Vanity sizing has gotten out of control After too many incidents of going clothes shopping and coming back empty handed because everything was way too wide or short, I learned how to alter things and eventually sew my own clothes. I've never used commercial patterns (I was taught to start out by hand drafting patterns, and never saw a need to stop), but today I ran across this story from a seamstress who appears to be on the border of overweight. The relevant bit is at the end: "What I don't understand is that when I follow the guidelines for selecting the correct size [...] I end up SWIMMING in my mock-up." She had to go two sizes down to get a proper fit. This is a sewing pattern, so something you would have put in the effort to make yourself, with measurements in inches. Vanity sizing this is actually harmful to people who are honest with themselves, but apparently the people who aren't are more common, so it makes more sense to cater to them.