How to Measure Flat and Translate to Your Body

Vintage sizing is broken — we covered that in the sizing-decoded post earlier this year. The fix is to ignore the size label entirely and work from flat measurements instead. Every serious vintage seller measures their pieces flat. Every smart vintage buyer reads those measurements against their own body, not against the size on the tag.

Here's the exact method I use to measure every piece I list, and how to translate those numbers back to your own body so you can buy vintage online with confidence.

The tools

You need three things:

1. A soft cloth tape measure (€2 on Amazon — the plastic kind dressmakers use)
2. A flat surface, ideally a bed or a kitchen table
3. A friend or a mirror for measuring yourself

That's it. Hard-shell tailoring tools are nice but not necessary.

How I measure a piece flat

I lay the piece face down on a table, smooth it out (no twisting, no rumples), and measure side-to-side or top-to-bottom across the flat fabric. Every measurement is one side of the garment, doubled in your head when comparing to body measurements.

For a top, blouse, or dress

• Bust: measured 2.5 cm below the underarm seam, side to side
• Waist: measured at the narrowest point, side to side
• Hip: measured 20 cm below the waist, side to side
• Shoulder: seam to seam across the top of the back
• Sleeve length: shoulder seam to cuff, along the top of the sleeve
• Total length: highest point of the shoulder to the hem

For trousers and skirts

• Waist: measured across the top of the waistband, side to side
• Hip: measured 20 cm below the waist, side to side
• Rise: from the crotch seam up to the top of the waistband (front rise)
• Inseam: crotch seam to the bottom of the leg, along the inside
• Leg opening: across the bottom of the hem, side to side
• Total length: top of waistband to the bottom of the leg (outside seam)

For coats and jackets

• All the measurements for a top, plus:
• Back length: centre back from the collar seam to the hem
• Sleeve cuff width: across the cuff opening

How to measure your own body

For body-to-garment translation, you need four key measurements:

1. Bust: wrap the tape around the fullest part of your bust, parallel to the floor, not too tight
2. Waist: wrap the tape around your natural waist — the narrowest part of your torso, usually about 2.5 cm above the navel
3. Hip: wrap the tape around the widest part of your hips, parallel to the floor
4. Shoulder: measure across your back from shoulder bone to shoulder bone

Write these down. Don't measure over heavy clothing — a thin t-shirt is fine, jeans are not.

How to translate flat measurements to your body

This is the part most buyers get wrong. Flat measurements are one side of the garment. Body measurements are around your whole body. You double the flat measurement, then compare.

Example: a vintage blouse listed with a "bust flat: 52 cm" measurement.

• 52 cm flat × 2 = 104 cm around the garment
• If your bust is 92 cm, you have 12 cm of ease — comfortable to loose
• If your bust is 100 cm, you have 4 cm of ease — close-fitting
• If your bust is 104 cm, you have zero ease — the garment won't close

For most pieces you want 6–10 cm of ease at the bust, 2–6 cm at the waist, and 4–8 cm at the hip. Closer than that and the piece will pull and look strained. Looser than that and it'll look slouchy.

The fabric ease adjustment

Different fabrics need different amounts of ease:

• Stiff wools, taffetas, structured cottons: add 2–4 cm extra ease to bust and hip
• Soft drape fabrics — silk, rayon, jersey: standard ease (6–10 cm bust)
• Stretchy knits: can fit with negative ease (the garment measures smaller than your body, because the knit stretches)
• Tailored pieces with darts: need 3–5 cm more ease at the bust because the dart sits where you sit, not where the tape measures

The shoulder check (the most overlooked measurement)

Shoulder width is the single hardest measurement to alter on a garment. A blouse with a too-wide bust can be taken in. A blouse with too-narrow or too-wide shoulders has to be substantially re-cut.

To check: measure across your back from shoulder bone to shoulder bone. The flat shoulder measurement on the garment (seam to seam across the top) should be within 1–2 cm of your body measurement.

If the shoulder is more than 3 cm off in either direction, the piece won't fit well, no matter what the bust says.

What to ask for if a measurement is missing

Some sellers don't measure everything. Here's the priority order for what to ask for:

1. Bust flat (essential for tops and dresses)
2. Shoulder seam to shoulder seam (almost as important)
3. Waist flat (essential for fitted pieces)
4. Total length (essential for dresses and coats)
5. Inseam (essential for trousers)
6. Hip flat (essential for skirts and fitted pieces)

If a seller can't or won't take additional measurements, the listing isn't ready to buy. A serious seller will measure on request within a day.

The honest reality of vintage fit

Even with perfect measurements, some vintage pieces will fit you in ways you don't expect. Older cuts assumed different bra structures, different undergarments, and different body postures. A 1960s sheath dress fits very differently to a 1990s sheath dress, even if the bust and waist measurements are identical, because the position of the waist seam and the angle of the bust darts changed.

The way to deal with this: read the era guide for what you're buying. The 70s dress sits differently from the 80s blouse. Knowing roughly what to expect helps a lot.

The shop's measurement standards

Every listing on the shop includes:

• Bust, waist, hip, shoulder, sleeve length, total length on tops and dresses
• Waist, hip, rise, inseam, leg opening, total length on trousers
• All measurements in centimetres, taken flat with a soft tape

If a measurement you need isn't in a listing, email hi@bohemefolk.com and I'll take it. I usually respond same-day.

Where to start applying this

Browse all current listings with your measurements written down on a notepad next to you. Filter by the type of piece you're after, then check the flat measurements against your body before looking at the photos. The pieces that fit you on paper are the pieces worth looking at properly.

— Victoria