When making your own clothes it is VITAL to never just pick the size you would buy in the shops. First of all most people are not the same size in the hips as in the bust for example. Also older pattern companies use sizing charts that have been around for a long time and in the meantime shops have been making their sizes fit larger bodies! It is called vanity sizing. So a 16 on a vintage sewing pattern isn’t a 16 you would recognise! But mostly, the joy of making your own is getting to make all your bits fit in so let’s make that happen by measuring and then adjusting the pattern for your own unique body.

Measuring

You will need to measure yourself without bulky clothes on, and wearing the same sort of underwear you usually wear. Don’t measure over Spanx if you won’t wear your new dress with them on! It may help to have a full length mirror to hand.

There a ton of measurements you can take but for most womenswear you will likely just need your bust, waist and hip. Write these down in both inches and centimetres as some patterns use only one of these.

The bust is your measurement across the fullest part of your bust, across your nipples. Make sure you stand up straight and that the tape sits straight across your back. Don’t pull it too tight or have it too loose.

The waist is usually your narrowest part but if you don’t have an indent then bend to the side and where you bend is your waist measurement

Hips are not measured across your hip bones but across the widest part of your bum/ upper legs/ hip. It will be lower down than you think! Just think that you need to get your dress/ skirt/ trousers to fit over your biggest bits and then you will get where to measure.

Download the measurement chart below to fill in your details

Marking your size

Now find your measurements on the size chart of the pattern. Are all your measurements the same size? Easy peasy. If not let me talk you through how to plot your size and figure out what to cut out.

First of all find the finished measurement chart. Do you find that, if you go by say your waist measurement you will have enough room to also fit in your hips and bust? If a pattern has a lot of ease (extra room, the less fitted a garment is the more ease it usually has) you may find that you don’t need to go up a size at all.

If your waist and hips fit into one size but your bust is considerably larger you should look in to doing a Full Bust Adjustment to create extra space width and lengthways for your breasts to fit in. There are many good websites explaining how to do this. If you usually buy clothes that fit your chest but swamp the rest of you, this will likely be something you need to learn to do. The reverse can also be true if you are small breasted, you may need to do a Small Bust Adjustment.

Do not pick your size just based on your bust. Things will fit much better if your waist and hips fit and you adjust the pattern for your bust. Also note dressmaking cup sizes are different from bra cups, just to add to the complexity!

There are many assumptions made about bodies, some are that you are 5’7″ and B cup! Also that your waist and bust line are a certain distance from each other etc. If you don’t fit that shape (and of course most of us don’t!) you may have to adjust the length and bust and possibly many other things too if you are making a very fitted garment and find your waist is not where the pattern says it should be!

If you have to go between sizes then find out first of all if your pattern has its waist and hip lines marked. Bust lines are usually easier to find as there is usually a dart (the end point is your bust line) or you can use the underarm point as your bust line. If the waist and hip lines are marked, great. Mark your size at the bust point, and at the waist and hip points. Now draw a gentle line flaring out from one point to the next. Make sure it is as smooth as possible a line as can be so you won’t be able to tell that you have changed the size lines! Use a curved dressmaking ruler (French curve or pattern master) to help with this if you don’t want to do this freehand.

If you think your waist is not where the pattern thinks it should be – for example you are not 5 foot 7 but 6 foot 1, or you know for a fact your waist sits right under your ribcage, then measure the distance between these lines so you waist dip come in where your waist actually is, rather than where the pattern dictates it should be!

If your waist and hip line aren’t on there (or if yours are markedly different from the patterns assumptions) you will need to measure where your own waist and hip lines are compared to your bust line. Measure how far down they are from each other and mark this with a straight line coming away from the central line (centre back or front) or the grainline. Make this line long enough to cut through the size lines at the sides. Then mark your own sizes where they intersect with the waist and hip and bust lines. So in the picture above the bust came up as a size 12, the waist as a size 16, and the waist was just 5″ below the bust line.

lengthening and shortening patterns

Almost all patterns will have one or more lines telling you this is where you would alter the pattern to make it longer or shorter.

Sometimes you can just add 7 cm to the bottom of the garment or lob a bit off and it is fine. However if you have a detailed hem for example, a curved or scalloped hem say, you cannot just easily do this. If your sidelines curve in (say for a tapered leg) you cannot just add without running the risk your leg opening becomes too small to get your foot in!

This is where the lines on the pattern come in. Cut the pattern apart at those lines. Overlap the pattern by the amount you have decide you want to cut, or pull the pattern pieces apart and add extra paper underneath to bridge the gap. Make sure you overlap or pull away with the cut lines remaining parallel.

When completely adjusted cut out the new pattern pieces.

Remember that all adjustments need to be made on front and back pieces, waistbands, pocket bags etc, this is absolutely vital.