MADE TO ORDER IN NEW YORK · SUSTAINABLE PRACTICE, TIMELESS DESIGN

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Find Your Fit

Measured once, checked properly.

Height and weight alone let us estimate the rest. Add tape measurements and we check them against each other — catching the mistakes that ruin a garment before a single cut is made, and telling you plainly when no standard size is right for you.

You are measuring for Blue Print Maxi Dress. We will bring you back to it when you are done, and carry these numbers with it into your bag.

Your measurements stay in this browser. Nothing is sent to us unless you place an order, and we never ask for a photograph. How we handle data.

Find Your Fit

Let us take you through it.

14 short steps — only the measurements Blue Print Maxi Dress is actually cut to. Each one shows you exactly where the tape goes, and where it should not, and checks your answer before you move on.

Your measurements stay in this browser. Nothing is sent to us unless you place an order, and we never ask for a photograph. How we handle data.

Blue Print Maxi Dress

Measuring for

Blue Print Maxi Dress

Back to the piece

Step 1 of 14

Height

Shoes off, heels together, back against a wall.

Height — front view Diagram showing the correct tape position for the height measurement. HEIGHT FROM THE FRONT

Stand as tall as you naturally do — not stretching. Mark the wall at the top of your head and measure to the floor.

If you are measuring alone, a book flat on your head against the wall gives a clean mark.

Step 2 of 14

Weight

Approximate is genuinely fine.

It is used only to work out what your other measurements are likely to be, so that we can check them. It is never shown to anyone and never printed on anything.

Round to the nearest five pounds or two kilos if you prefer.

Step 3 of 14

Bust

Around the fullest part, wearing the bra you would wear with the piece.

Bust — front view Diagram showing the correct tape position for the bust measurement. BUST FROM THE FRONT
Bust — back view Diagram showing the correct tape position for the bust measurement. NAPE ✗ NOT LIKE THIS LEVEL ALL ROUND FROM BEHIND

Bring the tape around the fullest point of the bust and let your arms fall. Breathe normally and read the tape on the out-breath.

The mistake to avoid

The tape slides down at the back where you cannot see it, which reads small. Check the second diagram: it should be at the same height all the way round.

A mirror behind you, or a hand run along the tape across your back, settles it.

Step 4 of 14

Underbust

Directly beneath the bust, snug against the ribs.

Would you rather give your bra size?

A tape around your ribs is the accurate answer, and it is worth the minute it takes. If you do not have one to hand, a bra size gets us close enough to start — and you can measure later and replace it.

Underbust — front view Diagram showing the correct tape position for the underbust measurement. UNDERBUST FROM THE FRONT

Slide the tape up until it sits in the crease right under the bust, firm against your ribcage. Snug — this one is meant to be tight.

The mistake to avoid

This is not your bra band size. A band size is arrived at differently and is usually a different number. Measure your ribs and enter what the tape says, even if it is nothing like the bra you buy.

Most people have never measured this. It is the single most useful measurement you can give us, because it tells our cutter how the bodice needs to be shaped — something a bust measurement alone cannot.

Step 5 of 14

Waist

The natural waist — higher than most people expect.

Waist — front view Diagram showing the correct tape position for the waist measurement. ✗ NOT HERE NATURAL WAIST FROM THE FRONT

Bend slowly to one side. The crease that forms is your natural waist, usually an inch above the navel. Measure there, with the tape snug but not pulled in.

The mistake to avoid

Not where your jeans sit. The trouser line can be three or four inches lower, and using it is the most common measuring error there is.

Do not hold your stomach in. The garment has to fit you breathing.

Step 6 of 14

Hip

Around the fullest part of the seat.

Hip — front view Diagram showing the correct tape position for the hip measurement. ✗ NOT HERE FULLEST HIP FROM THE FRONT

Feet together, tape level all the way round, at the fullest point — usually seven to nine inches below the waist.

The mistake to avoid

Not the hip bones. Those are higher and narrower, and using them will make everything read small through the seat.

Feet together matters. Standing with your feet apart changes this measurement.

Step 7 of 14

How you like things to fit

This scales the room each pattern already allows.

Every piece is cut with a certain amount of room in it. This tells us whether to hold you to that, or to lean closer to the body or further from it. It does not change your measurements.

Kept only as a broad band, and only if you order.

If you are unsure, leave it as the piece is cut. That is how the pattern was drafted.

Step 8 of 14

High hip

About four inches below the natural waist, over the hip bones.

High hip — front view Diagram showing the correct tape position for the high hip measurement. HIGH HIP FROM THE FRONT

This is the one you were told NOT to use for the hip. Measure it here on its own.

It decides whether a skirt or trouser sits smoothly or rides up. Worth the thirty seconds.

Step 9 of 14

Waist to hip

Straight down your side, waist to fullest hip.

Waist to hip — front view Diagram showing the correct tape position for the waist to hip measurement. WAIST TO HIP FROM THE FRONT

Hold the tape at the natural waist and read where the fullest part of the hip is. Keep it vertical, following your side.

How far down the fullness sits is a separate question from how full it is, and both change where a seam should go.

Step 10 of 14

Shoulder

Across the back, shoulder point to shoulder point.

Shoulder — back view Diagram showing the correct tape position for the shoulder measurement. NAPE SHOULDER FROM BEHIND

Find the bony corner where your shoulder ends and your arm begins. Measure straight across your back from one to the other.

The mistake to avoid

Not to the top of the arm, and not around any curve. Straight across, corner to corner.

This is the measurement we cannot alter afterwards, so it is the one most worth asking someone to help with.

Step 11 of 14

Across back

Between the armhole creases, about four inches below the nape.

Across back — back view Diagram showing the correct tape position for the across back measurement. NAPE ACROSS BACK FROM BEHIND

Reach back and find the crease where each arm meets your back. Measure straight across between them.

Easier with help. If you are alone, measure a jacket that fits you well across the same place.

Step 12 of 14

Nape to waist

Down the spine, from the bone at the base of the neck to the natural waist.

Nape to waist — back view Diagram showing the correct tape position for the nape to waist measurement. NAPE NAPE TO WAIST FROM BEHIND

Tip your head forward — the bone that stands out at the base of your neck is the nape. Run the tape down your spine to your natural waist.

The mistake to avoid

Down the back, not the front. The two are different lengths and the back is what decides where a waist seam lands.

This is what tells us whether a waist seam will sit at your waist or above it.

Step 13 of 14

Upper arm

Around the fullest part, arm relaxed at your side.

Upper arm — front view Diagram showing the correct tape position for the upper arm measurement. UPPER ARM FROM THE FRONT

Let the arm hang. Measure around the widest point of the upper arm without tensing.

The mistake to avoid

Do not flex, and do not pull tight. A sleeve has to let you reach forward.

The commonest reason a fitted sleeve will not close, and no size chart asks for it.

Step 14 of 14

Sleeve length

Shoulder point, over a slightly bent elbow, to the wrist bone.

Sleeve length — front view Diagram showing the correct tape position for the sleeve length measurement. SLEEVE FROM THE FRONT

Bend your elbow a little and rest your hand on your hip. Measure from the shoulder corner, over the elbow, to the wrist bone.

The mistake to avoid

Measured with a straight arm it comes up short, and the sleeve will pull when you bend.

The bend is the point. Sleeves are cut for arms in use.

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