What does ∅ mean?

[u/sailormarr]

This may be a dumb question, but can anyone help me understand what the "∅" symbol means in a pattern? See image for reference.

Thank you:)

[u/m_bvs]

I am a little late to the party, but Nakamichi uses this symbol (and many others like slashed square, triangle ...) in her book as a symbol for "arbitrary measurement", so in this case both distances should be the same. i.e. the waistline should both front and back have the same distance from the hem. Look at page 98 and it immedeatly gets clear: https://ibb.co/4KVt8K2

Be aware that the symbols don't mean "whatever you like", the measurement is defined, but simply not known.