Tailor Measurement Guide: Every Box in the Naap Book

Every tailor measurement in a Pakistani naap book has a name, and almost none of those names are English. A shop that writes its measurements in English is translating twice — once from the customer's body to the word, and again from the word to whatever the karigar reads. This guide keeps the trade words, because those are the ones people actually say across a counter.

Print it, pin it behind the counter, give it to whoever you are training. Everything below is in inches, which is how naap is taken in Pakistan whatever the tape also says.

Before you pick up the tape

Four habits separate measurements that come out right from measurements you argue about later.

• Measure over the clothes the garment will be worn over, not over a jacket, and not over nothing.
• Keep the tape flat and level. A tape that dips at the back gives a length that is honest at the front and short behind.
• Do not pull. Snug, not tight. A pulled tape gives a number that fits nobody.
• Write it down as you go. Not at the end, not from memory. The fourth measurement is the one that gets forgotten.

Take the customer's own well-fitting garment as a second opinion whenever they have brought one. A kameez that already fits is more reliable than any number, and settling a dispute with it is faster than arguing.

Body measurements

These belong to the person, not to the garment, and they are the ones worth keeping for good.

Length (lambai)

Shoulder point down to where the garment should end. For a kameez that is usually mid-thigh to knee, but it is a matter of taste and of what is fashionable this year, so ask rather than assume.

Shoulder (kandha)

Across the back, from the point of one shoulder to the point of the other. The most common error is measuring on a slope instead of straight across.

Tera (yoke width)

The width across the upper back where the yoke sits. Tera is the one measurement that silently ruins a kameez: get it wrong and the sleeves pull, and no amount of adjusting anywhere else fixes it.

Chest (chhaati)

Around the fullest part, tape level under the arms, customer breathing normally. If they are holding their breath you will get a number that does not survive lunch.

Waist (kamar)

Around the natural waist, which is above the trouser line and above where most men think their waist is.

Hip / seat (nishast)

Around the fullest part of the seat. Needed for shalwar and trouser, and for any fitted kameez.

The kameez

Ghera (hem sweep)

The full width around the bottom opening of the kameez. Ghera is fashion more than fit — a wide ghera and a narrow ghera are two different garments cut from the same measurements. Ask, every time. Do not carry last year's over.

Chaak (side slit)

How far up the side seam the slit runs. Usually measured from the hem upward. A chaak too high is immodest; a chaak too low restricts walking.

Sleeve (bazu / aasteen)

From the shoulder point to where the sleeve should end — wrist for a full sleeve, mid-bicep or elbow for a half. Take it with the arm slightly bent, not locked straight, or the finished sleeve rides up when the customer moves.

Bicep (bazu ghera)

Around the fullest part of the upper arm. Skipping this is why sleeves come back tight.

Arm opening (mori)

Around the sleeve at its end. On a full sleeve the hand has to pass through it, which sounds obvious and is the most common reason a cuffless sleeve gets sent back.

Armhole (baghal)

Around the armhole itself. A tight armhole is the single most uncomfortable thing you can stitch, and the customer will not be able to tell you why the shirt feels wrong — only that it does.

Neck (gala)

Around the base of the neck, one finger of room. Also ask about neck drop, front and back, separately: how low the opening sits is a style decision, not a body measurement.

Cuff (kaf)

The finished cuff width and length. Kaf style — single, double, round, cut — should be picked from a list rather than described in words, because "normal" means something different to every karigar.

The shalwar and the trouser

Shalwar length

From the waist to the ankle, taken down the side. Ask how the customer wears it — on the waist or on the hip — because the same person gives two different numbers depending on the answer.

Asan (rise / seat)

From the waistband down to the crotch. Asan is the measurement that decides whether a shalwar is comfortable. Too short and it binds; too long and it bags. Nothing else compensates.

Pancha (ankle opening)

The width at the bottom of the leg. For a trouser this is the narrowest point and worth confirming — fashions in pancha width swing hard from year to year.

Thigh, knee, inseam

Needed for a fitted trouser, not usually for a loose shalwar. Take them when the customer asks for a trouser cut, and skip them when they do not, rather than taking every box every time.

Stitching and style, which are not measurements

Half of what goes wrong between the counter and the workroom is not a number at all. It is a choice that was never written down:

• Collar or ban, and which collar.
• Cuff style.
• Pockets — how many, where, and what shape.
• Front placket, and whether it is open or closed.
• Whether the customer wants their own old garment copied exactly.

These should be picked from a list, not written in prose. Two people describing "normal pockets" mean two different things; two people selecting the same option from the same list do not. That is exactly what Silai Khata does — the style fields are choices, not free text, so the order means the same thing to whoever reads it next.

Keep them, do not re-take them

The measurements above belong to the customer and are good for years, not for one order. A shop that keeps them properly saves four or five minutes on every repeat visit and, far more importantly, delivers a second garment that fits exactly like the first one did.

That is the whole argument of the measurements that come back on their own, and it is why Silai Khata stores naap against the customer rather than against the order: eight garments, each with only its own boxes, in Urdu and English, reachable from the counter or from the phone in your pocket.

Next, read what belongs on a tailor's bill, or see what Silai Khata costs.