Sizing in sewing patterns, your advise welcomed

[lavendersparkle]

I have decided that it's time for the sewing machine I go as a wedding present to stop sitting bored in the corner and for me to make something. Possibly vastly over reaching I have decided to make a dress. This would be useful as I have found it impossible to find dresses which cover of of the bits of my that I usually keep covered. I want to make a nice summer dress which will look smart enough to wear to weddings and posh garden parties. I thought that the best style to suit me would be be a slightly 50s-style dress with a a-line skirt to just below the knee, high waist, fitted bodice and 3/4 length sleeves. I couldn't find a pattern like that but I found one pattern with the skirt I wanted and one with the bodice. The plan is to combine them, which shouldn't be too difficult as I'll have a broad band on my waist.

I bought the pattern for the bodice yesterday (the skirt one wasn't in stock). I was looking at the instructions and decided to work out what size I'll need, with the help of Alec and his measuring tape. Here is where I get confused. In most shops I take a UK size 12. In tops made of non-stretchy material I usually take a 14 due to my bust. I wear a 34E bra. So, Alec takes my 'vital statistics' and they are 40-32-40. According to the chart on the pattern package, that makes me an 18! Alec then measures my back neck-waist, which is 15 and a half inches, smaller than a size 8 even though I'm 3 inches taller than the 'typical woman' the pattern is designed for. For further help I looked at the Simplicity Fit brochure. It said that for a dress I should go by my bust measurement, which would mean a size 18. However, to complicate matters they design patterns for a B-cup. If you are larger than a B-cup you are supposed to measure your 'high-bust' horizontal immediately under the arms and use the pattern size for the bust which is 2 and a half inches more than that measurement. The confusing thing is that my 'high-bust' was 37 inches, but their fit guide claimed that a D-cup would have a high chest 4 inches smaller than her bust. I might not be wearing the correct bra but I doubt that it's that that wrong.

So now I am very confused because according to their sizing chart I am a size 18 midget with C-cup breasts as opposed to the quite tall size 12 with E-cup breasts my clothes suggest.

Comments

[naath.livejournal.com]

I'm a 40-32-40 and I tend to take a 14 in store-bought clothing, but maybe we have different pickynesses about fit. I tend to be a size 18 in sewing patterns.

Sewing-pattern sizes are *always* alwaysalwaysalways massively smaller than retail sizes. No, I don't know why, but they are.

You should go with your measurements, but you might need to alter the final garment to fit better, since you are an E not a B which is quite a big difference - easiest would be to go for the size that fits on the bust and then take it in under the bust. You might find that the pattern allows more "ease" than you prefer (ease is the difference between the size you are and the size the garment will be when made), again, taking in is a lot easier than letting out so make the size it suggests and see what it ends up like (I have yet to encounter a pattern that runs small).

Their 'high bust' thing sounds a bit crazy - I'd go with the bust measurement, but use darts to fit it above and below. Sewing patterns are as bad as retail clothes for failing to account for all sizes - drafting a pattern to fit *you* is quite tricky though.

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

The problem with clothes sizes is that they are all bullshit, and now you have found out exactly in what ways they are bullshit compared to the shape you actually are, so you can pick and choose the lines you use for different parts so that it actually fits :) This is a major reason for making clothes, so you can do this instead of accepting a single number of uniform and failsome shape as a compromise.

Their stuff about high-bust is a piece of crap. You should take the 18 line over the bust and then use the line that fit the other measurements, drawing a smooth line with a pencil to join them up between.