Measuring Crotch Depth and Rise

Crotch Depth

This is the trickiest measurement to take. We want the vertical distance from the centre of your crotch to where you want the waistband to sit. The centre of your crotch is not necessarily the lowest point, but rather in the middle of the thighs where the seams will hit.

Starting Point: where you took your waist measurement.

Ending Point: the same vertical level as the middle of your crotch. It may be helpful to use a straight ruler to extend this level out to meet your measuring tape.

Here are some possible scenarios:

• For high rise leggings, this will be the vertical distance between your crotch and natural waist. In this case, the front crotch depth and back crotch depth are often similar numbers, with the back being slightly higher or the same as the front.
• For low rise leggings, these numbers will depend on whether your hips are tilted forward or backward. If you find that most store-bought pants bunch up in the front, your front crotch depth is likely much smaller than your back crotch depth. If however you prefer to have your leggings higher in the front, you may have a larger front crotch depth than back crotch depth.
• For maternity leggings, take this measurement from the crotch to the high hips, but just below the belly in the front.

Rise

Using a flexible tape measure, measure from the centre of the crotch to where you would like the top of the front waistband to sit, and again to the back waistband. These waistband points should be the same points that you used to measure the crotch depth in the previous step.

Starting Point: where you took your waist measurement. This needs to be exactly the same starting point that you used for your crotch depth measurements.

Ending Point: the centre of your crotch at the mid-point between your thighs. Note that this may or may not be the lowest point of the crotch.