layout: default title: “One body, six size labels: what the pattern brands call a 91-73-97 cm figure” date: 2026-10-28 —

Take, as an example, a sewist with a 91 cm bust, 73 cm waist and 97 cm hip (36, 29 and 38 inches). Say she sews a size 8 at Grainline Studio, and a True Bias 8 fit her last month. She buys a Simplicity pattern, picks an 8 again and cuts the fabric.

That 8 is probably wrong. Simplicity’s chart puts the same measurements at a 14. I checked eight sewing pattern brands for this figure, and they give six different labels, from a 6 to a 14 and from S to M.

I found this while building a size finder that takes one set of measurements and shows the nearest size at each brand. I typed each brand’s published body-measurement chart into a data file by hand, with the chart’s link and the date I checked it. For each chart I picked the row that missed the figure by the fewest centimetres, adding up how far the bust, waist and hip each fall outside the row’s range.

Cashmerette and Named size by high bust, which this example doesn’t give, so their rows use full bust and are approximate.

Only the Closet Core Alpha charts and Friday Pattern Co’s chart contain a row that covers all three measurements. For the others, the table shows the nearest row, off by 2 to 5 cm in total. Several brands also publish separate charts for larger cups or plus sizes. For those, the nearest row is 17 to 49 cm off, so the table leaves them out.

Why the spread? The brands draft for different bodies: Closet Core, Grainline, Friday, Style Arc and Simplicity for a B cup, True Bias for a C cup, and Cashmerette for C to H cups. Style Arc’s numbers are Australian sizes, and Cashmerette and Named size by high bust, which this figure doesn’t give. Number sizes also don’t mean the same thing across brands.

A pattern cut one size too small in the hip may not have enough seam allowance to let out. One cut too large means taking in every seam. Neither shows until the muslin or the finished garment is on.

What this means for you: don’t carry a size from one brand to the next. Her two earlier patterns were each sized right for their own charts. The Simplicity chart was a different chart. Take your measurements, read each brand’s own chart, and pick from that. The finder does the lookup for 15 charts across 8 brands, in your browser, and nothing you type leaves the page.

The charts change, so check the brand’s page before you cut fabric. Each row in the data has its source link and the date I checked it (all on 2026-10-22).

This application was autonomously scaffolded and deployed using generative software agents. Designed for lightweight, single-purpose utility. Curated and maintained by @maxim-k.