Measuring for a custom-fit bee suit
Nine measurements, a tape and someone to help. A suit cut to your body protects better than one graded to a chart, and it takes about ten minutes to get right.
A graded size fits the average of a great many people and nobody exactly. Nine measurements fixes that, and taking them properly is about ten minutes of work.
It is worth understanding why this matters more for protective clothing than for ordinary clothes. A bee suit protects by holding its outer surface away from your skin. A suit that fits closely has no gap to hold, so a poor fit is not merely uncomfortable — it removes the protection at every point where the fabric is pulled tight.
Before you start
Wear what you would normally wear underneath. A shirt and trousers is right; a thick jumper is not, unless you genuinely intend to wear one in the apiary.
Stand straight, look ahead, breathe out and relax your shoulders. People instinctively brace when a tape goes round them, which quietly changes every number.
Get someone else to hold the tape. Measuring yourself pulls everything a centimetre tight, because you have to reach round, and the suit comes back small.
The tape should lie flat against the body — snug enough not to sag, never pulled in.
The nine measurements
Neck. Around the base of the neck, where a collar would sit. One finger should slide under the tape.
Shoulder. Across the back, from the bony point of one shoulder to the bony point of the other. Measure across, not around.
Chest. Around the fullest part, keeping the tape level all the way round — it is easy to let it ride up at the back.
Waist. Around the natural waist, which is the narrowest part of the torso, not where a belt happens to sit.
Hip. Around the fullest part of the hips and seat, with the feet together.
Sleeve. From the shoulder point, down a slightly bent arm, to the wrist bone. Bend the arm a little; a sleeve measured on a straight arm is short when you reach for a frame.
Inseam. From the crotch to the floor, standing straight without shoes.
Height. Against a wall, no shoes, heels down.
Weight. Not for sizing — for choosing fabric weight and how the suit will hang.
The mistakes that ruin a fit
Measuring over the wrong clothes. Whatever you wore for the measurements is what the suit is cut for.
Pulling the tape tight. This is the most common error and the most damaging one, because it produces exactly the close fit that removes the air gap.
Rounding to a convenient number. Give the figure you actually read, to the nearest half centimetre. Rounding four measurements up and three down produces a shape nobody has.
Guessing one. A guessed inseam gives a suit that rides up when you kneel, which is precisely when you need the fabric to stay away from your knees.
Measuring at the end of the day. Bodies change slightly through the day. Morning is more representative.
Taking them alone in a hurry. If nobody is available, measure twice on different days and use the numbers that agree.
Write them down properly
Record every figure in the same unit — centimetres throughout, or inches throughout, never a mix. Note which you used. A tailor reading 38 has to guess whether that is a chest in inches or a waist in centimetres, and guessing is how a suit gets remade.
Checking the suit when it arrives
Put it on over your usual layers and move the way you move in the apiary.
Kneel down. Reach overhead as if lifting a super. Crouch. Bend at the waist over an imaginary open hive.
Nothing should pull tight against your skin at any point in that sequence. Where it does, the standoff gap is closed and that spot is not protected — the knees and the shoulders are the usual offenders.
Then check the closures. Every zip should run smoothly to its stop, and the veil should meet the collar with no gap when you turn your head fully to each side. Most face stings come from a veil that seals when you look straight ahead and opens when you look sideways.
If something is wrong, say so early. A suit that is remade in the first week is a small inconvenience; a suit you put up with for a season is one you will end up not wearing.
Measuring someone else
If you are taking measurements for a partner or for staff, two things change.
Ask before you touch, and let them position the tape at the waist and hip themselves while you read the number. It is quicker, and it avoids the awkwardness that makes people rush.
Take the shoulder and sleeve measurements yourself, because those are the two nobody can do accurately on their own body, and they are the two that most affect whether a suit binds when the wearer reaches up.
Ordering for a growing child
Children's suits are the one case where sizing up is genuinely sensible, because the air gap that protects them also gives room to grow into.
Take the measurements normally, then order to the current numbers with the longest cuffs and ankles the maker offers. Roll them back. A suit that is too long at the wrist can be turned up; one that is too tight across the shoulders cannot be let out, and a child who finds the suit uncomfortable will simply refuse to wear it.
Keep the numbers
Write the nine figures down somewhere you will find them again — a note on your phone is fine.
You will want them when you order a second suit, a jacket, or a replacement in three years, and re-measuring is the point at which people guess rather than get the tape out again.
Written by Ayesha Karim.