Made-to-measure patterns for wide hips

A size chart assumes a regular difference between waist and hips. If your hips fall two sizes above your waist, the skirt chosen by your hips gapes at the waist, and the one chosen by your waist is tight at the hips. The usual fix is to blend between two sizes along the side seam, then check on a toile.

A pattern drafted to your measurements has no sizes to blend: the difference between your waist and your hips is your body's own, and the pattern follows it.

For the method on a shop-bought pattern, read our guide to adapting a pattern to your figure.

For the lower body, several measurements work together, and we keep them apart:

• your waist, at your natural waist, without pulling tight, and your hips, about 13 cm below the waist, level with the points of your hip bones: these two are among the required measurements. Be careful: what shop size charts call the hip measurement is often the fullest part of the bottom, which is our seat measurement;
• your seat, at the fullest part of your bottom: optional, in the ‘For a more accurate pattern’ step, it refines the fit over the bottom in trousers and straight skirts;
• waist to hip, from the natural waist down to the hip line, level with the points of your hip bones, at the side: also optional, it places the hip line;
• for trousers or shorts, your inside leg and thigh: optional, otherwise they are estimated from your other measurements.

To measure yourself accurately, follow our guide to taking your measurements.

Without the optional measurements, the pattern relies on average proportions: your seat is then worked out from your hips, and so is your thigh. If your width sits mainly at the bottom or the thighs, these are the measurements to give: each one replaces an estimate with your real measurement.

The form accepts a waist from 55 to 150 cm, hips from 60 to 160 cm and a seat from 70 to 170 cm. It doesn't cap the difference between waist and hips.

Skirts and shorts are among the families we know best. A skirt is built first on the waist and hips; waist to hip and, for a straight skirt, your seat make it more accurate. A simple skirt and elastic-waist shorts are the easiest to start with.

Trousers are among the most demanding garments to fit: how they hang also depends on the crotch, whose depth is estimated from your proportions. A toile is recommended for any garment, and even more so for trousers.

Our studio does not draft these yet: bustiers, halterneck tops, wrap dresses, dressing gowns and kimonos, kaftans, ponchos, pleated skirts, wrap skirts, corsets, lingerie, swimwear, wedding dresses and formal occasion or haute couture pieces. If your design can't be drafted, no credits are deducted.

If the toile wrinkles under the bottom or gapes at the waist, our article helps you read those folds: trousers that wrinkle at the back: diagnosis and fixes.

The block is described in detail on the page for the made-to-measure trouser pattern.