Yates Sew-Along: Selecting your Size
Today we’re going to talk about selecting your proper size. The first thing you’ll need to do is get some measurements. The three measurements needed to select your size are bust, waist, and hip, and with the Yates, the most important measurements are going to be your bust and hip. This is due to the fact that these are the most fitted sections of the coat. The waist is relatively straight and generally of less importance in most cases.
For the bust measurement (1) you’re going to measure around the fullest point of your bust, wearing whatever type of bra or undergarment you plan on wearing under your garment. It’s a good idea to have someone help you take your measurements, especially the bust, if you can as having your arms up and holding the tape can affect the measurement a bit.
The waist measurement (2) will be at your natural waist. On many people this is the smallest point of your torso, though on me, it’s pretty much a straight shot from one measurement to another. If you fall into my category a good rule of thumb is your waist is generally where you hands want to end up when you put them on your waist if that makes any sense. It’s also where you bend from.
The hip measurement (3) will be the fullest part of your hips and butt. Typically this is approximately 7″ below your natural waist, though on others it can be lower. You want to make sure you get around the full circumference so you don’t end up with tight hips!
Once you get your measurements you can select your size on the size chart. If your measurement falls between two sizes, for instance if your bust is 34.5˝, you’ll want to round up and choose the next size up.
If you fall into different sizes for each measurement as in the illustration above, you can either go with a straight size of the largest measurement or blend between sizes to get a better fit. For the Yates there are a few things to think about in this situation. As I mentioned above the waist is the least important measurement so if that’s the largest size on the chart I’d recommend checking the finished measurements for that size. If your waist is inside that then go with the larger size of your hip or bust. If you’re more than a size apart you’ll likely want to blend to avoid having one section of the coat tight or loose. That situation is usually never great for the comfort or look of the garment. The measurements above are my personal measurements so what I would do is blend from a 6 at the bust to an 8 at the hips and omit my waist measurement entirely. Since it’s still a smaller number than the finished waist measurement I’ll be just fine doing that.
If you’re a straight size and don’t need to do any pattern adjustments you’re good to cut your pattern pieces. If you fall between sizes as I do, or need to make an adjustment, we’ll have more about that in our next post!
