Cross-Brand Size Comparison

Each pattern company uses their own size chart, based on their target market, block shape, and drafting tradition. Big 4 companies (Simplicity, McCall's, Butterick, Vogue) share a chart that dates back decades and runs larger than most indie brands. Burda uses European sizing. Cashmerette drafts specifically for curves with multiple cup options.

This means you might be a size 14 at the Big 4, a size 42 at Burda, a size 16 at Cashmerette, and a size 12 at Closet Core— all for the same body. None of these numbers are wrong. They're just different systems.

For tops, blouses, and dresses: Size by your high bustmeasurement (above the bust, under the arms) at brands that recommend it (Big 4, Cashmerette, Closet Core). Then do a full bust adjustment (FBA) if your full bust is more than 2" larger than your high bust.

For pants and skirts:Size by your hip measurement first, then adjust the waist. It's easier to take in a waist than to let out a hip.

When between sizes: Size up for wovens (you can always take in), size down for knits (they stretch to fit).

A size chart lists the body it is drafted for. The garment itself is cut larger than that — the difference is ease, and it is why a pattern whose chart matches your measurements exactly can still come out looking oversized.

Wearing ease is the minimum needed to move and breathe, typically 2 to 3 in at the bust for a woven top. Design ease is whatever the designer added on top for the intended silhouette, and it can be anything from zero on a fitted sheath to 12 in or more on an oversized coat. Two patterns from the same brand in the same size can differ by a foot of finished bust measurement.

This is why the finished garment measurements — usually printed on the pattern envelope or tissue rather than in the size chart — are the more useful number. Compare those against a garment you already own and like the fit of. It is a far better predictor than any size chart.

This is the normal case, not the exception — standard grading assumes a fixed relationship between bust, waist, and hip that very few bodies actually have. The answer is to grade between sizes rather than pick one and hope.

Blend at the side seam. For a bodice, mark your bust size at the underarm, your waist size at the waistline, and your hip size at the hip line, then draw a smooth curve connecting them. Redraw rather than stepping between lines — a smooth blend across several inches is invisible, a corner is not.

Grade the same amount on front and back. If you add 1/2 in at the waist, split it across all four side seam edges rather than taking it all from one seam, or the side seams will swing toward the front or back.

Do not grade the armhole or neckline to chase a bust size. Those are set by your shoulder and upper chest, which is why sizing by high bust and adjusting the bust separately produces a better result than grading up through the armhole.

A difference of more than two sizes between bust and hip is usually better handled by choosing a brand whose block is closer to your proportions. Cashmerette drafts for a larger hip-to-waist ratio, Burda for a longer torso — starting from a closer block means less adjustment work on every pattern you make from it.

Size chart comparisons are only as good as the measurements you feed them. Measure over the underwear you intend to wear with the garment, keep the tape parallel to the floor, and keep it snug enough to stay put without compressing.

Tie a length of narrow elastic around your middle and let it settle — where it lands is your natural waist, which is frequently higher than where you wear your trousers. Use that line as the reference point for waist measurement and for vertical measurements taken above and below it.

Measure the hip at the fullest point, which may be 7 to 9 in below the waist depending on your proportions, and note that distance. Several brands publish it, and a pattern drafted for a hip 9 in below the waist will fit strangely on a body whose fullest point is at 6 in even when the circumference matches.