How to Measure Your Bra Fit at Home

We are getting right back to basics today and talking about how to measure yourself for a bra. Knowing how to measure yourself is a really handy skill and for many women it's essential. If you live a long way from a lingerie store that has skilled staff or if you find it physically or emotionally difficult to be fitted at a store then measuring yourself at home is necessary.

I'm going to keep this really simple today but I want you to remember that the numbers are only a starting point in finding your fit. The shape, density and position of your breasts can all play a part in the size that's best for you.

Once you're familiar with the basics of measuring yourself for a bra then it's worth checking out these blog posts:

Soft Breast Tissue and Bra Fit
Shallow Breasts and Bra Fit (you can see our shallow friendly bras here)
Torso Shape and Bra Fit
Breast Roots and Bra fit (you can see our high set breast friendly bras here)
How Height Can Affect Bra Fit (you can see our short torso friendly bras here)

Here are a few things you might have read elsewhere that you won't find in our measuring advice:

• We don't recommend measuring without wearing a bra because the density of your breasts can affect the measurements.
  
• We don't recommend adding inches to your measurement results.
  
• We don't recommend exhaling and pulling the tape measure tightly (you usually find this advice in techniques that add inches)
  
• We don't recommend measuring with clothes over the top of your bra because this skews the results.

So having said all of that let's get started on how to measure yourself at home for a bra.

Standing in front of a mirror put on your best fitting bra (avoid padded, sports, minimizer and molded bras). The mirror is to help you see your bra fit around your body.

Don't worry if you know the bra doesn't fit you correctly you can adjust it so that it fits you better for the duration of the measuring. Adjust the band so that it's as firm as possible and level with the ground while you do the measurements. Scoop as much of your breast tissue into the cups as possible then take your measurements.

Measure around your ribcage using a fabric tape measure. The tape measure should lie flat against your body. There's no need to pull the tape measure tightly or to exhale.

Make sure the tape measure is level with the floor all the way around your ribcage because this is where the band should sit on your body when your bra fits you correctly. Write down your first measurement in inches. No need to round up or down.

Pass the tape measure around the fullest part of your breasts (over your nipples), again ensuring that it is level all the way around. Write down the size in inches. Don't round up or down.

Now that you've done all the measuring it's time to work out your best starting bra size.

Let's start with your band size. Your ribcage measurement is your band size. If you measure an uneven number round up one inch to get your band size. For example if you measured 31 then your band size would be a 32.

You don't need to round up your ribcage measurement when working out your cup size below; use the exact ribcage measurement.

Now to find your cup size. Subtract your first measurement (the one around your ribcage) from the second measurement (the one around the fullest part of your bust). For example:

Step 3 Measurement (fullest part of your bust) = 39

MINUS

Step 2 Measurement (around your ribcage) = 31

DIFFERENCE = 8 inches

Compare your Difference Number to this table to find your cup size (we recommend knowing your UK size as most full bust brands are British):

Difference in Inches	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14
UK Sizes	DD	E	F	FF	G	GG	H	HH	J	JJ	K
North American Sizes	D	DD	DDD	G	H	I	J	K	L	M	N

NB: Lots of charts show a UK DD to be the same as a North American DD and a UK E to be the same as a US DDD but we simply haven't found this to be true. Of the styles we carry a UK DD cup is the same as a North American D cup.

A Difference Number of 8 equals a UK G cup (the equivalent of a North American brand's H cup). Put your band size and cup size together, in this example a 32G. You now have your best starting bra size!

For many women this process will give them a bra size that works for them in most styles and brands. However, you know your comfort best and so you might find that you prefer a looser or a tighter band. You can use our cup volume blog post to work out how to adjust your bra size for a tighter or looser fit.

