How to Measure for Leggings: A 28-Inch Waist Reads M at CRZ Yoga, L at Bubblelime

Measuring for leggings takes two minutes. Reading that number against the wrong line is what sends a pair back.

This is a working guide to how to measure for leggings: where the tape goes, what each brand means by "waist," and how far half an inch moves you. Every figure comes from the brands' own size guides, checked Sept. 13, 2026, with a link under each table. Where a brand doesn't publish something, we say that instead of filling the gap.

Where do you put the tape when you measure for leggings?

Waist, hip, inseam. Brands describe those spots in different words, and the words decide where the tape lands.

Source: CRZ Yoga size guide, Girlfriend Collective sizing page, Bubblelime Find Your Inseam page, checked Sept. 13, 2026.

Look at the inseam row. CRZ Yoga has you stand with feet shoulder-width apart; Bubblelime has you stand with feet together. Nobody publishes how much that moves the reading, so use the stance of the brand you're buying from.

Should you measure your waist where your leggings sit?

No. The two brands that explain the waist both send you to the narrowest part of your torso, not to wherever a waistband happens to rest. High waist yoga pants can sit above or below that line depending on your torso length, but the chart was drafted around the natural waist, so that's the number it's asking for.

The hip has its own trap. Girlfriend Collective wants the tape over non-bulky bottoms, and CRZ Yoga wants it on skin. Measure over jeans and you've added denim seams and a back pocket to a figure the chart reads as body.

How much does half an inch change your legging size?

It depends on whether the chart prints ranges or single numbers. Girlfriend Collective and PopFlex print ranges. CRZ Yoga and Bubblelime print one waist figure per size, so anything in between has to be rounded somewhere. Bubblelime says where: "If in between sizes, please choose the larger size." CRZ Yoga's guide gives no tiebreak, so we rounded up there too.

Source: CRZ Yoga size guide (Bottoms: S 26.6", M 28.5", L 30.5", XL 32.5"), Girlfriend Collective sizing page (S 26"–28", M 28"–30.5"), PopFlex size chart (S 26"–28", M 28"–31"), Bubblelime BWWB009 product-page chart (S 25", M 27", L 29", XL 31"), all checked Sept. 13, 2026.

Now watch the rows from 26.5" to 27.5". At CRZ Yoga, 27" is already an M because the S stops at 26.6". At Bubblelime the M waist is exactly 27", so the jump to L comes at 27.5". Across that same inch, the two range charts don't move at all. One inch of tape changes your letter at two brands and leaves it alone at the other two.

What if your waist and hip land in different sizes?

Constantly. Run one body, a 28" waist with a 38" hip, through all four charts.

Source: CRZ Yoga size guide, Girlfriend Collective sizing page, PopFlex size chart, Bubblelime BWWB009 product-page chart, checked Sept. 13, 2026.

Girlfriend Collective's S hip range is 3" wide, from 36" to 39", while its M waist range is 2.5". So a body sitting right on the waist line fits cleanly inside the S hip. The brand's own advice covers the rest: size down for a more compressive fit, size up for a more relaxed one.

On low-stretch fabric, let the hip break the tie. We walked through that call in stuck between two legging sizes, and the fiber side of it, why a 10% spandex knit behaves nothing like a 25% one, in how much spandex leggings have. Fabric can move a chart even inside one brand: see cotton versus fleece.

Is there a measurement no size covers?

At PopFlex, yes, in inches. Its XL hip runs 43" to 47" and 1X starts at 48", so a 47.5" hip falls through a one-inch hole. The waist column has no hole: XL is 34" to 38" and 1X picks up at 38".

Switch that same chart to centimeters and the hole closes. The metric XL hip runs 109 to 122 cm and 1X starts at 122 cm. A 47.5" hip is about 120.7 cm, which the metric table puts in XL. When one unit strands you, read the other. Label systems past XL get their own breakdown in how five brands label the same body.

How do you measure your inseam when nobody's around to help?

Measure a pair that already fits. Bubblelime's instruction: lay the leggings flat, smooth the leg, and run the tape along the inside seam from crotch to hem. No stance question, no helper.

Then compare against height as a sanity check. Bubblelime's chart puts a 29" inseam at 5'4"–5'8", 31" at 5'7"–5'10" and 33" at 5'9"–6'0", and says to add roughly 2" for a bootcut or flare. Between two lengths, it says go longer, since a hem can stack but can't grow. The full height table lives in legging inseam by height, and flare lengths in the bootcut and flare size chart.

Which tape-measure mistakes cost people a size?

Five, and none is about the chart.

• Pulling the tape snug. CRZ Yoga says "comfortable, not tight." The Senita Athletics size guide words it as a test for its bra measurements that works just as well at the hip: the tape should not indent the skin.
• Measuring over clothes. Leggings charts read body, and a jeans waistband is thick.
• Using the waistband line. The chart wants the natural waist, not where your current pair sits.
• Running the tape down the outside of the leg. Bubblelime's page is blunt about it: inside of the leg, not the outside.
• Reading the wrong table. CRZ Yoga's size-guide page holds more than one table labeled Bottoms. The standard one lists XXS at a 23" waist; another on the same page lists XXS as a 23.6"–31.5" range, and a third sizes by height, 40" to 62.5". Find the right section before you trust a number. Our CRZ Yoga sizing file uses the standard table, as does the CRZ versus Girlfriend Collective comparison.

Should I measure in inches or centimeters?

Use whichever unit the chart was written in, and check the other when you land on an edge, as the PopFlex hip gap shows. Bubblelime's size chart has an inch and centimeter toggle; its code rounds each converted figure to the nearest half centimeter, so tiny mismatches with your own conversion are rounding, not a second chart.

My new leggings feel tight. Did I measure wrong?

Not necessarily. Girlfriend Collective says its leggings, especially the Compressive line, feel snug on first wear and relax slightly with wear and washing. If the waist and hip both matched the chart, give them a few wears before exchanging.

Can I order two sizes and send one back?

Only if both are returnable. Girlfriend Collective lists returns and exchanges within 30 days for U.S. orders, but discounted pairs are often final sale. Before you bracket sizes on a markdown, check which sale leggings you can actually return.

More measurement files sit under guides, size charts, inseam, fit notes, brand notes, compare and fabric. If you're measuring because you want squat-proof leggings in a length that finally reaches your ankle, the chart on the pair below is the one used in our tables.

Sources

All checked Sept. 13, 2026.