Measuring for a Cassock, Alb and Surplice

How to measure for a cassock: take five figures — centre-back neck to hem, chest, waist, neck and sleeve — plus shoulder width if the maker asks, and take them on someone else rather than on yourself. An alb needs fewer: length, chest and sleeve. A surplice or cotta needs fewer again, because the only real decision is where the hem sits. This article gives the method and our height-to-length charts for all three, in inches and centimetres, along with the one convention that causes more confusion than everything else combined: whether a length is measured from the nape of the neck or from the shoulder.

These are The Clergy Couture’s workroom figures. Every house drafts to its own block, so use them to get close and then check the chart of whoever is cutting the garment. The general method behind all of them is set out in the seven measurements that size a vestment.

Nape or shoulder: read the maker’s chart before the numbers

Two conventions are in use and they differ by about two inches.

• Centre-back neck to hem. The tape starts at the bone at the base of the neck and runs down the centre of the back. American makers and most British ones work this way. Ecclesia Supplies states it plainly for both albs and cassocks: from the nape of the neck, under a normal shirt collar, to the hem you actually want.
• From the shoulder. Continental makers — Slabbinck among them — commonly quote a finished alb length in centimetres taken from the shoulder rather than the nape. On the same garment that figure runs roughly 2 inches (5 cm) shorter than the centre-back figure. Our conversion is exactly that: subtract 2 inches, and confirm it with the maker before you commit, because the difference between a 150 and a 145 is the difference between an alb that clears the floor and one that does not.

If a chart does not say which it means, that is the first question to ask. It is the single most common reason an alb arrives at the wrong length.

How to measure for a cassock

A cassock is a fitted coat, so it needs the most measurements of the three. Take them over a clergy or dress shirt, nothing heavier.

1. Centre-back neck to hem. From the nape down the centre of the back, following the body, to where the hem should sit. Take it with the wearer in the shoes they actually wear.
2. Chest. Fullest part, under the arms, tape level across the back, two fingers underneath.
3. Waist. At the navel, not at the trouser waistband. Gaspard’s cassock charts take it there too; a cassock cut to a natural-waist figure pulls across the front buttons when the wearer sits.
4. Neck. At the base of the neck, with a finger under the tape, allowing for the clerical collar that will be worn underneath. We cut a half-inch above the measured figure.
5. Sleeve. From the centre-back neck point, over the shoulder, down the relaxed arm to the wrist bone. Not the shirt sleeve figure.
6. Shoulder width. Across the back from bone point to bone point. This is what stops a cassock sliding backwards off the shoulders, and it is the reason two people with a 42-inch chest can need different garments.

Where the cassock hem should break

The traditional answer is within an inch of the floor — long enough that the shoe barely shows when standing still. That looks correct and is a nuisance on stairs. The practical answer, and the one we default to unless told otherwise, is a hem that breaks on the instep and clears the floor by about an inch and a half in the wearer’s usual shoes. A cassock worn mainly for choir offices can go longer; one worn for hospital visiting and school assemblies should not.

Height	Centre-back length	Sleeve (nape over shoulder to wrist)
5’0″ / 152 cm	51½ in / 131 cm	30½ in / 77 cm
5’2″ / 157 cm	53½ in / 136 cm	31 in / 79 cm
5’4″ / 163 cm	55 in / 140 cm	32 in / 81 cm
5’6″ / 168 cm	56½ in / 144 cm	32½ in / 83 cm
5’8″ / 173 cm	58½ in / 149 cm	33½ in / 85 cm
5’10” / 178 cm	60 in / 152 cm	34 in / 86 cm
6’0″ / 183 cm	62 in / 157 cm	34½ in / 88 cm
6’2″ / 188 cm	63½ in / 161 cm	35 in / 89 cm
6’4″ / 193 cm	65 in / 165 cm	36 in / 91 cm
6’6″ / 198 cm	67 in / 170 cm	36½ in / 93 cm

Which cut you are ordering changes the fit as much as the numbers do — a double-breasted Roman cassock, a single-breasted Anglican one and a Sarum cut are drafted differently through the shoulder and the skirt. The Roman and Anglican cuts compared is worth reading before you settle the shoulder and chest. Neck size is shared with the clergy shirt worn under it, and how collar and neck sizing works on a clergy shirt covers that half of the problem.

Measuring for an alb

An alb is a straight garment gathered at the cincture, so it needs three figures: length, chest and sleeve. Waist and hip do not apply. If the alb will be worn over a cassock — normal in Anglican and much Lutheran use, less so where a cassock-alb has replaced both — measure the chest over the cassock.

Length is taken to the same place as the cassock, an inch or so shorter, so that when the two are worn together the cassock hem is not the thing that shows below. Gaspard’s published alb charts put a 5’6″ to 5’7″ wearer at a 56-inch back length and a 6’0″ to 6’2″ wearer at 62 inches, which is within an inch of the figures we cut to.

