Burda Style For people who sew

I had no idea what size I was according to Burda sizes until the girls here at BurdaStyle showed me how to do it. I imagine that many of you are just as lost as I am. Before anything you should know, measuring yourself is a two-person job, so grab a good friend and start it up!

Technique Materials

You will need a fabric measuring tape, paper/pen and a good friend.

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9 Comments Sign in to add a post

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  Feb 26, 2012, 06.36 PMby oscarwilde

  Hi, I’ve measured myself and I’m probably just being stupid or not reading something but how do I know what Burda size I am from this? How do the measurements correlate to size 32, etc.? Thanks for the help. :)
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  Jan 8, 2010, 12.04 PMby tanya16

  Thank you, this is great. Especially for sending the link to family and friends in different parts of the country to fine-tune Burda patterns as I make garments for them. The photos and explanations are excellent. A great resource.
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  Sep 29, 2009, 11.18 PMby jmz

  Thank you for the tutorial. Also, could include how to measure the shoulder width. I found that I have narrow shoulders and that seems to be the primary fit problem for me.

  In general, I wish patterns would include the shoulder width measurement.
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  Feb 19, 2009, 06.57 PMby cherryblossom55

  This is great, but it doesn’t guarantee that patterns will fit based on your measurements. Even using my measurements precisely the way you do them here, I’ve never made an article of clothing from a pattern that didn’t end up feeling at least a couple sizes too big. (maybe I just have a crazy body…)

  so for those of you who are not familiar with patterns, keep this in mind and be prepared to take things in. (its better to be too big than too small I guess)
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  Jul 16, 2008, 06.03 AMby odarkor

  Hi a tip about measuring the hip is nine inches (9") from your belly button. Overall all your tips are great.
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  Jul 14, 2008, 04.03 PMby wednesdayapple

  i’m glad you posted this cos i was totally beside myself with stuff like front waist legnth, bust point, etc…. very helpful!!! cheers!
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  Jun 23, 2008, 11.47 AMby tshibbler

  As a true beginner this tutorial is extremely helpful. Now if someone could just tell me how to read a pattern :) This site is very helpful all around. Thanks.
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  Jun 22, 2008, 04.33 PMby lukastoka

  thanks alot but the only thing that i don’t know is how to make your own size how to make the pattern fit with your own size

  1 Reply

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    Sep 10, 2010, 12.41 PMby Sabrina Wharton-Brown

    There are two places that may help you.

    1. The Readers Digest book ‘The New Complete Guide to Sewing’ has a section on how to use your master pattern with a commercial pattern.
    There are also instructions for making your master pattern using a simple commercial pattern.

    2. Nancy Zieman’s book ‘Patternfitting With Confidence’. You can find a free video example of this at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfmleCst2rE

    I hope this helps! : )
    Happy Sewing!

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  May 26, 2008, 09.45 PMby rianur

  This is very helpful. Thank you very much for the tutorial :)