Measuring Guide - Betty in Vintage Land

Sizes are not an easy matter when it comes to vintage clothing.
First of all, most of the times, there is no connection between the size written on the label (assuming there is one) and the reality.
The written size can be 48, for example, and the garment will be smaller than 38.
I've seen it many times already.
Also, in vintage, not like in other sorts of clothing, one garment can possibly fit many sizes. For example - a vintage dress with an elastic waist can look great on size 38 and 44 as well. This I also saw many times happening in my store.
Also –in the past, it was very common to ask the local tailor to sew exclusively and specially clothing for the entire family. So many times, in those clothes, there can be few sizes in the same cloth. One dress can has a bust size 38 and a hip at size 42, depends on which body the woman who made the order had.
After said that, it is very important to know the measurements of the cloth before ordering it.
Here is a short guide to demonstrate how we do it.
We mark general measure - S / M / L / XL on every item we have here in our shop. Size S represents Sizes 34-36, M represents 38-40, size L is 42-44, and XL is all above it. Because we may be wrong in our assessment, we also provide an accurate measurement with a measuring tape, in centimeters and inches.
This is the exchange table we work with:

Measuring Bust
We measure the garment while it loose, and rate the elasticity of the fabric for each cloth on a scale of 1-5:
when 1 indicates a very strict fabric, and 5 indicates a very elastic fabric.
Sometimes, for example - with an elastic waist dress, we will mention the range of elasticity, in cm and inches.


Waist measurement (high)
We measure waist at the narrowest point of the garment waist – as in this photo.


Hips
We measure the widest part on garment's hip and double the score.

You should do the same on your side, of course.

Length


Trousers measuring
When it comes to pants, there are 4 critic parameters:
Waist
Hips
Front rise
And Length
Waist
We measure waist at the highest point of the trousers and then double the score.
Please note elasticity scale, as it can effect positively on matching.


Hips
We measure hips the same way we measure it on dresses – double the width of the widest part.

Front Rise

Trousers Length
We measure the length between the highest point of the pants to the bottom part, on one sleeve, in straight line.

If you still need any information of you have any question or a doubt – please don't hesitate contact us. We promise a quick answer with a smile.