Measurement guides

Measure once, fit everything

How to take every body measurement with a tape, a string, or your phone camera, and exactly what each garment needs. Centimetres first, charts carry inches too. For men and women.

Every guide follows the same shape: where the measurement is taken, how to take it alone with a tape, a string or a garment that fits, what the number means on a size chart in centimetres and inches, the mistakes that ruin a fit, and the questions tailors get asked. The body guides cover the numbers every size chart and every tailor asks for; the garment guides list exactly what a saree blouse, kurta, men's kurta pajama, salwar kameez or Punjabi suit, lehenga or gown needs. Two tools sit alongside them: a size calculator that turns three measurements into a size, and a printable measurement form for sending numbers to a tailor.

Body measurements

Start here if you are shopping online, sending numbers to a tailor, or checking a size chart.

Body measurement chart: what size am I? One page with every number a size chart or a tailor asks for: bust or chest, waist, hips, shoulder, sleeve and inseam, in centimetres and inches, with the size each range usually means. Read the guide How to measure your bust or chest Bust for women, chest for men: the one girth every top, blouse, kurta, shirt and jacket is sized from. Read the guide Is bust the same as chest? Yes. Read the guide How to measure your waist The waist is two different lines: the natural waist that skirts, lehengas and kameez are shaped to, and the lower line where jeans and trousers actually sit. Read the guide How to measure your hips The hip measurement is the largest girth of the lower body, and it decides whether a skirt, lehenga, trouser or straight kameez will go on and sit where it should. Read the guide How to measure your inseam and trouser length Inseam is the inside leg, from the crotch to the hem, and it is the number that decides whether trousers break neatly on the shoe or puddle on the floor. Read the guide How to measure sleeve length and arm length A sleeve that is 2 cm too long looks borrowed and one that is 2 cm too short looks outgrown, which is why sleeve length is measured with more ceremony than any other length. Read the guide How to measure shoulder width Shoulder width is the shoulder measurement on every tailor's form: across the back from one bony shoulder point to the other, 37 to 42 cm for most women and 44 to 48 cm for most men. Read the guide What do clothing sizes and measurements mean? Every shop describes fit in its own code: a jeans label says 32x30, a kurta is a 40, a dress is a UK 12 or an EU 40, a product page asks for your inseam and rise. Read the guide

By garment

What the tailor needs for each piece, with size charts and the usual mistakes.

Saree blouse measurements A blouse is the least forgiving garment in the wardrobe: a centimetre off at the bust or armhole shows immediately. Read the guide What does blouse length 0.8 metre mean? It means the saree comes with an unstitched blouse piece that is 0. Read the guide Kurta size chart, sizing and measurements Kurta sizes come as letters (S, M, L) or numbers (36, 38, 40), and the number is simply the bust or chest in inches: a women's M is a 36 or 38, a men's 40 fits a 40 inch (102 cm) chest. Read the guide Lehenga measurements A lehenga is three garments pretending to be one: the skirt, the blouse, and the dupatta drape. Read the guide Salwar kameez measurements A salwar suit needs two short lists: one for the kameez on top, one for the salwar below. Read the guide Gown and anarkali measurements Floor-length pieces live or die on two numbers: the length with the right shoes, and where the garment is fitted before it flares. Read the guide What measurements does a tailor need? Every garment uses a subset of the same master list. Read the guide Men's kurta pajama measurements The kurta pajama is the most-ordered men's outfit in South Asian tailoring, from a daily cotton kurta to a wedding silk set under a Nehru jacket. Read the guide Punjabi suit measurements, with the Punjabi and Hindi terms A Punjabi suit is a salwar kameez by another name, but the measurement form your tailor in Ludhiana or Southall hands you uses words a chart in English never explains: teera, lambai, mohri, ghera. Read the guide

Or skip the tape

Scan yourself once with your phone camera on Silai: about 2 minutes, free, and you get every measurement on these pages. Save them and they travel with any order you send to any tailor on the platform.

Try the scanner free How the scan works