Measurement guide – Where to measure yourself for knicker sewing patterns

If you’re new to making your own clothes or lingerie, you may still be getting to grips with using a pattern. The most important thing is to get the fit right, as there’s nothing more frustrating than making a beautiful garment that doesn’t fit. Read on to find out where to measure yourself and use the correct size pattern.

The most important advice I have is don’t go by the size, go by the measurements! I’ve heard it a lot, people say to me I’m a size 12 or whatever, sure it can give you an indication but a 12 in pattern A could be a completely different measurement to a 12 in pattern B. So do take your measurements first and make sure your beautiful creation fits you and your hard work pays off.

Low Hips

In the case of Sew Projects Knickers/Panties patterns you’ll need to measure your low hip, and waist measurement if your making a high waist style. I’ve put low in bold as this is so important. When measuring yourself for a low hip measurement, this does not mean where your hip bones are. This is a very common mistake that I’ve also come across many times. The hip bones would usually be could the high hip. The low hip measurement is the widest part of your hip area, which is usually around the bottom and the pubic bone. The number 2 line on the illustration below indicates where to measure. As you can see it’s probably a bit lower than you might think.

Waist

Likewise, the waist needs to measured in the correct area if you a making a high waist knicker. Measure around the Natural waist, where you body naturally goes in a bit. This is the squishy bit where the ribs end and is at least several inches above your belly button.

Lower Body Height

If you know you are petite or tall it’s also a good idea to take your lower body height measurement and compare this to the pattern your using, and then you can work out if you need to add on or take any height away.

Dont forget your body fluctuates in size, so don’t just assume the measurements you took 6 months ago will stay the same. Get into the habit of measuring regularly.

Why not start now? Use the measurement illustration and table in this post to work out your size for the Ivy knicker Sew Projects pattern! If you find you come up in between sizes for the waist and low hip measurement, the tutorial below will show you how to do adapt your high waist knicker pattern to your body measurements.