Height	Centre-back neck to hem	Same garment, measured from the shoulder
5’0″ / 152 cm	50½ in / 128 cm	48½ in / 123 cm
5’2″ / 157 cm	52½ in / 133 cm	50½ in / 128 cm
5’4″ / 163 cm	54 in / 137 cm	52 in / 132 cm
5’6″ / 168 cm	55½ in / 141 cm	53½ in / 136 cm
5’8″ / 173 cm	57½ in / 146 cm	55½ in / 141 cm
5’10” / 178 cm	59 in / 150 cm	57 in / 145 cm
6’0″ / 183 cm	61 in / 155 cm	59 in / 150 cm
6’2″ / 188 cm	62½ in / 159 cm	60½ in / 154 cm
6’4″ / 193 cm	64 in / 163 cm	62 in / 158 cm
6’6″ / 198 cm	66 in / 168 cm	64 in / 163 cm

Chest ease on an alb worn over a cassock is 8 to 10 inches (20–25 cm) in our cutting. Worn over a shirt only, take that down to 6 to 8. An alb that is too full does not look generous; it looks as though the cincture is doing all the work.

Cassock-albs

A cassock-alb takes the shape of a cassock, the colour of an alb and a collar in place of an amice, and in Anglican use since the 1970s it has replaced the cassock-and-alb combination in many parishes. Measure it as a cassock for the neck, shoulder and length, and as an alb for the chest — 6 to 8 inches of ease, because it is pulled on over a shirt rather than buttoned. It is worn with a cincture and, in most traditions, without a separate amice. Note that it is a different garment from the chasuble-alb, which the Roman Catholic Church permits only in limited circumstances.

Surplice and cotta lengths

These are the same garment at different lengths, and the difference is the whole distinction. The surplice originally reached the feet and had shortened to mid-shin by the fifteenth century; modern surplices generally reach the knee, while the cotta is shorter still, derived from a cut-off alb. Which of the two a church uses is a matter of churchmanship rather than rubric, and telling the white linen garments apart covers the distinctions.

Length is measured from the nape, over a cassock. One old trade rule for a traditional English surplice is to measure from the shoulder to the fingertips with the arms hanging at the sides; that lands close to the cotta column below rather than the full surplice column, which is a useful reminder that “surplice length” has meant several different things.

Height	Cotta (mid-thigh)	Surplice, knee length	Full surplice (mid-calf)
5’0″ / 152 cm	26½ / 67	34 / 86	39½ / 100
5’2″ / 157 cm	27½ / 70	35 / 89	40½ / 103
5’4″ / 163 cm	28½ / 72	36 / 91	42 / 107
5’6″ / 168 cm	29½ / 75	37 / 94	43 / 109
5’8″ / 173 cm	30 / 76	38 / 97	44½ / 113
5’10” / 178 cm	31 / 79	39 / 99	46 / 117
6’0″ / 183 cm	32 / 81	40½ / 103	47 / 119
6’2″ / 188 cm	33 / 84	41½ / 105	48½ / 123
6’4″ / 193 cm	34 / 86	42½ / 108	50 / 127
6’6″ / 198 cm	35 / 89	43½ / 110	51 / 130

All figures are inches followed by centimetres, taken from the nape. Gaspard’s surplice charts run from 29 inches on their shortest styles to 52 on their three-quarter length, which brackets all three columns here.

Chest ease is 10 to 14 inches (25–36 cm) over the cassock. A surplice has to go over the head and over a fitted garment, so it is generously cut by design. Sleeve length is the same figure as for the cassock; the sleeve is simply wider.

Which measurements each garment needs

Garment	Length	Chest	Sleeve	Waist	Neck	Shoulder	Chest ease we add
Cassock	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	4 in / 10 cm
Cassock-alb	Yes	Yes	Yes	—	Yes	Helpful	6–8 in / 15–20 cm
Alb over a cassock	Yes	Yes	Yes	—	—	Helpful	8–10 in / 20–25 cm
Surplice	Yes	Yes	Yes	—	—	—	10–14 in / 25–36 cm
Cotta	Yes	Yes	Yes	—	—	—	10–14 in / 25–36 cm

If you are ordering more than one of these at a time, our cassocks and albs and surplices are cut to these charts, and the length conventions above are the ones on the order form.

Common questions

How do I measure for a cassock on my own?

Badly, is the honest answer — the back length comes out short because you look down at the tape. If there is genuinely no one to help, stand straight against a wall and have a pencil at the hem height you want, mark the wall, step away and measure from the mark to the floor. Then take the nape height the same way and subtract.

How much shorter should the alb be than the cassock?

About an inch. The alb is the outer of the two, so its hem should sit just above the cassock’s, not level with it and certainly not below. If you already own both and the cassock shows, shortening the cassock is usually easier than lengthening the alb.

Is a cotta just a short surplice?

In effect, yes, though the cut differs as well as the length: a cotta is derived from a cut-off alb, is generally straighter through the body and often has a square yoke. Length is the reliable way to tell them apart in a vestry cupboard — a cotta stops at the hip or mid-thigh, a surplice at the knee or below.

Can an alb be shortened?

Yes, and it is the most common vestment alteration we see. Albs are usually plain-hemmed, so the garment is taken up and re-hemmed without touching anything else. Lace and appliqué panels at the hem make it a different job. Press the alb properly first, since a badly stored alb can read two inches short at the front; ironing an alb without damage covers the method.

Before you order

Do the layering sum. Write down the cassock length, the alb length and the surplice or cotta length together, and check that each garment sits above the one beneath it by an amount you would be happy to see from the nave. Then take one garment that already fits, lay it flat on a table and measure it from the shoulder seam at the neck to the hem. If that number is within an inch of the chart figure for the wearer’s height, the order is sound.

Sources

• Ecclesia Supplies — How to Measure for Garments
• Gaspard — Men's Cassock Measurements
• Gaspard — Surplice Measurements
• Wikipedia — Surplice