Letter Symbols before pattern sizes

[the_professors_assistantKeymaster]

I have always wanted to know what these letter symbols such as CL (6-7-8), F5 (16-18-20), FF (16-18-20) that appear before the size of the pattern mean on the front of pattern envelopes. Some of them I can sort of figure out, but there are others that are a little confusing. Is there a master list of what these letter symbols mean? I have been sewing for years but this was never taught in sewing class. Thanks for your response in advance.

[the_professors_assistantKeymaster]

I don’t know if there’s a master list as these are codes created by the pattern companies and aren’t necessarily universal. From what I’ve noticed the codes represent size groupings so maybe B5 in McCall’s is always misses size grouping 8-10-12-14-16. Each code (or size grouping) will be in one envelope so there will be an envelope with sizes CL (6-7-8) and then another envelope with sizes under the F5 group. Of course, not all patterns come in all size groupings and I guess it would depend on how big the patterns are and how many sizes they want to fit in a pattern that determines what pattern groupings they use. I hope this helps a little.

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