How to Size a Princess Dress

How Funna sizes princess dresses for toddler girls and older children, and when to size up Part of the Funna wardrobe of princess dress costumes.

The most common question I get is whether to order a child's age size or her everyday clothing size. For Funna's girls' dresses the answer is usually the everyday size, with one exception that matters.

Read the label, not the age

Sizes on these listings run 2T, 3T, 4T, 5T and then 6, 7 and 8 years. Those labels follow US children's sizing rather than exact ages, so a tall four-year-old is often in a 5T and a small six-year-old is often still in a 5T. If you know the child's current dress size, use it. If you only know her age, measure her chest and her height and compare them with the chart on the listing before ordering.

When to size up

Size up when the child is between two bands, when the dress is for a winter party and will be worn over a vest or thin jumper, or when you want the gown to last more than one season. A Funna dress that is slightly large reads as a long gown, which is exactly the look a child is after. A dress that is slightly small pulls at the shoulder seam and will not be worn twice.

The parts that adjust and the parts that do not

The back of most of these bodices is elasticated, which gives roughly one size of flexibility across the chest. The waist belt is a separate band and adjusts freely. The shoulder seam and the sleeve opening do not adjust at all, and those are the two places a dress that is too small will fail first. For the off-shoulder yellow gown the elastic band across the chest is the fit-critical piece: too loose and it slides down, too tight and it rides up under the arms.

Grown-up sizes

The women's gowns use Small through XX-Large, except the blue dress-up outfit, which uses combined numbers like Small/4 to 6. Those follow standard US dress sizes. Laced-back gowns — the renaissance dress and the pink princess gown — can be taken in after they arrive. Fitted bodices cannot, so measure the chest first and order to that measurement rather than to the size on the label of your last dress.

Length and shoes

Several of the women's gowns are cut to brush the floor without heels. Adding two inches of heel turns a floor-length hem into a trip hazard on stairs. If the costume is for an evening with stairs in it, either wear flat shoes or plan to hold the skirt, and try the whole combination on at home before the night.