If you have been in the fashion industry, you will come across petite size range. It is for women with shorter vertical measurements, including torso, arms, legs and body rise. For home sewers, it is sometimes very frustrating when you see a perfect pattern, but it is made for regular size – and you are way shorter than that.
I must admit that finding a pattern exclusively for petites is so difficult, and adjusting a regular size pattern to petite is also a lot of trouble. I have been asked to make patterns for petite body frame, but to be honest I do not have much time to do so. It is not because I do not want to be inclusive (I am a petite myself – only 5’2” or 157cm), but because I have a great way to make regular patterns work for me.
In general, petite body frame has shorter vertical measurements, and although you may not notice, the petite body frame is mostly proportionate to regular body frame. The idea of making regular patterns work for petite body frame is to scale down the vertical measurement of the pattern to match the vertical measurement of the actual body.
I am showing you how to make a regular pattern works for a petite body. We will need to do some mathematic calculations here (I am using metric system for easier illustration).
Let’s take myself as an example:
Body height: 157cm – Bust: 96cm – Waist: 74cm – Hips: 97cm (see, I am petite AND curvy)
Tiana’s Closet sewing patterns are made for average height of 5’6” (168cm).
The ratio of my body height to Tiana’s Closet average height is: 157 : 168 = 0.93 (93%)
My height is about 93% of regular height. Therefore the patterns should be printed using a 93% scale. However, because I am scaling down the vertical length, the horizontal measurements are also scaled down, so the size table is no longer correct. I need to do a reverse calculation to find out the full size measurement, so that after printing it out in 93% scale, it will be an exact match for my body measurement.
Full bust size should be: 96cm : 93% = 103.2cm.
Full waist size should be: 72cm : 93% = 77.4cm
Full hip size should be: 97cm : 93% = 104.3cm
Now take a look at the size table for Tiana’s Closet pattern.
A bust of 103cm falls in between size XL and XXL. So, a general rule of thumb, size up. I should choose size XXL to print.
A waist of 77.4cm falls between size XL and XXL. So, size up and choose XXL.
A hip of 104.3cm is size L.
Now you can see that I have size XXL at bust and waist, and L at the hip, so I will print size L and size XXL and blend the waist and hip line to match my unique body measurements.
Although this method requires you to do some calculation, I believe it is much simpler than finding a pattern you like in petite size range. The best part about it is that it is flexible and can be used for your unique body height and measurements.
Let’s take another example:
Body height 162cm, Bust 92cm, Waist 73cm, Hip 98cm.
The height ratio to regular size is: 162 : 168 = 96.4%.
The number 96.4% will be the key number to remember.
The full size bust should be: 92 : 96.4% = 95.43cm
The full size waist should be: 73 : 96.4% = 75.7cm
The full size hip should be: 98 : 96.4% = 101.7cm
Look at Tiana’s Closet size table, you will see the bust of 95.43cm falls in size L, waist of 75.7cm is size L, and hip of 101.7cm is size L. So you can choose size L to print.
Have you got the idea for all this? Just remember the ratio of the actual body height to the pattern height, and use it to calculate the size that you need to use.
You can also have a look at this post for tips to adjust patterns to your own measurements: https://tianascloset.com/index.php/2023/05/13/how-to-adjust-patterns-to-your-own-measurements/
If you have a better idea of how to make regular patterns work for petite body frame without too much trouble of adjusting patterns, please let me know. I am happy to share knowledge with others!
