All About the Man! Let's Get Measuring!

This blog post is all about the man.....a man's clothing, of course.

One day, my husband was sharing his difficulties of finding shirts that fit him the way he liked.

Darn the generic sizes of Medium and Large....

So this sparked my journey to figure out how to make a man's shirt from nothing.

FYI: I do not have a fashion degree, never have used a sewing machine in my life, my sewing skills by hand are at beginner's level, so here we go...


First, like any project, before you embark upon it, you need to research and prepare the right tools. So I had to research different Youtube videos and websites regarding fashion in general. Unfortunately, the results were not easy to find because the how-to videos and information for women's clothing were more abundant and readily available than the information for men's clothing.

This was disheartening, but I trekked forward to my goal.

I finally found a video that had the general idea of what measurements needed to be taken in order to have the measurements for my husband's clothing. They are the following:

The general measurements are separated into three sections: Front, Back, and Arms. You can choose inches(in) or centimeters (cm) depending on what you are more comfortable with.

First, the FRONT Measurement (M)

1. Circumference of neck
2. Distance between left and right armpit over the nipples
3. Length from left shoulder (at the base of the neck) to the waist
4. Length from left shoulder (at the base of the neck) to the hip
5. Circumference of the waist
6. Circumference of the hip

Tips:

• When measuring #3, you should keep in mind that if you would prefer a longer shirt, you can add a few more inches to your measurements.
• When measuring #5 and #6 please make sure that you measure a little loose so that when you end up washing the clothing, it gives a little room to the person you are making the shirt for.
• When measuring #2, you have to keep in mind that some have larger pectoral muscles and so depending if the person you are making the clothing for likes their clothing snug or loose should determine how exact you make the measurements or how loose you make the measurements.

Second, the BACK

1. Length from left to right of waist
2. Length from left to right of hip
3. Circumference of neck
4. Distance between left and right armpit
5. Length from spine to right armpit.

Tips:

• Many of the measurements will have already been measured when completing the measurements for the front i.e. Circumference of the neck.
• When measuring the length from middle of neck to hip and the waist measure from the base of neck down and along the spine. Make sure you add the same length to the front as you do the back if you're adding some length.
• The distance between armpits might be different from the front due to size of chest.

Last, the ARMS

1. Circumference of the arm near the arm socket
2. Circumference of the bicep
3. Circumference of the forearm
4. Circumference of the wrist
5. Length from top of arm to the wrist 

Tips:

• When you measure #3 make sure the arm is bent to get the full length of the arm.
• Measuring the bicep and the forearm will help guide you when you draw the pattern for the arm.

There is a part two to this for how to make a pattern in another post.

I hope this is helpful to you.

Would love to hear from you!

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