How to Measure Yourself for Clothes That Run Small

To measure yourself for clothing you need a soft tape, a mirror and about three minutes. Take your bust, waist and hip in inches, write them down, then compare those numbers to the size chart on the product page rather than to the size you usually buy. That last step is the whole trick, and it matters more here than in most places, because our sizing runs small.

Most of us know our size the way we know our coffee order. It is a habit, not a fact. It came from a shop you stopped going to years ago, and it has been quietly drifting ever since.

What you need, and what you should not use

This takes less equipment than people expect.

• A soft tape measure. The fabric kind. Not the retractable metal one in the kitchen drawer, which will not go round you and will snap back with intent.
• Thin clothes, or none. A thick sweater adds an inch and a half you will then have to live with for the rest of the garment’s life.
• A mirror. You need to see the back of the tape. It drops without telling you.
• Somewhere to write four numbers. Your phone notes are fine. You will want these again.

If you do not own a soft tape, a length of string and a ruler works. Wrap the string, mark it with your thumb, lay it flat against the ruler. Slightly less dignified, equally accurate.

The four measurements that matter

Three are standard. The fourth is the one almost nobody takes, and it is the one that decides whether a maxi skirt reads as elegant or as slightly too long.

Bust

Tape around the fullest part, usually level with the nipple. Keep the tape parallel to the floor the whole way round — this is what the mirror is for, because the tape will ride up at the back and add an inch you did not earn.

Wear the bra you would actually wear with the garment. A different bra is a different measurement, sometimes by two inches. If you are measuring for a satin pajama set you will probably be wearing nothing underneath it, so measure like that.

Natural waist

Not where your jeans sit. Jeans sit on your hips and have done for twenty years. Your natural waist is the narrowest part of your torso, above the navel and below the ribs.

Bend sideways. The crease that forms is your waist. Straighten up, tape round that line, breathe normally. Do not hold your breath and do not suck in. You are going to have to wear the thing while breathing.

Hip

The fullest part, usually seven to nine inches below your natural waist. Feet together — standing with your feet apart narrows the number and you are not competing here.

Take this one in front of the mirror too. The hip measurement is the one people most often take too high, catching the top of the hip bone rather than the fullest point, which produces a skirt that fits everywhere except where it needs to.

Height, and where you want the hem

Stand against a wall, mark the top of your head, measure the floor to the mark. Then, separately, measure from your natural waist to the point on your leg where you want a skirt to end.

That second number is the one that stops a maxi from puddling. It matters enough that it has its own guide to skirt lengths by height, because the same garment reads completely differently at five foot two and five foot nine.

Where people go wrong

Four mistakes account for most bad fits, and all four are easy to avoid once someone points them out.

• Pulling the tape tight. The tape should sit flush against you without compressing anything. Snug, not enthusiastic. A tight tape produces a smaller number, which produces a smaller garment, which produces a problem.
• Measuring at the wrong time of day. Most bodies are a little smaller in the morning. If you measure at 11pm after dinner you will get a different waist than you will at 8am. Neither is wrong. Pick one and be consistent.
• Reaching behind your back alone. The moment you twist to read the tape, you change the measurement. Use the mirror, or ask someone.
• Rounding down. If you land on 34 and a half, you are 34 and a half. Rounding to 34 because it sounds better is how people end up with a dress they can only wear standing up.

Reading a size chart that runs small

Here is the part that trips people up. A size chart is not a ranking of bodies. It is a list of garment measurements, and the only useful question is whether your numbers fall inside them.

Our sizing runs small. That is not a flaw we are hiding, it is a fact about the base garments, and it means the letter on the label is a poor guide. Someone who buys a medium everywhere else will often want a large here, and occasionally an extra large in the pieces with no stretch.

When you look at a chart, find the row your bust, waist and hip actually sit in. If the chart says a size fits a 36 inch bust and you measure 36, you are at the ceiling of that size, not the comfortable middle of it. Ceiling is fine for a tank. Ceiling is not fine for something you want to sit down in.

If you are wondering why your measurements land on three different sizes at three different brands, that is a real phenomenon with real causes, and we have written about why size charts disagree with each other rather than pretending it is your imagination.

What to do when you fall between sizes

You will, often. Most people are not a single size across all three measurements. Three questions settle it.

Which measurement is furthest out?

Fit the largest of the three and alter down if you need to. Taking a waist in is a fifteen minute job for a tailor. Letting a bust out is not.

Does the fabric move?

This changes the answer completely. The high-waist leggings and the tank have stretch and will forgive half an inch in either direction. Satin and chiffon do not stretch at all. They drape, which is a different thing — drape gives you movement, not room.

For the woven pieces, if you are between sizes, size up. The satin set in particular is meant to hang rather than cling, and a set that is fractionally large looks deliberate. A set that is fractionally small looks like it belongs to someone else.

How do you want it to sit?

A maxi dress you plan to wear to a long dinner and a tank you plan to layer under things want different amounts of ease. Decide before you order, not after.

One more thing worth knowing before you commit to a size: everything here is made after you order it, so there is no warehouse to send it back to for a swap. Returns cover defects and our errors, not a change of mind. What made to order actually means for your order is worth five minutes if you have not bought this way before, and the FAQ covers the short version.

Write it down once

The practical bit. Do this today and you will not have to think about it again for six months.

• Take all four numbers in one session, in the same clothes, at the same time of day.
• Write them in your phone with the date next to them. The date is what tells you when they have gone stale.
• Add the bra you were wearing for the bust measurement. You will not remember.
• Re-measure every six months, or after any meaningful change in weight or training.
• Before you order anything, open the note and open the product page chart. Compare numbers to numbers. Ignore the letter entirely.

Three minutes now against three to five weeks of waiting for something that does not fit is not a close call.