How do i find what my dress size is?

Probably the easiest way is to go dress shopping. Hold some up to you to get a general idea of what size you are, then take the 3 closest sizes into the dressing room with you and see which fits best. Alternatively, you could take your measurements and check a sizing chart.

Are you a man or a woman?

female

Please be aware that sizes vary by manufacturer (doesn’t make sense, does it?). Trying on a line of clothing is really the only way to know for sure what your size is for that brand.

why don’t you just take it off and look at the label? It’s printed (or woven) right there, no?

<<the question was “How do i find what my dress size is? ”

SRM

hmmm.. i apologize for not being stating spefifically what i need. please let me clarify. i am trying to purchase a dress online and it says the dress size is small 4–6. i am not sure if i fit in a size 4–6. is there a chart online that tells me how to find my dress size per measurements? confusion i know-sorry

Here you go. This is just one of many I found by googling “dress size chart”, and may not be the best one, but it’s a start.

EVERY dress maker is different…in the ‘90’s American dressmakers changed the sizes – a 10 became a 2, a 20 became a 10. It makes women feel better about their obesity and sells clothes.

if you want to know your actual size, the measurements are on dressmaker patterns, but they are still the older measurements – you may be a 14 on a dress pattern, but a 6 in the department stores.

thanks for the responses-yea augustian, that one will do. for some reason i was trying to do searches and just came up with wedding dresses, and i wasnt sure if that would be quite accurate. Thanks for the help!

@bristolbaby—I don’t recall my clothing sizes changing in the 1990s the way you portray. And, I’d hate to think that I’d really be considered a size 22 if today I wear a size 12. Perhaps you were exagerating for effect?
Clothing sizes (men’s and women’s) vary from manufacturer to manufacturer, as well as from one pair of pants to another even by the same maker. Sometimes you may put on a pair of size 10 jeans and then buy two pair only to find that the 2nd pair does not fit the same as the first.
Many online clothing sites have a sizing section so you can compare your measurements to those of the suggested sizing.
And, if you are not familiar with the manufacturer (e.g., you have not shopped in their real-world stores to know how their clothes fit), I’d be cautious about what you might receive. I’ve purchased clothes in my regular size only to find them too large, too long, too short, and too small upon receipt.
Good luck.

a 10 became a 2?? i know people who are size 2’s, and i can’t imagine them being considered a size 10. weird.

i got my body measured before i got married. tailors can also do this, i’ve had it done multiple times because i used to have to get all my clothes tailored, due to my height and weight in high school.

I do second Ausgustian’s suggestion that you go try dresses on, but I’d recommend you make them the more expensive designer type dresses, those tend to be more consistently and conventionally sized (from 0 to 16 I think in America). Also make sure you know which size scale the website you order from uses—the size scales are different in Europe, UK, America, etc.

I would like to introduce you all to the practice known as “shrinking the marker”.
Inasmuch as three of my four great-grandfathers were tailors in both the old country and in the US or UK, and several uncles and great-uncles and my mother were in the rag trade (garment business) and I myself spent 10 years at a clothing manufacturer after I completed my MBA, this could almost be considered a genetic thing in my family.

Anyway. historically a good portion of ladies clothing manufacturing is done with the use of sewing contractors. The manufacturer would send a bolt of cloth, say 1000 yards of woven wool to a contractor who would be expected to make (I am guessing here ) 700 finished dresses from the cloth.
Now you all have seen how to cut out the pieces of a dress or blouse or even an apron using the pattern that you buy at the simpiicity or McCall’s store. This pattern would be used to make a size 6 or a size 10, etc.

But in a production environment, the contractor does not use a pattern, he uses a marker. The marker is like a pattern but it contains all sizes , like from size 3 to size 11 and the patternmaker is supposed to maximize the amount of pieces that can be cut from that single length of cloth. So if the contractor can get 710 dresses from the length of cloth instead of the 700 that the manufacturer is expecting there is extra profit available to the contractor. This results in smaller garments or where one outfit’s size 4 is more like another manufacturer’s size 6.

I hope that was clear enough for you all..
SRM