Fit to measure - sizing

I have been thinking a lot regarding sizing of garments whether they are cardigans, blazers or even shawls.

My principal rule and main reasoning when designing any garments including shawls is that they need to fit the person that they are designed for depending on their body type and size. For this reason, when designing a piece, it is crucial to have the measurements available.

For instance, a cardigan - we need to know what the bust, hip, arm measurements, shoulder to shoulder measurement are as we do not want the garment to be too big or too small.

For shawls, we have to have the height measurement of the person who we are making the shawl for so it does not overwhelm the person.

It is true that we can design the garments by general size xs, s, m, l, xl - however I think that is so inaccurate guidance as we all have different body shapes and that plays a big role in how one garment sized M will look on a person who has a pear-shape than a person who is an apple-shape.

Even further a petite M would look much different and ill fitting if the person is hour-class shape as we might not accentuate the pronounced waist. Here we might want to decrease where the waist of the garment or might want put a belt. The same garment would look ridiculous to a petite apple shaped person as the widest part of their body is the waist.

On top of all this we do not wish our designs to look frumpy and confirm the reputation that handmade crochet garments are ill fitting, bulky and unattractive.

Very similar to tailoring garments - the crochet garments need to fit the person who they are made for i.e. they need to be fit to the measure.