Oh oh oh I have had this so wrong...
This thread a big revelation. I have struggled with bra sizes almost since I have had DCs.
I do have a fairly square, chunky rib cage, used to measure around 35" and relatively small boobs. Or at least I thought I did. I have never actually been professionally measured, but used the m&s methodology and tried bras in 38 and and 40. The underwires dug in and so I went up to size 42, usually with a size c cup. Often these still dug in but I refused to believe I needed a size 44 and stuck with it.
Anyway I have recently lost some weight and my boobs appeared lost in my 42C's, they had completely vanished. So I went shopping. My logic went something along the lines of...need a smaller cup size....but can't go down a chest size as my current bras still dig in...I'll buy a 42 A or B. Except you can't buy sizes like that off the shelf, so I wandered around feeling pretty fed up. While in this melancholy though, I noticed several ladies who were considerably larger than me, picking bras up from the fashion ranges. How can they be buying in those ranges, I wondered, when there is nothing to fit my size 12 frame?
Well I came home emptied handed and fed up.
And now I think I know. I have found this thread and I have measured myself as per the instructions. My chest is now 33" and leaning forward, I have discovered I do indeed still have bosoms. They are 39".
So I am sorry this is so long, but thank you for this thread. I might have the wrongest ever bras, but at least I now have breasts. I think I need to be properly measured dont I?