Simeon Gill

Dress fit and body image: A thematic analysis of women?s accounts during and after trying on dresses

This study was designed to investigate womens experiences of dress fit and body image. Spontaneous speech of 20 women aged 18-45 years was audio-recorded while they tried on a number of dresses. They were also body-scanned and photographed in their chosen dress and discussed both the scan and the photograph in semi-structured interviews. Data were analysed using inductive thematic analysis and four key themes were found: the slim hourglass ideal, functional aspects of clothes fit, body confidence and clothes fit, and clothes dimensions and size coding. All themes and component sub-themes were ratified in follow-up sessions six months after the original interviews. It was concluded that these women had a complicated relationship with clothes fit and sizing and used well-fitting clothes to increase body confidence, cover perceived flaws, and to try to attain a slender hourglass look. Ideas for future directions for research in these areas are discussed.

Determination of ease allowances included in pattern construction methods

Construction of the garment pattern block provides the basic shapes for manipulation and development. These blocks are often developed using a construction method, allowing at least the minimum levels of ease to satisfy comfort and function. However, current construction methods rarely explicitly state the levels of ease incorporated into the pattern, making it difficult to retain objective controls. This research outlines methods and results to determine the levels of ease incorporated into some widely used pattern construction methods. Similar bodice and sleeve patterns from the selected sources are constructed from common body dimensions. These patterns are then compared to the original body dimensions and ease levels are established. Comparison of results indicates that each construction method produces blocks with differing shapes and levels of ease. The results of ease assessment can be used for more objective selection of appropriate blocks and to support the development of direct drafting methods.

Improving garment fit and function through ease quantification

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a theoretical model for considering ease numerically in the clothing pattern. Classifying the pattern as a geometric Cartesian coordinate system, this model proposes the need to quantify the partly coincident variables of ease, which will enable greater control over garment fit and function, using traditional or CAD/CAM methods.Design/methodology/approach – The principles of pattern/garment dimensions are considered with support from analysis of literature and contributing factors to the variables of ease are categorised. These principles support a proposed theoretical model for considering pattern/garment dimensions, in the numeric format that they exist within the context of pattern construction.Findings – Pattern construction occurs in a 2D Cartesian coordinate system, guided by body dimensions and ease. This can be modelled in the form of an algorithm relating to the placement of cardinal points defining the pattern outline. Recognition of the numerica...

Recent advances in garment manufacturing technology: joining techniques, 3D body scanning and garment design

Abstract: Developments in clothing production technologies have been rapid and significant in two areas. The first concerns sew-free technologies, primarily adhesive bonding of seams. The technology innovations have affected many markets, but primarily lingerie and sportswear. This chapter considers the drivers for adoption of these technologies and the machinery used to achieve welded seams. The other area concerns three-dimensional (3D) body scanning and the potential for integrating scan data with 3D CAD and work on the fit of garments. The chapter provides an overview of recent literature and a critical discussion of the issues emerging from these technologies.

A review of research and innovation in garment sizing, prototyping and fitting

Achieving well fitting garments matters to consumers and, therefore, to product development teams, garment manufacturers and fashion retailers when creating clothing that fits and functions both for individuals and for a retailers target populations. New tools and software for body scanning and product development enhance the ways that sizing and fitting can be addressed; they provide improved methods for classifying and analysing the human body and new ways of garment prototyping through virtual product development. Recent technological developments place a growing demand on product development teams to reconsider their approach to prototyping, sizing and fitting. Significant, related changes are also being made in the fashion retail environment, including innovations in virtual fit to enable consumers to engage with fit online. For best effect in the short term, such advances need to relate well to existing manufacturing practices and to the methods that have, over many years, become embedded by practitioners into the processes involved in clothing product development and those used for establishing garment fit. The high rate of technological advance, however, places an urgent need on practitioners to change; established principles of pattern theory need to be recognised explicitly and followed consistently, otherwise, new techniques for developing and assessing products will not be able to be fully exploited. Practitioners will be pressed to adopt more data-rational approaches to product development, including adopting engineering principles into the practice of clothing product development. For example, comparisons made between the traditional two-dimensional garment pattern and the three-dimensional environment accessible through 3-D body scanning technology, provide both the stimulus and the data required to support a re-examination of how the measurements required for clothing product development should be defined. This should be coupled with a more explicit recognition of ease as a factor requiring quantification within clothing engineering. New methods of categorising the body in terms of its form also allow recognition of the restrictions of proportional theories in pattern construction; they afford promising opportunities for advancing the practices of sizing and fitting in clothing product development.

