How to check your size?
The first thing we pay attention to when choosing clothes is its color, cut or decorations. However, what makes us look perfect in a given dress or pants is the size, properly suited to our figure. When buying in a stationary store, we have the opportunity to use the fitting room and adjust the size, although we often wonder what size of clothes to ask for. The situation is very complicated when shopping online. What size to order? We will answer this question in the next part of the blog.
The correct body measurements
The first step to finding your size is to measure your body. We use a tailor’s measure to measure each item. However, there are a few important rules to keep in mind when measuring:
- Measure in underwear, it can add about 1 centimeter in our sizes, but it will definitely improve our comfort of wearing clothes.
- When measuring, stand in a natural position – do not pull in and out your stomach, do not push out your chest and stand up straight.
- Make sure that the tape measure is the same level on each side – an unevenly held tape measure shows an incorrect result.
- The tape measure should not protrude from our body, and the more so cannot cut in, it should adhere to our body naturally – if we do not follow these recommendations, we will again receive incorrect measurement results.
- If your result is between two sizes choose the smaller one, if you are looking for clothes that are more fitting – clothes for work, business meetings or evening outings. If you are looking for something looser, e.g. for home or meeting friends, go ahead and choose clothes from a larger size.
- If bust and waist circumferences do not match (e.g. M bust and L waist – “swimmers” and “hourglass”) you should choose clothes in your size bust.
- If hip and waist circumferences do not match (e.g. M hips and S waist – typical fit ” pears”) you should choose clothes in the size of your hips.
First of all, let’s separate our measurements into upper body and lower body measurements.
Upper body
- Bust circumference at the widest point (chest circumference) – this is one of the most important dimensions if we are considering buying a shirt, jacket or fitted sweater with buttons. Thanks to the correct measurement, these elements will not be tight and will not unsightly cling at the height of our bust. It is important to take this measurement in a bra.
- Underbust circumference– why is this measurement so important? Because thanks to it, we can choose and fit a bra well. If our bra is well-chosen, then measuring the bust circumference takes on a real meaning.
- Waist circumference at the narrowest point – remember not to pull in or push out the stomach. Measure it in its natural “position”. This dimension is present in most clothes. It will be useful both when choosing dresses, skirts and trousers.
- Sleeve length– a dimension that is particularly important when buying long-sleeved blouses, sweatshirts or jackets. The length of the sleeve is measured from the seam around the neck to the very end, including the cuffs, if any. Some manufacturers use the so-called short sleeve length, which is measured from the sleeve seam in the armpit area to the very bottom with cuffs, if any.
Lower body
- Hip circumference at the widest point – a dimension particularly important when choosing the lower part of the garment. Thanks to it, we can choose the right width of our skirt or trousers. This dimension is also important when choosing a dress so that it does not tighten too much and does not lift while walking.
- Leg length – this dimension is typically for trousers. When measuring the leg, we encourage you to measure it also from the inside. Some size charts choose this dimension as leg length. To measure this dimension, start measuring from the inside of the thigh and end at the ankle.
In addition to these dimensions, Height is also important – that is, our height, it is often the basis for dimension tables.
It is always worth adding about 2 cm to the measurements to take into account differences between clothing manufacturers.
Dimension tables
What are these familiar unfamiliar boards? Of course, these are standardized size tables, using the average statistical dimensions of the inhabitants of a given region. The exception is the international size chart, which is used worldwide. This table is also valid in most European countries. Thanks to this chart, we can correctly determine our size after measuring our figure. It is the international table of dimensions that defines the ranges for the well-known and often used dimensions “XS” to “XXL”.
Sizes of clothes from different countries
In most cases, the size chart is adapted to the inhabitants of a given country due to their figure. For example, in Mediterranean countries, women are slightly taller than us, they are more developed in the chest and hips, which means that the sizes are inflated in relation to Polish sizes. We have a similar situation in France. Between French sizes and Polish sizes, the difference is 2 sizes. In the Netherlands, the size chart is no different from the Polish chart. Certainly, UK and US sizes can cause problems when choosing clothes. In Great Britain, the main unit of measurement is inches – hence the difference in the notation of size tables. A similar situation is in the United States, which, as we know from the pages of history, is a country originating from the British Colony. Below we present a comparison of the Polish size table to other countries, which will certainly help you choose the right size.
What if the dimensions of the figure deviate from the size charts?
If you liked the fashion proposals of our store, your dimensions differ from those presented in the table and you do not know what size will be right for you, please contact our fashion stylists. Certainly each of them will help in choosing the right size, but also the cut, so that you can enjoy a perfectly fitted cut while feeling comfortable and elegant.