If you’ve ever made a dress that technically fits but still looks “not so good” the missing link might be your body shape. I always need more ease at the waist and I found it is because I have an inverted triangle body shape.
It is important to know your particular type, to make correct fitting clothes.
Knowing your body shape lets you avoid the frustration of sewing a style that doesn’t suit your frame.
Most commercial sewing patterns are designed for a standard hourglass or rectangle shape. If you’re sewing for a pear, apple, inverted triangle, etc., you’ll likely need some adjustment to make it look better. For instance, empire waistlines work well on apple shapes but not always on hourglass bodies.
When you realize your body shape, you will stop thinking like a sewist and more like a designer; You will learn to adapt and alter and adjust sewing patterns and design the garment with the correct silhouette, lines and darts in the correct place to suit your body.
When you choose patterns and fabrics that match your shape from the start, you’re less likely to waste fabric. Not to mention the feeling of disappointing after wasting a lot of time sewing clothes that do not look good.
Check out this post on how to find the best clothes for you depending on your body shape
How to determine your body shape
Measure yourself and compare this with the directions given below and you will know. You need to take body measurements with a tape measure – around the bust, waist, and hip.
On the bust line place the tape on the fullest part of the bust and measure the circumference. On waist place tape measure on the narrowest part and on the hip on the fullest part.
Types of body shapes
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1. Ideal Body Shape
This body shape has bust, hip, and waist in correct proportion, the curves progressively sloping. This figure is shapely without being too much curvy or angular. The difference between hip round and waist round is between 9 – 12 inches. Difference between Bust round and waist round is about 4-5 inches. (The Bra cup size is usually B)
2. Hourglass Body Shape
This is the kind of figure women aspire for, because of the unnaturally thin waist, and bigger than usual hip and bust. Bust round is slightly more than or equal to the hip round with a pronounced small waist.
In this body shape the waist round could be 13 inches or more smaller than the hip round resulting in a very curvy figure.
A celebrity with an Hourglass Body shape : Scarlett Johansson.
3. Triangle body shape
In this body shape (also called Pear) lower body is broader/heavier than the upper body. This is either because the Bust round is less than hip round (by 2 inches or more ) or because the figure has a narrow shoulder and wide hip.
The difference between Waist round and bust round is less than 4 inches. If the Hip is way more heavier than bust with a narrower waist the figure is called a Spoon.
Related post: Buying clothes for a Triangle shaped body – some points.
A celebrity with a Triangle body shape: Jennifer Lopez.
4. Inverted Triangle body shape
This body shape has upper body bigger than the lower body. This is either because Bust round is more than the hip round (Bra cup sizes C, D, DD) or because the figure has wide/broad shoulder with a narrow hip.
Typically Waist round is more than 5 inches lesser than bust round
Related post: Dressing tips for an Inverted Triangle shaped body.
A celebrity with an Inverted Triangle body shape: Angelina Jolie.
5. Rectangle body shape
Also called a Banana shape or the straight shape.
In this body figure, bust and hip are almost the same measurement and difference between hip round and the waist round measurement is not much ( less than 9 inches ) resulting in a straight columnar figure without much curves. If you have this figure you may have an athletic figure.
Learn more about this body shape and the dressing styles that suit a rectangle body shape here
A celebrity with a Rectangle body shape: Cameron Diaz.
6. Diamond Body shape
This body shape has a thicker waist circumference than the bust round or hip round.The stomach area may appear protruding. Some may call it an Apple when the upper body is slightly bigger than the hip.
Learn about many tricks you can use to hide a big stomach here.
Celebrities with a Diamond Body shape: Queen Latifah, Adele.
7. Oval body shape
Also called a round body shape.This is a body shape with a thick waist (waist is not defined) accompanied by a thicker upper body and/or lower body. Legs and arms may or may not be slender when compared to the rest of the body.
Related post : Round body shape outfits
A celebrity with an Oval Body shape: Melissa McCarthy
Other Related posts :
13 different body types (David Kibbe method); 6 types of Hips sizes ; Best Clothes for Your Body Type; Different types of Face shapes & Sewing Measurements 101.
Interesting reading : What is the ideal female shape?.
Hey wha happened
Thank you very informative, appreciated.
I agree with you that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. So perhaps it may be more fitting to refer to a “classic” body shape rather than an “ideal.” What is “ideal” is a matter of taste and preference. If we are to love ourselves as we are, what does it say when we don’t meet an “ideal?”
I have the same thought. Even though I myself am between the ‘ideal’ body shape and ‘rectangle’ I would rather call it something else. To keep the names of each figure consistent, what shape could the ‘ideal’ or ‘classic’ be classified as?
Love this
Excellent explanation of humanbody.
Thank you so much for this post. I have never been sure about my shape from other guides but you gave me the specifics I needed to distinguish the difference.