How to choose size?

Short answer: start by measuring the relevant measures for that specific garment e.g. your bust, waist, and hips in your underwear with a soft measuring tape, compare those numbers to our body measurement size chart and check the finished garment measurements to understand how much ease - extra room - is built in that specific style. If your measurements span two sizes, print both and blend between them.

Here's the fuller version:

Step 1: Take your actual measurements

Measure around your fullest part of your bust, at your waist, and around the fullest part of your hips. Wear only underwear when you measure, and don't pull the tape tight - you want your real measurements, not a squeezed one.

Step 2: Compare to the pattern's size chart, not your clothing size

Compare your measurements with the measurements in our body measurements table. Besides from this, on every Puff and Pencil pattern, you'll also find a note on which measurement matters most for that specific style - for example, bust measurement matters most for a close-fitting dress like our Boatneck Dress.

Step 3: Understand ease

Ease is the extra space added to a pattern beyond your exact body measurements, for movement and comfort. A fitted style will have less ease ans a relaxed, loose style will have more. Every product page lists the finished garment measurements so you can see exactly how much room you'll have before you cut a single piece of fabric.

Step 4: What to do if you're between sizes

Most of us don't fit one size across the board - maybe your hips measure a size large, but your bust is closer to a medium and the sewing pattern has a body-hugging fit? When that happens:

1. Identify which size each measurement (bust, waist, hip) falls into
2. Print the pattern with all sizes visible (our files include layered sizing for XXS–XXL / US 0–22)
3. Draw a blended line between the two sizes at the point where your body changes size

If you open your PDF in a free reader like Adobe Acrobat, you can also toggle to show only the sizes you need, which makes tracing a blended size much easier to see on the page.

A quick sizing checklist

• Measure yourself in underwear, tape not pulled tight
• Use our body measurement size chart to identify your size, not your clothing size
• Check the finished garment measurements for ease, especially if the style has a body-hugging fit
• Note which measurement matters most for that specific style
• Blend between sizes if you fall between two and the style has a close fit