Compare a garment you already own

Guessing from a label size is the least reliable way to judge whether a garment will fit. Measuring a garment you already own and like is the most reliable. It takes ten minutes.

Pick the right piece

Choose the garment closest in kind to the project you are looking at — a jean to compare with a jean, a work jacket with a work jacket — and the one whose fit you would keep if you could change nothing. Not the newest, not the nicest: the one that fits.

Measure it the same way

Lay it flat, smooth it, and take the points listed in How I measure a garment: waist, rises, thigh, knee, leg opening and inseam for trousers; chest, shoulder, sleeve and body length for a jacket. Flat, edge to edge, tape not stretched. Take each twice.

Note what you would change

The numbers describe the garment you have. The useful part is the sentence next to them:

• "Fits, but I would take the leg opening in."
• "Waist is right after a day of wear, tight first thing."
• "Sleeves could be two centimetres longer."

That is the fit conversation. A number without the sentence is only half of it.

Then send it

If you are asking about a project, send those measurements and notes with the inquiry. Fit is easier to get right before a piece is cut than after, and a pattern that is still being tuned can take the note into account.

Nothing here will tell you which size to pick, because there are no sizes yet to pick from. What it will do is make the first conversation a short one.