Sizing Matters
I was asked to teach a 1950s Dress Workshop at the V&A a while ago. Automatically I bought a commercial pattern and was dismayed at the sizing, I then studied pattern sizes available and realised that they were totally out of sync with today’s high-street sizing.
This was a daunting task as you all know the high-street varies hugely so Frankie (our fabulous pattern cutter), and I studied the sizing charts available from a range of companies across the board of price and demographic.
As you can imagine it involved much head scratching, discussion and testing.
Frankie cleverly found an average of a mathematical number crunch, which I have to say has been spot on, she is a genius. The workshop at the V&A was a huge success with very little alterations and tweaking on fit. So realising this common problem and feeling confident about the sizing we went on to design more sewing patterns!
So without further ado, here is our tried and tested size charts:
Women Sizes
| Sizes | 4 | 6 | 8 | 10 | 12 | 14 | 16 | 18 | 20 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bust | 76cm / 30″ | 81cm / 32″ | 86cm / 34″ | 91cm / 36″ | 96cm / 38″ | 101cm / 40″ | 106cm / 42″ | 111cm / 44″ | 116cm / 46″ |
| Waist | 59cm / 23″ | 64cm / 25″ | 69cm / 27″ | 74cm / 29″ | 79cm / 31″ | 84cm / 33″ | 89cm / 35″ | 94cm / 37″ | 99cm / 39″ |
| Hips | 84cm / 33″ | 89cm / 35″ | 94cm/ 37” | 99cm / 39″ | 104cm / 41″ | 109cm / 43″ | 114cm / 45″ | 119cm / 47″ | 124cm / 49″ |
Men Sizes
|
Sizes
|
XS
|
S
|
M
|
L
|
XL
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Chest (at fullest)
|
89.5cm / 35"
|
97cm / 38"
|
104.5cm / 51"
|
112cm / 44"
|
119.5cm / 47"
|
Child Sizes
|
Sizes
|
Age 2
|
Age 4
|
Age 6
|
Age 8
|
Age 10
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Chest
|
53cm / 21″
|
57cm / 22.5″
|
61cm / 24″
|
66cm / 26″
|
72cm / 28.5″
|
|
Waist
|
52cm / 20.5″
|
54cm / 21.25″
|
58cm / 23″
|
61cm / 24″
|
63cm / 25″
|
|
Height
|
95cm / 38″
|
104cm / 41″
|
116cm / 45.5″
|
128cm / 50.5″
|
140cm / 55″
|