Lower body functional ease requirements in the garment pattern

Functional ease related to surface changes of the lower body is an important consideration during garment development. Current data available for male subjects have not been established or presented in a manner that can easily be applied during pattern construction. Measurements of the lower body were established in the context of the pattern and changes recorded between a static standing control posture and a number of postures representative of describable functional movements. Functional changes on the lower body were found to be quite significant, relating directly to anatomy of the joints, with higher ROM associated with less stable functional changes. Results indicate that functional changes will be difficult to predict and there was no determinable relationship between larger dimensions and higher functional changes. Functional changes associated with postural change to the lower body can be clearly related to the skeletal structure and can be established in a manner accessible to the pattern technician.

Effectiveness of 3D Scanning in Establishing Sideseam Placement for Pattern Design

As woven garments are cut from flat pieces of cloth, pattern cutting methods must create flat 2D shapes that are constructed to form 3D garments that fit a particular body shape. The placement of side seams represents a key division of the pattern where the front and back portions of a garment relating to a particular body measurement are distributed to create a balanced garment. During most pattern creation methods the distribution of the measurement into back and front arcs is proportionally determined by the author, however body scanning provides new opportunities to understand the body and derive these arcs during the measurement process. TC2 measurement software provides the facility to automatically derive arcs based on non-disclosed divisions of the body along a vertical plane. This research tests the automated division of key circumferences into arcs using the TC2 software, against methods guided by practitioner experience and placed using non-automated 3D software. Focusing on circumferences of the bust, waist and hip, analysis of the arcs derived by the scanner from a number of standard female body forms and 10 scans of female subjects, will be tested against those determined by a panel of experts. These methods form the basis for an understanding of how circumference division can be automated and allow for the testing of these methods on a variety of different scans and the comparison of the arcs against those proposed or applied in standard industry practice. It will be possible to see how closely these methods match or contrast with these imposed systems. This exploration provides a clear link to body pattern relationships and provides a foundation from which to advance mass customization utilizing body scanning technology and automated arc definition.

Body-to-Pattern Relationships in Women’s Trouser Drafting Methods: Implications for Apparel Mass Customization

The authors of this study explored (a) body-to-pattern measurement and shape relationships in trouser patterns drafted by two methods; (b) the consistency of these body-to-pattern relationships between methods and between differently shaped bodies within methods; (c) the patternmaking procedures that cause these outcomes; and (d) how these findings impact garment fit, particularly for mass customization. Body-to-pattern measurement and shape relationships were inconsistent between and within methods, making them unsuitable for use in computer-aided custom patternmaking. Most strikingly, pattern crotch shapes were similar within each method, despite the fact that form crotch shapes were different. Patternmaking procedures causing these inconsistencies include (a) use of proportion of noncorresponding body measurements; (b) use of standard, rather than body, measurements; (c) variations in ease as proportions or standard amounts; (d) trueing, blending, and connecting steps; (e) variation between methods of measurements used, in use of proportions or standard measurements, and in steps; and (h) disregard of body shape.

Women’s Long-Term Reactions to Whole-Body Scanning: A Mixed Methods Approach

This study investigated long-term impacts of whole-body scanning. A total of 91 women completed a retrospective online questionnaire. Quantitative data revealed that 31 (34%) reported greater body dissatisfaction since the scan, and only 6 (7%) reported increased satisfaction. Positive change in satisfaction was predicted by current body satisfaction but not by body mass index (BMI) at time of scanning or by age. BMI did not predict satisfaction with the scanner process or likelihood of being rescanned, though a longer gap between scanning and questionnaire completion predicted satisfaction with the process. Inductive thematic analysis of responses to an open-ended question suggested that although women were comfortable being scanned and wanted to see an accurate and objective view of their size and shape, they also felt threatened and vulnerable when seeing their bodies on the printed output. It is concluded that whole-body scanning should be used with caution, particularly with women with existing body concerns.

The True Height of the Waist: Explorations of Automated Body Scanner Waist Definitions of the TC2 Scanner

The waist is considered as an important measurement point for clothing and represents part of a control section from which lower body garments hang and garments are often required to fit. However, unlike many measurement sites on the body the waist has no single landmark from which to reference it for a population. The non-contact nature of body scanning further complicates this, though automated measurement systems connected to body scanning have developed methods to determine the waist relative to surface geometry. Whilst body scanning provides an opportunity to analyse large volumes of data, there is limited knowledge of how differences in waist definitions using automated systems of measurement compare to waist placement with reference to accepted upper and lower limits. This work employed content analysis methods to understand existing clothing waist definitions and developed different waist definitions within automated measurement software of a TC2 scanner. Measurement extraction using this explorative set of definitions was undertaken on a sample of 106 females whose upper and lower waist limits had been determined through measurement. The data was then analysed to establish how the definitions compared to the waist height determined as the midpoint between the upper (lowest palpable rib) and lower (highest point of the right iliac crest) limits. It was possible to establish that proportional relationships between lengths that could help in defining waist placement and provide checks in automated extraction. As a result of this study a number of suitable waist definitions are proposed for use in the automated measurement software of body scanning technology.