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Like Nicole says, it’s always best to check if you’re using a new pattern.

This is probably more information about how the sausage is made than you want to know, but what the heck. If you’re interested in a behind-the-scenes look, keep reading.

All our patterns are developed and grading using ASTM children’s clothing sizing standards. The detailed body measurements in this standards set are used internationally by clothing manufacturers to ensure consistency of sizing across different styles. This standards set is, incidentally, not inexpensive to purchase.

The standards accommodate the vast majority of the population (which is why they are called “standards”), and this is what ensures that in most cases a size 4 will fit a four year old well. But just like adults, childrens’ bodies can vary significantly from standards–and in some more unusual ways due to the fact that their bodies are growing and developing. There’s nothing wrong with this. It’s just a fact of nature.

My own daughter, for example, is all over the chart because she is tall and very thin for her age. She’s almost ten years old, but while our size 10 will fit most 10 year olds well, it doesn’t fit her without significant modifications. That doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with the pattern or with her body. It just means that she doesn’t fall withing the 30-70 percentile range for her age across the whole set of standards. And that’s no surprise because every year when she has her physical her pediatrician tells us where she falls in percentile range on height and weight, and she’s always been very high in one and very low in the other. (The lesson here: don’t trust hobbyist pattern makers who develop their sizing based on their own kids and their kids’ friends bodies. If Liesl had developed our sizing charts based on our daughter, our patterns wouldn’t fit most kids at all.)

But that’s the great thing about sewing. With fitting and minor pattern adjustments, you can get the perfect fit.

So the moral of the story is to always measure and check when sewing something new. The good news, though, is that since our patterns use these standards you can assume that once you determine how your child varies on one pattern that variance will be consistent across all our styles. So the adjustments you make to the first pattern you sew will be the same sort of adjustments you will make to future styles.