How to Take Body Measurements For Clothing For A Great Fit (The First Time)
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November 3, 2020
How to Measure Your Body For Fashion
With so many of us buying clothes online, it’s become even more important than ever to be connected with our own unique shapes and measurements. Without the brick-and-mortar shop experience, there is no salesperson there waiting to run a tape measure around your hips. Now, it's up to us to take measurements and learn this modern-day trait for ourselves.
Buying clothes online is a pure pleasure of the 21st century, there’s so many gorgeous garments just waiting at our fingertips. Without knowing your own measurements, you run the risk of having pants that are too short or a shirt that is too tight around the bust.
Become a master of your own making by learning how to take body measurements and tailoring your size choices to fit you like a dream.
In this post:
Common Women’s Measurements For Clothing
How to Measure Hips
How to Measure Shoulder Width
How to Measure Waist
How to Measure Bust/Chest
Common Women’s Measurements For Clothing
Sure, the world of clothing comes with a few hints when it comes to size. There are dress sizes or vague notions of small, medium, or large etched into labels. But in reality, these don’t give a lot of insight as to whether or not the clothing in question will fit you well.
Not all clothing companies use the same metric when measuring dress size so even scouring their chart for body measurements can throw you off course if you don’t know your own facts and figures.
Learning how to take measurements for clothing gifts you knowledge about your own body and your own numbers, the more information you have to make a great decision. While for guys it can be as simple as running a measuring tape along the leg, there’s a few more angles to aim for when it comes to women’s measurements for clothing.
When measuring areas like your chest, waist, and hips be sure to strip down to your underwear so that you don’t have bulky jeans or loose tees throwing you off your numbers game.
Dress Measurements
Many dresses will just come with an overall size measurement but this doesn’t consider whether it will be too long, tight at the hips, loose on the shoulders or pinching your underarms. To get a closer curated dress match, you should figure out how to measure chest size, waist length, hips, sleeve length (if applicable) and hollow of your collarbone right down to the hem of the dress so you know exactly how and where it will fall on you.
Shoulder Measurements
Shoulder measurements make sure that something fits you right across the top without squeezing or hanging loose. This is especially important when selecting the type of fit you want for shirts, sweaters, and any kind of top or even a dress. Measuring under the arms also helps you to figure out if your top is going to be tight and rub and cause you to sweat or if its going to be loose and comfortable.
Hip Measurements
Often measured when picking perfectly tailored pants, jeans, or even a dress or skirt, the hip measurement tells you how much of the material will hug the hips, butt, and thighs. When measuring your hips, you should always aim for around the widest part to ensure that your bottoms will fit you properly.
Inseam Measurements
The length that runs up your inner leg lets you in on the secret as to how long or short your perfect pair of pants will be. Measuring the inseam means taking a measuring tape and holding it against the upper part of your thigh right down to the ankle. Don’t forget when measuring your inseam that you also need to consider what kind of shoes you tend to wear as this will change where your trouser falls. For example, a stiletto heel may give women more height than a pair of ballet pumps.
Waist Measurements
Knowing where to measure the waist is always important, no matter what style of garment you are going for. If you want to know where to measure your waist, it’s worth taking down both your natural waist measurement and also your low waist measurement so you can adapt your size choices based on the style of garment and where it sits. Your natural waistline is that narrow part between the rib cage and the bellybutton. The low waist is where your trousers or jeans seem to sit when worn naturally.
How to Measure For Clothes
For those looking for how to take body measurements for clothing this step by step guide to each essential area on the measurements chart will ensure you get all the info you need to make it a perfect fit.
How to Measure Hips
- Stand up straight with your thighs together and place the tape measure around the fullest part of the hip.
- Wrap the tape around from the front to the back and across the buttocks before coming all the way back round to where you started.
- It can be tricky trying to pull the tape straight so you may want to ask for a little help or stand in front of a mirror to make sure the tape is in a place where it can deliver an accurate and even measure.
How to Measure Shoulder Width
Measuring your own shoulders can be tricky business as much of the effort can be done around the back rather than the front, so you may want to ask someone to lend a helping hand.
- Stand in a natural position with a straight back and try to keep you shoulders relaxed rather than stiff or hunched up.
- Find the tip of your shoulder points in the upper back, where your shoulders meet the arm or where it starts to curve down into the arm. These are the two points that you should measure across.
- Ask your friend or extra pair of hands to keep the tape measure flat across your back using the two shoulder points as a marker for accurate measurements.
- You can also measure from the top of the shoulder down to this point too.
How to Measure Waist
Remember to grab two different waist measurements that will make all the difference when buying low rise jeans or skinny trousers.
- When working out where to measure the waist, use your hands to find your natural waist by feeling where your waist naturally tapers into a narrower area. This is normally between the belly button and the ribs (a couple inches above the belly button). You can also find it by bending to the side and seeing where the natural crease occurs. This is the place from where you should measure.
- Avoid holding in or pushing out your stomach but just rest in your natural position. Use the tape measure in the middle and go all the way from the front to the back until you reach the circumference.
- Find the place where your trousers or jeans waistband would sit and wrap a tape measure around this circumference to get the lower waist measurement.
SHOP SOZY
How to Measure Bust/Chest
Measuring your bust is much easier if you have a helping hand willing to wrap the tape around from your front to your back, but if not that doesn’t mean you can’t get a close enough number with only one pair of hands.
- Take off any padded bra and either measure nude or in something non bulky to get the closest natural measurement.
- Start with the tape measure by putting it at the fullest part of your bust and then wrap it around.
- Go under the armpits and across the shoulder blades until you reach right back round to where you started.
- Be sure to keep the fitting snug and close without being too tight.
With a good tape measure and a little help or a decent mirror to hand, you don’t need to feel overwhelmed by doing your own measuring. Even getting a close enough idea can dramatically change the way you clothes shop – its time to say farewell to ill-fitting flair and start saying yes to tailored style.
Do you struggle with dress sizing and body tape measurements? Share your body measurement tape tips with us in the comments.
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