How to Take Accurate Body Measurements for Blouse Cutting

If you are a tailor, then you know how important it is to get accurate body measurements when making a blouse. Even if you are not a professional tailor, and want to make your own blouse at home you need to learn how to take accurate body measurements. This blog post will show you how to take body measurements for a blouse, step-by-step. With this guide, you'll be able to make the perfect blouse for your customer or yourself every time!

Table of Contents:

• Blouse Length
• Shoulder
• Arm-hole
• Chest
• Upper Chest
• Lower chest or the bust size or the size around the bust
• Waist
• Centre Bust Length or shoulder to bust length
• Neck Width
• Back Neck Depth
• Front Neck Depth
• Sleeve Length
• Sleeve hole or the length around the sleeve end
• Video Tutorial: How to take accurate body measurement for blouse cutting
• Woman Size Chart for making a Blouse
• Size: Medium
• Next Topic: Step by Step guide of Blouse cutting and stitching process
• List of tailoring certificate courses offered by Disha Fashion Institute

Careful measurement is the secret to a well-fitting dress. Here are some things you should know before taking body measurements. You'll want to understand the shape of your or customer’s body and be aware of how it differs for each individual. 

The article goes into detail about each measurement and how it affects the blouse. It also provides a visual guide to show how to take measurements properly so that you can get your blouses made with ease. 

Now lets jump into the topic. At first create a table like below before starting the measurement. Please note that, all the measurements are taken in inches. Fill in the measurement columns once you have taken the measurement.

Blouse Length

This is the full length of the blouse. It needs to be taken from the back of the body or the mannequin as shown in the figure. To take the measurement, start from the top of the shoulder (where the neck meets the shoulder or the shoulder and neck intersection). Measure up to the point you or the customer want the blouse to end. The length depends on the individual choice and the height of the person. A standard length is 14 inches depending on the average Indian woman's height. Generally, people want the blouse length to be 2 inches below the bust area. Also the length can differ based on the types of blouse. The high neck blouse needs to have more length compared to low neck blouse. The blouse length is taken from the front side according to other body measurement methods followed by some other tailors. Their measurement process is different than ours. The process what we teach is easy to learn and easy to replicate in the fabric when you will cut the fabric according to the measurements you have taken. We will learn everything step by step.

Shoulder

This is nothing but the distance between one shoulder tip to another. Shoulder tip is the shoulder joint. It can also described as the point where the horizontal part of the shoulder meets the vertical arms of our body. Please check the figure for more clarity. 

Arm-hole

The arm-hole is the round measurement over the bicep or the circumference of the biceps. Always take 1 inch less than your actual measurement for best fit. Suppose if the measurement is 15 inches then consider it as 14 inches. The reason will be understood when we will do the cutting on the fabric. As you always need to keep half inch seam allowance for the stitching you will always get 1 inch extra in the arm hole. That is why we consider one inch less in arm whole. I know this is not so clear at the moment. But you will understand when you will do the cutting and stitching according to the measurement.

Chest

Upper Chest

Put the measuring tape just below the arms and measure the circumference. Hold the measuring table slightly loose. The measuring tape should be straight and horizontally placed. Similar to what is shown in the picture. If you hold the measuring tape tightly then take one inch extra.

Lower chest or the bust size or the size around the bust

This is the circumference around the fullest part of the bust. similar to upper waist, hold the measuring tape slightly loose. The measuring tape should be straight along with the floor i.e. placed horizontally. If you hold the measuring tape tightly, then take one inch extra.

Waist

Circumference around the waist. Some people confuse the hip line with the waist line. The natural waist line could be on an average 2 inches above the belly bottom. Be careful that the customer for whom you are taking the measurement has not suck to reduce the belly while taking the measurement. If you such the stomach then the measurement will be inaccurate. Similar to chest measurement do not hold the measuring tape very tight. There should be a small allowance of a width of a finger as shown in the video. You can check the step by step video. The link is given in the bottom of the page.

Centre Bust Length or shoulder to bust length

To take the centre bust length, start from the top of the shoulder i.e. the intersection between the neck and the shoulder and end up to the centre of the bust in that side. Hold the measuring tape straight. The centre bust length or the shoulder to bust length depends on the height. According to the average height of the Indian women, the length will be maximum 10.5 inches. But there are outliers where centre bust length could be more than that. Always measure this length accurately. Otherwise if the length is mistakenly taken more or taken less, in both the cases the blouse will not fit well.

Neck Width

Neck width is the distance between the spine line at the back up to the width of the neck the customer want. This length depends on how broad neck blouse you want to make. If you want a broad neck blouse then the length needs to be taken accordingly.

Back Neck Depth

This needs to be taken from the back side of the body. Start at the top of the shoulder at the neck point and draw the measuring tape vertically to the chest to end at your desired length.

Front Neck Depth

This needs to be taken from the front side of the body. Similar to the back neck depth, start at the top of the shoulder at the neck point and draw the measuring tape vertically to the chest to end at your desired length.

Sleeve Length

This depends on the individual choice. If you do not want a sleeve in the blouse which is a latest style and known as sleeveless blouse then you do not need to take the sleeve length measurement. Always take the measurement from the ends of the shoulder up to the point you or your customer wants the sleeve to end.

Sleeve hole or the length around the sleeve end

To measure the size of your arm, measure the circumference at each of your two biceps where the sleeve ends. Generally two biceps circumference are same for every individual except few exceptional cases. So you can take the sleeve whole measurement of one arm only. Wrap the measuring tape around them where they are fully extended by one side. Keep one arm relaxed to your side and use that hand to hold the end of the other measurement tape to secure it.

Video Tutorial: How to take accurate body measurement for blouse cutting

Woman Size Chart for making a Blouse

Size: Medium

The following are standard measurements for female medium size

Next Topic: Step by Step guide of Blouse cutting and stitching process

In the next free tutorial we will be publishing a step by step guide of blouse cutting and stitching process according to the measurements we have taken in the tutorial. Once the tutorial is ready we will be providing a link here.

List of tailoring certificate courses offered by Disha Fashion Institute

If you want to learn blouse cutting and stitching professionally then you can join any of our following certificate courses. Basic and advance course have different types of designer blouse in the course syllabus. If you want specialize on designer blouse then you can take admission in the blouse designing course.

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