).

5. SHOULDER

This is your shoulder seam length. Measure from the base of your neck right in the middle of your shoulder (from a bird’s eye view) and along to the tip of your shoulder. If you have trouble determining your shoulder tip, find a garment in your closet that fits well and has a collar and sleeve.

Then measure the shoulder length of the garment. To measure under the arm, wrap your measuring tape around the fullest part of your arm above your elbow.

6. ARM LENGTH

Have your arm just slightly bent, and measure from the tip of your shoulder over the elbow to your wrist line. You will also need a friend for this measurement.

7. WIST TO HIP

Measure the length between both black lines on picture number 2, measure from the waist to your hip.

8. DRESS LENGHT

For long dresses measure the length from your collar bone to the floor while standing bare foot flat on the ground, and for any other length measure from your collar bone to where your desired dress length is.