How to measure your body

Written by Emily

Let’s talk measuring! We all know that the plus size kit that exists is available online rather than in shops. So getting familiar with your measurements is important for the best chance of getting clothes that fit.

Today I’ll talk you through some of the basics of getting accurate measurements of your body. Here's some top tips:

• Wear the underwear that you would normally use with the item of clothing you’re buying

• Either measure in your underwear or wearing close fitting base layer

• It’s best to get someone else to hold the tape - for the purposes of this I had to get my husband to take the photos rather than hold the tape

• Use a flexible measuring tape

• Keep the tape snug to your body, but not tight. You should be able to easily slip a couple of fingers underneath

• Make sure to keep the tape horizontal when you are measuring a circumference. This is the bit where it’s really useful to have another pair of eyes!

So on with the specifics. There are loads of tutorials that will show you how to take all sorts of measurements, but I’ve taken pictures of the three main ones you’ll see on a size chart.

• Bust - measure horizontally around the fullest part of the bust.

• Waist - measure horizontally around the natural waist. This is often described as the narrowest point on the body, but that can be misleading depending on your body shape. For a lot of plus size people the narrowest part of the body is at the underbust, so pick somewhere around your belly button or try leaning over to the side and measure where the crease forms.

• Hips - measure horizontally around the fullest part of the hips. Again the location of this can vary depending on your body shape, so try a couple of places and see what the numbers say. My full hip is quite low down.

Getting familiar with your measurements is really important - I look at a lot of measurement charts and sizing gets more and more variable as you go up the scale. One company’s 3XL is another company’s 20 and has the same hip measurement as another company’s 24.