Measuring Guide:EROL

Measuring Guide~What size bra should you buy?

The objective is to wear a properly fitted bra, a tape measure should be used as a guide only. If your bra is too big or too small there are signs which will tell you. The first thing to do is to take an honest look at the bras that you are currently wearing.

Let's begin.

Take a tape measure and place it around yourself under your bust, making sure the tape is level around your back and meets in the middle of your breasts. Pull the tape quite tight and read the measurement in centimetres.

Then using this conversion chart you can see what size band you require.

65cm 30"back
70cm 32"back
75cm 34"back
80cm 36"back
85cm 38"back
90cm 40"back
95cm 42"back
100cm 44"back
105cm 46"back
110cm 48"back
115cm 50"back

If you find you are not exactly one of these measurements go to the one which is nearest to what you measure ie 73cm would be 34" back, 77cm would also be 34" back.

Make sure that the back is not too big
If the back of your bra is too big you won't get the cup size right as the cup size compensates for the back size.

If you are wearing a bra with a back size that is too small for you it will feel too tight and uncomfortable. However bras with back sizes that are too big are not that easy to spot, they can feel very comfortable and often you are compensating for a large back size with a cup size that is too small for you. A correctly fitting bra should fit firmly around your back, which is where most of the support will come from.

The back of the bra should stay parallel with the front of the bra. If the back of your bra tends to ride up, or the straps fall off your shoulders, it is probably because the back is too big for you.

A new bra should always be fitted on it's loosest fitting - this allows you to tighten the bra as it stretches with wear and washing. Never fit yourself into a new bra on its tightest fitting.

Cup size

Once you are happy with your back size you can then work on the cup size.

If you need to change to a smaller back size (which we find to be a very common occurrence), you may also need to opt for a larger cup, because often one compensates for the other. A B cup on a 34" back bra will be smaller that a B cup on a 36" bra and so on with all cup and back sizes.The rough rule is that you should increase the cup letter for every decrease in back size, if you want to keep the cup the same size, and vice versa.

So if you have been wearing a 36D bra and from your measuring you have found you should be a 34" back but the cup fits you well in the bras you have at the moment then you will need to buy a 34E.Now, if you are wearing a bra with a cup that is too big for you, you won't be filling the cups properly, and you will need to drop a cup size. So if on your measurement your back size is OK at 36" but the cup is too big for you then you would order a 36C or if you need to go down a back size and your cup is too big at present then alter only the back size ie 36D would go to 34D.

In our experience however it is more likely that if the cups aren't fitting you properly it is because they are too small. The signs to look for are breasts bulging over the top and out of the sides of each cup. The wires of an underwired bra will not sit back against your chest wall in the cleavage and will be digging into the sides of your breasts.

If the wires (i.e. cup size) are big enough, they will go around each breast and sit snugly against your rib cage, with each breast in it's cup. If not, an increase in cup size is needed.
Contact us for advice

If you are finding you are having problems following our guidelines for fitting then please do not hesitate to telephone us and we can discuss your fitting with you, Or if you live locally call in and we will fit you into the right size and style bra.

Call us on 0151 722 9464 between during opening hours - see home page for times.
Alternatively email us with your telephone number and we will call you back outside of these hours. info@dechalma.net
~~~869~872~~