How to Take Your Body Measurements at Home (Men & Women)

A tailor will measure you in the shop, so why learn to do it yourself? Because your own numbers let you compare quotes without travelling to six markets, order from a tailor on the other side of the city, check that a finished garment was cut to your size, and notice when your body has changed since the last order. This guide covers every measurement a tailor is likely to ask for, where the tape goes, and the mistakes that quietly ruin a fit.

Everything here is in centimetres and inches. Indian tailors usually work in inches, most size charts online use centimetres, and mixing the two is one of the commonest ways a good measurement becomes a bad garment. Pick one, write the unit beside every number, and stay with it.

What you need before you start

• A soft fabric tape. A metal or stiff plastic tape will not wrap around a body. A tailor's tape costs very little and is worth owning.
• Close-fitting clothes. A thin fitted t-shirt or camisole and leggings. Measuring over a kurta or a jacket measures the clothes, not you.
• A second person, if you can. Shoulder width, back length and anything behind you is hard to take on your own.
• A mirror and a notebook. Check in the mirror that the tape is level, and write each number down the moment you read it.
• Bare feet. Height and trouser length both depend on it.

Stand naturally with your feet a little apart and your arms relaxed at your sides. Breathe normally. Do not hold your breath or pull your shoulders back: you want the shape you will actually wear the garment in.

The measurements, and where the tape goes

Step by step: upper body

1. Put on a fitted top and stand in front of a mirror.
2. Chest or bust. Wrap the tape around the fullest part, under the arms and straight across the back. It should touch you lightly all the way round, with no slack and no dent. Write the number down.
3. Waist. Find your natural waist by bending sideways: the crease that forms is your waist. Measure there, breathing out normally.
4. Shoulder. Ask a helper to measure across the back from one shoulder bone to the other. On your own, measure a shirt that fits you well and use that as a cross-check.
5. Sleeve. Bend your arm slightly and measure from the shoulder bone over the elbow to the wrist bone.
6. Neck, bicep and wrist last. These are the ones tailors check for shirts and for kurtas with fitted cuffs.

Step by step: lower body

1. Stand with your feet together on a flat floor.
2. Hip. Measure around the fullest part of the seat. It is often lower than people expect, so watch the mirror and slide the tape until the reading is the largest.
3. Inseam. Hold the tape at the top of your inner thigh, as high as a trouser crotch seam would sit, and drop it straight to the ankle bone.
4. Outseam. Start at the natural waist on the side and measure straight down to the ankle bone, or to wherever you want the hem to fall.
5. Thigh. Measure the fullest part, just below the crease of the seat.

Seven mistakes that ruin a fit

• Measuring over clothes. A bulky layer can add several centimetres to a girth.
• A twisted or sagging tape. If the tape is not level all the way round, the number is longer than your body. Check in the mirror.
• Pulling the tape tight. It should lie flat against you, nothing more.
• Holding your breath. A chest measured on a held breath is too big for a shirt you will wear all day. Breathe normally.
• Measuring once. Take every measurement twice. If the two readings differ by more than a centimetre, take a third and use the middle value.
• Mixing units. A number without its unit beside it is a guess.
• Adding ease yourself. Give your tailor body measurements. Ease, the extra room for breathing and movement, is the tailor's call and differs a great deal between a fitted blouse and a loose kurta.

Centimetres to inches

When a tape is not enough

A tape measures size. It does not see posture. A tailor looks at whether one shoulder sits lower than the other, whether you stand with a stoop or an arched back, whether you are broader across the back than the front, and how you carry your weight when you walk. Those observations change how a jacket, a sherwani or a bridal blouse is cut. For structured garments, use your own numbers to compare quotes, then let the tailor measure you in person.

If you would like a starting set without a tape, our free measurement scan takes two photos on your phone, speaks the instructions aloud and uploads nothing. It is an estimate, and your tailor confirms it with a tape. We explain how accurate phone measuring really is, and where it goes wrong.

Measuring for a specific garment

• [Blouse](/blog/how-to-measure-for-a-blouse-at-home): bust, underbust, armhole, sleeve round and the two neck depths.
• [Lehenga](/blog/how-to-measure-for-a-lehenga): waist, hip, and a length that depends on the heels you will wear.
• [Suit and shirt](/blog/how-to-measure-for-a-suit-and-shirt): neck, chest, sleeve, rise and inseam.