Vladimir I. Netchaev, General Manager of "Vladimir Nechaev's Atelier" Ltd.

Dressmaking for individuals is especially attractive for small enterprises for its higher benefit. A customer pre-pays fully or partially for service and material; there is no need to think about selling of ready garments. But, except of completing the order, you must get the garment fit for a particular customer. Weak aspect of individual dressmaking is the fact that to increase turnover one must get more cutters. This consequently leads to increase of wage. If you have high-skilled cutter, one must pay him/her additionally when there is less orders; if you have low-skilled cutter if affect garment total quality. The best way to increase turnover is automating of cutter's work.

Individual designing is comprehensive process, because one can cut a garment one time only. Traditionally, to get the design the designer uses formulas and graphic methods. We do not analyze here other methods for they claim for cutter's high qualification and long practice. To fit the garment you need provide additional allowances; beside there must be several fittings. All these make sewing rather slow, and claim for presence of customer.

Touchless sewing makes to process much easier. In this case, you can sew the garment automatically, reducing expenses. To arrange such a process, it is necessary to get all possible information on customer's stature. But it is necessary to know more than just girths for touchless sewing. You must take into account body position, stooping, asymmetry, shoulders position, usual bearing. To get all this data, fittings are necessary. Using all these data, you can design a model by counting methods. At this stage it is better to use CAD/CAM that counts all formulas and prints ready set of patterns. This way seems to be logical and rather easy. But there are many problems when fulfilling this method.

Taking many measurements claims for cutter's high skills and additional measuring facilities. You can count measures basing formulas on measures interrelationship. Unfortunately counting coefficients sometimes do not produce necessary result for all size-height range. These problems are mostly visible on large size mannequins' visualization. Such a mannequin looks not like a figure of large size but like stretched normal figure. New formulas to correlate measures are necessary. If you use CAD/CAM, the process is much easier. You can form correlation between measures and them use these functions working with database and change measures delivered with CAD/CAM database. For such "development" of standards, piece linear functions are comfortable. They allow describing any measure correlation. Mannequins based on such method looks mostly like "real", "alive" people.

To avoid errors in taking individual measures, you can take measures basing on digital photo. All process takes 5 minutes only. Picture your customer from 3 sides, enter main measures and then the operator viewing screened image corrects heights, depths, angles etc counted by system. Thus, you can calculate not only measures but also parameters of constructive lines, for example, waistband line, shoulders line, armhole heights. Then these parameters are being transferred to design module. You can widen the range of measurements or narrow it (it depends of atelier's assortment).

After you get necessary measures, you can begin designing. Any designer brings his/her changes into a method in order to get his or her own patterns. But is you use only surface measures, you cannot get precious darts or relieves. Any formulas take into account limited amount of figure types, and individual figure can be out of these limits.

2.5D + taking measures on base of digital picture is a prospective method in individual dressmaking. After you take measures and set main constructive points, "cyber twin" screens, on which you can measure space angles to determine bust/waist darts. Using heights, depths, front-back diameters allows you to account individuals characteristics in formulas and use these data in pattern designing.

When analyzing a figure, it is necessary to take into account constructive features: seam position depending on figure type, neck height and neck position, hands position etc. It means that complex approach is necessary: taking measurements should be bounded with further designing.

Which measures are necessary for constructing? To tack into account all individual features, it is necessary to know their numeral characteristics. Measurements should be limited to avoid repeating. One of criteria of sufficiency is figure reconstruction that corresponds figure features necessary for garment fit estimate.

It is necessary remember that this designing is for figures of different types, and a measure optional for one type becomes necessary for another type. For example, you do not need to take into account belly projection designing for slim figures, but it is necessary feature for large sizes. Moreover, large figures claim for additional measurements.

Below you can find the particular example of designing on individual measurements based on LEKO CAD, version 8.04.

First, picture your customer from fixed distance of 2.5-4.0 meters. Then enter pictures into measurement taking program, that form typical figure, and the operator changes typical measures according to picture.

Then, individual measures are being transferred into designing system that creates patterns basing on measures, reconstructed mannequin and additional space constructions.

Now you can use these patterns to sew the garment.

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Basing on this method, you can try other methods. If it works for individual designing, it will work for typical one; but the reverse is not true.

The above described method was approbated in Vladimir Netchaev's atelier during 2003-2004. The results we gained showed prospectiveness of this approach in individual dressmaking. Naturally, both developers and users brought some additions and changes into system. Development of new constructive methods is impossible without improving of "tool" - designing program, and during test time the program was substantively improved.

Using taking measurements on the base of digital photo allows you to accept orders distantly, via Internet. You can arrange a station where a customer can be pictured with calibrated camera and take additional measurements, then transfer gained data to central atelier or to enterprise that deal with individual cut-off. The garment can be cut-off immediately after accepting order. You can sew the garment both in atelier and industrially.

Vladimir Netchaev's atelier offers to arrange places to accept orders at. We are ready to help you in setting measurement taking program.