The nightmare of sizing

As a newly appointed grandmother (and not having grown up in Australia) I struggled to create the right sizing for my sewing patterns. It was especially difficult as my granddaughter was not yet born when I started drafting my patterns and so, I couldn’t use her as a point of reference. I had to go by rule of thumb and my gut feeling and was surprised how accurate my 0-3month sizing was (000) when my granddaughter could finally try my creations on. I didn’t have to change a thing! All I had to do was include a smaller size (I found out later that this size is for newborns ‘0000’). This made me think about making patterns for prematurely born babies. I don’t think there are many patterns available out there, if any, and I’d like to accommodate for all sizes and ages. So, any feedback on this idea would be greatly appreciated.

However, I still find it difficult to comprehend sizing. When I used other baby clothing to check that my sizing was on the right track, I compared my garments to some store-bought brands and found that some 000 were a match, yet others were either too small or too big!?

I think baby clothing has the same problem as adult clothing. Like when you go to one shop and buy a dress in size 14 and in the next shop you need a size 20. Quite insulting actually….  So, I am sticking to my “rules” – if it fits my granddaughter, it is the right size for that age group! 😉