I hope this post helps you get a good start on your bra fit for this year. Our Free Size Consultation is a great follow up to knowing your measurements. Great bra fit means you can get on with life more comfortably and confidently! xx

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Why Bras Slip Down

Sometimes a client asks me why her bra slips down her body during the day. She puts it on in the morning so that the wires are flush with the root of her breast but it still manages to wiggle its way down her body. There are 3 main causes for bras that slip down the body:

Wire Shape
If you have a wide breast root and you're wearing a bra that has narrow cups (like Gem in the picture above) then it's like trying to keep a tennis ball in an egg cup. You might be able to squeeze the tennis ball into the egg cup but the pressure is going to build and the tennis ball will pop up.

Your wide breast roots force their way out of the narrow wire shapes and your bra slips down. To resolve this problem look for bras with a wide wire - Panache is particularly good for wide wires.

For more information on breast root shapes click here.

Torso Shape
I've written a lot about torso shape because for some women this is the biggest shape factor that affects their bra fit. If you have a flared torso that is wider at the top of your band than it is at the bottom then you can often find that your bras slip down.

Lots of my clients with flared ribcages wear their bands on the loosest hook at the top of their band and the tightest hooks at the bottom to offset the size difference. There's no easy fit fix for a significantly flared torso but bra extenders can help you create a wide fit at the top of your band and a tight fit at the bottom.

For more information on how torso shape affects bra fit click here.

Cup Size
Similar to the tennis ball in an egg cup scenario, cups that are too small for you cause a pressure build up and eventually your breast tissue wiggles out of the cups and forces the bra down. Your bra wire should go all the way around the outside edge of your breasts without spilling over the front, sides, armpits or beneath the band.

Have you experienced your bra slipping down your body? Was there a reason not mentioned here, we'd love to read your experience xx

Breast Roots and Bra Fit

Your breast root refers to the size and shape of the area where your breasts attach to your body. Just to clarify, this isn't to do with the shape of your breasts, which may be shallow, or full or long etc. It's a part of bra fitting that helps you work out which cup wires work for you. There are two measurements to consider when talking about breast roots; your breast root width and your breast root height.

Assessing Your Wire Width
There are, broadly speaking, three breast root widths; average, narrow and wide. The width of your breast root is linked to which width, or shape, of bra wire will work best with your breasts. Your bra wire must never rest on your breast tissue and ideally you don't want it to run very wide of the outside of your breasts (although some gap between your breast root and the bra wire is not terribly detrimental to your fit).

Think of the bottom of your breast root (the area of your breast that attaches to your body underneath your breast) as a smile. You can have a broad, flat smile or you can have a deep, curved smile and you want a bra that has a matching shape to your breast root. By understanding the width of your breast root you can diagnose if a bra wire is too wide or narrow for you when you put it on.

If your bra wire rests on your breast tissue then your first step is to check that your cup volume is large enough. Try a larger cup first and if that doesn't work then the wire shape could be too narrow for the width of your breast root so this isn't a style for you.

If your bra wire goes a long way past your breast root (most commonly this is when there is lots of empty cup around the side of your body, under your armpit) then you can try a cup volume smaller but it's most likely that the wires of the cup are too wide for you and this isn't the bra for you.

Breast Root Height
On average full bust women find that their breast root is between 5 and 7 inches lower than their armpit. If the distance between your breast root base and your armpit is less than 5 inches you often find that bra wires poke into your armpit. If this is the case for you then you have high set breasts and will benefit from bras with short wires that don't rise as high into your armpit.

Fit Point: If you find that you often get empty cup at the bottom of your bra then it could be because your wires are too long for your high set breasts. Look for bras with shorter wires.

If your breast root is farther down your body than 7 inches you can experience spilling at the sides of your bra no matter which size you try. You need tall bras with long wires that run equal to (or higher than) the side of your breasts.

Help Finding the Right Wire
Bratabase is a fantastic resource for finding out whether a bra has long or short wires and how other women have found the fit based on their own breast root width and height.

At Butterfly Collection we include the side height of each bra (the side compromises of the wing and wire) on the product page to help you work out whether the length of the wire is right for your breast root height.

I hope this helps you work out if your bra fit frustrations are being caused by a mismatch between your breast root and wire xx