Acquiring Your Right Clothes Sizes
1. Wear a comfortable fitting bra when you measure your bra size. Wrap the tape measure under your bust and record the number. Add 5 inches to that number to determine your bra size.
2. Measure your chest at the fullest point of your bust line. The tape measure should be kept horizontal and your arms should be down. Subtract your bra size from your bust line size to determine your cup size.
3. Wrap the tape measure around your waistline to determine your waist size. Your waistline is the thinnest point on your waist, just above your hip bones. If you are not sure where your waistline is, feel for it while swinging one of your legs forward and back.
4. Take your hip measurement at the fullest point of your hips. The tape measure should fall over your backside when measuring your hips. This area is approximately 7 to 9 inches below your waist, depending on your height.
5. Relax your arm down by your side to measure your sleeve length. Place the tape measure at the back of your neck and measure down the back of your arm to the bend of your wrist.
Tips & Warnings
- If you do not have a cloth tape measure, use a piece of string to take the measurements. Mark the string and then measure it with a straight ruler.
- The length of the dress that you purchase is not as important since length can be altered through hemming. Most dresses are sold in regular and petite lengths. Petite is typically considered anyone under 5 feet 3 inches.
Acquiring Shoe Sizes
Measuring tips:
- The best time to measure your feet with the following method is at the end of the day, when your feet are at their most swollen.
- Wear the same style of socks that you plan to wear with your shoes.
- Measure both feet and choose the shoe size that fits the bigger foot.
- If you are alone, it is best to take the measurements while sitting. If someone else is helping you, then standing on your feet is best.
- For a more accurate measurement, use centimeters instead of inches. If need be, you can convert inches to centimeters by multiplying by 2.54.
- There are wide variations among shoe measurement systems and the fit may be quite different depending upon the brand and type of shoe you buy. Shoe size conversions should be done using the charts provided by your chosen brand to ensure the most accurate fit, but the charts below will give you a good general guideline.
How to Measure Your Feet:
1. Sitting or standing (see tip above), place one foot on a piece of paper. This may seem obvious, but make sure the sheet is bigger than your foot. You may want to tape the paper down to keep it from moving.
2. Holding a pencil as straight as possible, trace around your entire foot. Try to be as accurate as possible so you get accurate measurements - this will help with finding the proper shoe sizing.
3. Using a ruler, measure your foot width and length.
- Length: Measure the distance between the two longest points on your foot tracing. Now, reduce this measurement by 5 mm or 1/5 of an inch. This accounts for the slight space between your foot and the pencil.
- Width: Measure the distance between the two widest points on your tracing,&also reduce this measurement by 5 mm or 1/5 of an inch. This number will help determine your foot width.
4. It's crucial to use a reliable shoe size guide. Using your measurements from step 3, refer to the following shoe size conversion charts to determine your shoe size. The foot size charts below convert inches to the most common shoe sizes. Remember that sizes can vary significantly among different shoe types and brands, and that you may need to use a particular brand's shoe size converter for the best fit.
