Petite dresses, with every length taken from you

01

Where shop dresses go wrong on a shorter frame

Most ready-made dresses are drafted for a woman of roughly average height, and petite lines tend to take the same amount off every length. Your own proportions may not follow either of them. These are the usual signs that a dress was cut for somebody else:

• The waist seam lands on your hips. On a fit-and-flare shape the flare then starts too low and the skirt looks heavy.
• The bust shaping sits under the bust, so a sweetheart or fitted bodice wrinkles instead of lying smooth.
• Armholes are cut deep and straps slide off, which shows most on sleeveless frocks and narrow shoulders.
• Sleeves reach your knuckles, and a cuff meant for the wrist bunches up the forearm.
• A midi turns into a maxi, because a hem placed at mid-calf on a taller woman ends near your ankle.

02

The lengths to measure for a petite dress

Widths are taken as usual: bust, waist, hips and shoulder. What makes a petite order work is the set of vertical numbers, so take these standing straight, ideally with someone else holding the tape:

• Height, without shoes, standing against a wall.
• Shoulder to waist: tie a ribbon round your natural waist, then measure from the highest point of the shoulder beside the neck, over the bust, down to it. This number places the waist seam.
• Shoulder to bust point: from the same spot to the fullest part of the bust. Put it in the notes; it decides where a sweetheart or fitted bodice is shaped.
• Armhole: round the top of the arm, under the armpit and over the shoulder point, so a sleeveless style sits close.
• Sleeve length: from the shoulder point to where the sleeve should end, arm relaxed by your side.
• Full length: from the highest point of the shoulder to the hem, in the shoes you plan to wear, with a note of where it should fall: knee, below the knee, mid-calf, ankle or floor.

03

Petite wedding guest and formal dresses

On a shorter frame, the two things that change a formal dress most are where the waist sits and where the hem ends, measured in the shoes you will wear on the day. All five of these are shown as design previews, drawn before sewing.

• Wisteria Fit-and-Flare Dress: powder blue, with a square neckline, a fitted bodice and long sleeves trailed with lilac and silver wisteria, flaring to mid-calf. Your shoulder to waist length decides where the flare begins.
• Jade Pearls Frock: strands of pearls draped across the front and back of a round-necked bodice, short puff sleeves and an A-line skirt to mid-calf, shown in crepe. A simple outline, with the detail kept up near the face.
• Powder Blue Pearls Frock: a structured sweetheart bodice covered in pearls, pearl straps that cross at the back and a full tulle skirt scattered with pearls, to mid-calf. If that much skirt feels like a lot on you, it can be made as short as the knee.
• Lemon Lace Frock: a sweetheart neckline with white lace, white lace flutter sleeves, a lace-up back and a layered chiffon skirt with lace edges and an uneven hem. Tell us where the shortest part of the hem should sit.
• Rose Gold Sequin Frock: the most formal of the five, in sequin fabric, with a V-neck on fine straps, a shape fitted to the hip that flares to the floor, and straps crossing over a low back. Measure to the floor in your heels; sleeves or a higher neckline can be added.

04

Petite midi and maxi dresses

Midi covers a band of lengths, so on a petite frame pick the exact point on your leg: just under the knee stays covered when you sit, mid-calf is the classic place, and lower starts to look like a maxi. The Lilac Tiered Dress falls in tiers to below the knee from a floral embroidered bodice, with long gathered sleeves and an embroidered scalloped hem. The Coral White Embroidery Frock is sleeveless, with frilled armholes, white floral vines from shoulder to hem and a flared skirt to mid-calf; sleeves can be added.

For a maxi, the Wildflower Maxi has a round neck, a fitted bodice and a gathered waist, long balloon sleeves scattered with wildflowers and a deep wildflower border at the hem. Can short women wear maxi dresses answers the usual worries, and there are more lengths on midi dresses and maxi dresses.