How to measure an armhole for a kameez or kurti

Round on the body

This is the armhole on our size guide. A helper makes it far easier.

• Wear a thin, close top and stand with your arms relaxed at your sides.
• Find the shoulder point: the bony tip at the outer end of the shoulder, where the sleeve seam of a well-cut top sits.
• Your helper passes the tape under the armpit, as high as is comfortable, and brings the ends up to meet on that point.
• Lower the arm fully before reading. A raised arm changes the shape of the joint.
• Keep the tape snug with room for one finger. Do not pull it into the flesh.
• Measure both sides. If they differ, send the larger figure and mention it.

Straight depth on a kameez

Brand size charts and many tailors use the straight measurement, because it can be read from a garment in seconds. Lay a kameez that is comfortable at the underarm flat, front up. Measure in a straight line from the point where the shoulder seam meets the sleeve down to the underarm point where the sleeve joins the side seam. That is the depth, sometimes just written as “armhole 8.5”.

For the full curve instead, stand the tape on its edge and follow the armhole seam on the front and then the back, and add the two, as our template guide describes. The curve comes out a little more than twice the straight depth.

Which one to send, and how to label it

The body and garment measurements page explains why the two kinds of number must be kept apart. For the armhole in particular:

• For body measurements: send the round, written as “armhole round, body, 16.5 inches”.
• From a garment: send the straight depth or the curve, written as “armhole straight, from a kameez, 8.5 inches”.
• Do not convert. Doubling a straight depth does not give your body round, and halving a body round does not give a depth.
• Do not add room. A sleeved kameez armhole is normally cut an inch or two (2.5 to 5 cm) larger than a snug body round. That allowance is made in the cutting.
• Say the style. A sleeveless kameez is usually cut closer under the arm than a sleeved one, from the same body figure.

A quick sense-check

Compare your two sources if you have both. Double the straight depth of a kameez that suits you; the result should be close to your body round, within a couple of inches either way. A much bigger gap usually means the tape sat too low on the arm, more like an upper arm measurement, or that the garment was measured along the wrong seam.

The armhole works with two neighbours, the shoulder width and the upper arm, and a comfortable top needs all three to agree. If your armholes are often tight or gaping in ready-made clothes, our article on armhole and shoulder problems explains the causes. Add the figures and a note on what usually goes wrong to the quote form, or choose Help me measure and we talk you through it. Custom stitching covers the order from there.