Most fit problems get blamed on the body: the blouse that gapes at the bust, the skirt that won't close over the hips, the dress whose waist sits on your ribs. In a tailor's shop the cause is nearly always the pattern, because ready-made clothes are cut for proportions that many women don't have. This guide covers what changes in the cutting for a fuller bust, wide hips and a short torso, why each fix works, and what to ask your tailor for when you order a piece made to measure.
Christiana O.28 September 2026.
When a woman tells us her clothes never fit, she usually describes it as a problem with her body. The shirt is too small across the chest, the skirt is too tight at the hips, the dress never sits where it should. In twenty five years of sewing for women of every shape, we have found that the body is rarely the problem. Ready-made clothing is cut from a standard block that assumes a certain relationship between bust, waist, hip and torso length, and any woman whose proportions differ from that block will find that the garment pulls, gapes or sits in the wrong place no matter what size she buys. The fixes below are the ones we make in cloth every week, and they explain why a custom piece can look so different on the same body.
The classic complaint is the blouse that fits across the shoulders but gapes between the buttons, or the one that closes over the bust but hangs off the shoulders like it belongs to someone else. Both come from the same mistake. Standard patterns are drafted for a smaller bust, so a woman with a fuller one buys a bigger size to get room at the chest and ends up with a neckline that slips, sleeves that are too wide, and a back that swims. The better method is to cut the shoulders, neck and armholes to your upper chest measurement, taken above the bust and under the arms, and then add volume only where the bust needs it. Tailors call this a full bust adjustment, and it is the single biggest difference between a top that fits a fuller bust and one that merely closes over it.
That extra volume has to go somewhere, and darts are how we manage it. A dart takes fabric in at the edge of the garment and shapes it over the curve, which is why a well-cut blouse on a fuller figure has a visible dart pointing toward the fullest part of the bust, or a princess seam running from the shoulder or armhole down over it. Gathers at the bust, which look forgiving on the hanger, add bulk exactly where you may not want it. If you like a buttoned front, we place one button at the fullest point of the bust so the gap has nowhere to open, and add a hidden snap between buttons for stubborn fabrics. Necklines matter too. V-necks, scoops and square necks with a little structure sit well, while a high, tight neckline or a boat neck cut close to the collarbone tends to pull across the chest. For off-shoulder and sweetheart styles, boning and a proper lining do the work that a size chart cannot.
Fabric changes the result as much as the cut. A crepe, a structured cotton or a heavy satin holds its shape over a fuller bust, while a thin lace or a very light chiffon without lining will cling and show every seam. Bring the bra you plan to wear with the outfit to your fitting, since the shape it gives you changes where the darts belong by an inch or more.
Skirts and trousers for wide hips go wrong in the opposite order to how most people expect. The standard approach is to pick a size that closes at the waist and hope the hips will follow, which leaves the skirt tight across the widest point and the waist gaping at the back. We work the other way around. The garment is cut to the fullest part of the hip, and the waist is then shaped in with darts and a contoured waistband that curves to match the body. The result stays smooth over the hips and sits flat at the waist with no gap.
Ease matters as much as measurement. A skirt cut to your exact hip number will fit while you stand and pull tight the moment you sit, which is why we add room for sitting, usually an inch or two depending on the fabric. A pencil skirt needs a slit or a vent at the back, and a fitted skirt in a fabric with no stretch needs a longer zip than most people expect, because a short zip forces you to fight the garment on and off over the hips. Pleats and gathers add volume at the waist, so we place them lower or leave them out where you would rather not have the extra fullness. Pockets need thought as well. Side pockets cut straight can gape and flare on wide hips, so we either angle them, sew them flat into the seam, or skip them. Skirts with a lining slide better over tights and hold their line when you walk. Wrapper sets need the blouse hem to end above the fullest part of the hip or well below it, since a hem landing at the widest point makes it look wider than it is.
A short torso is easy to miss until the clothes start misbehaving. Signs include a dress waist that sits on your ribs, a belt that rides up under the bust, a jumpsuit that pulls in the crotch, or tops that hit at an unflattering point no matter which length you buy. Standard patterns assume a longer distance from the back of the neck to the natural waist, so on a shorter torso the waist seam lands too low, and the extra length collects as wrinkles or a bulge above the belt.
The fix is to shorten the bodice between the armhole and the waist, which brings the waist seam up to where your own waist is, and to leave the hem alone. Shortening from the hem changes the skirt length and does nothing for the waist. Design choices help as well. High waists and empire lines sit naturally on a shorter torso, while a drop waist tends to sit too low and shorten the legs visually. A peplum should start at your real waist, and blouses look best when the hem falls either just above or well below the hip rather than across it. For jumpsuits the crotch depth needs adjusting along with the torso, which is why they are one of the hardest things to buy ready-made and one of the easiest to get right when they are made for you.
Most women do not have one of these traits; they have a mix. A fuller bust and a short torso together shorten the distance between the bust point and the waist, so the dart has to be shorter and placed higher. Wide hips with a smaller bust means a top and bottom that are cut to different sizes and joined at the waist, which is why two-piece outfits, wrapper sets and separates often fit better than a one-piece dress. When a piece has several of these adjustments and the occasion is important, such as a wedding, we cut a mock-up in plain cotton first, fit it, and correct it before the good fabric is touched. It adds a day or two, and it is the reason the finished piece needs almost no changes.
A few things make the fitting go faster and the result closer to what you have in mind:
If you have struggled to find clothes that fit any of these shapes, the cure is rarely a different size. It is a garment cut for the proportions you have. Send us a message or come by the shop in Aba, bring your fabric and a reference, and we will show you what the same style looks like when the pattern is built around you.
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