WO2013055223A1

WO2013055223A1 - Method for making sewing patterns

Info

Publication number: WO2013055223A1
Application number: PCT/NL2012/050720
Authority: WO
Inventors: Johanna HAMOEN
Original assignee: Hamoen Johanna
Priority date: 2011-10-14
Filing date: 2012-10-15
Publication date: 2013-04-18
Also published as: NL2007594C2

Abstract

A method for making sewing patterns for making clothes for a person, which method comprises the steps of: - making a first image in a first direction of the person and a reference object positioned near the person; - making a second image in a second direction different from the first direction of the person and the reference object; - calculating actual measurements of the person as shown on the aforesaid two images on the basis of known dimensions of the object and the two images; - determining cross-sectional measurements of the person on the basis of predetermined shapes, with the direction of the cross-sectional plane being oriented substantially perpendicular to the first and the second direction; and - making sewing patterns on the basis of the determined actual measurements and the orientation horizontally of the girth measurements and the cross-sectional measurements.

Description

ME THOD FOR MAKING SEWING PATTERNS

The present invention relates to a method for making sewing patterns for making clothes for a person.

Traditionally, clothes for a person are made by measuring the person, using a measuring tape. Upon measuring, the important measurements, such as waist circumference, chest circumference, hip circumference, waist length, etc are determined. On the basis of said measurements, sewing patterns can then be made, which are subseguently used for cutting out fabric. The cut-out parts are finally sewn together into an article of clothing. It is also generally known to make ready-to-wear clothes.

The production thereof starts from statistical data, on the basis of which a range of measurements have been defined. Each stock size is based on a fixed value for the important measurements. Thus it is possible to make clothes for a large number of different persons without measuring each person individually. The drawback of ready-to-wear clothes is that they seldom fit perfectly as a whole, because the fixed measurements, on the basis of which ready to wear clothes are made, rarely correspond exactly to a specific person's measurements.

It is further known to make a three-dimensional body scan, so that a digital three-dimensional image is obtained. On the basis of this information the person's measurements can subsequently be determined and patterns can be made. The drawback is, however, that a three-dimensional body scan requires the use of costly equipment for obtaining precise data .

It is an object of the invention to provide a method that alleviates or even obviates the above drawbacks.

According to the invention this object is achieved by means of a method which comprises the steps of:

- making a first image in a first direction of the person and a reference object positioned near the person;

- making a second image in a second direction different from the first direction of the person and the reference obj ect;

- calculating actual measurements of the person as shown on the aforesaid two images on the basis of known dimensions of the object and the two images;

- determining cross-sectional measurements of the person on the basis of predetermined shapes, with the direction of the cross-sectional plane being oriented substantially perpendicular to the first and the second direction; and

- making sewing patterns on the basis of the actual

measurements as determined and the cross-sectional measurements . By making an image of a person whilst simultaneously a reference object is depicted on the image, it becomes possible to scale the image. Since the actual measurements and the shape of the reference object are known in advance, it is possible to convert the person's image into actual measurements on the basis of the image of the reference obj ect . According to the invention, two images are made from different angles, so that measurements in two different planes can be determined. Subsequently a predetermined shape for a specific cross-section, with the direction of the cross-sectional plane extending substantially

perpendicularly to the two directions of the images, is taken as a starting point. By combining the two measurements with the predetermined shape, it is possible to determine the measurements of the predetermined shape.

It has been found that the shapes of cross-sections of various parts of the body at fixed positions are

substantially the same for various persons, with only the measurements differing. This makes it possible to determine the actual measurements of a cross-section on the basis of only two images, from which two measurements of a cross- section can be determined, and the shape of said cross- section . An additional advantage of starting from predetermined cross-sectional shapes is that the use of a measuring tape is simulated. Local unevennesses in the skin are flattened out both with the predetermined shape and with a measuring tape. This corresponds to fabric, which never follows the skin completely but which also has a flattening effect.

If a known three-dimensional body scan were to be used, also all unevennesses would be measured on account of the precision of the scan, and it would, on the contrary, be more difficult to measure a correct girth for making clothes . In a preferred embodiment of the method according to the invention, the first image is a front view of the person and the second image is a side view of the person. By making a front view and a side view of the person, a maximum amount of information is obtained. In the first place information about the person's measurements, but also about the person's posture, which is helpful when making sewing patterns for clothes and of essential importance as regards the fit.

Furthermore, the front view and the side view are oriented perpendicular to each other, as a result of which the cross- sections lie in the horizontal plane, corresponding to the usual girth measurements a tailor would make.

In another preferred embodiment of the method according to the invention, the predetermined shapes comprise the cross- sectional shape at hip level, at waist level, at chest level and just below the chest.

Using the invention, it is thus possible to determine the usual girth measurements, such as the waist circumference, the chest circumference, the lower chest circumference and the hip circumference on the basis of two images and the predetermined shapes. In addition to that, the usual measurements such as the waist length can be directly determined from the images, of course. In another embodiment of the method according to the invention, the predetermined shapes are based on statistical data. By measuring several persons completely, it is possible to determine the predetermined shapes. In yet another embodiment of the method according to the invention, the position of the camera relative to the reference object is determined when calculating the actual measurements of the person that are visible on the images so as to be able to compensate for any distortion caused by the camera position.

Upon making an image by means of a camera, the obtained image will depend on the distance from the camera to the person. If the camera is positioned at a large distance when the image is being made, the degree of distortion will be significantly less than if the camera would be positioned very close to the person, with the image being made at a larger angle. In addition to that there is a chance that the camera is not held completely parallel to the person. This, too, can be corrected on the basis of the reference object. Using the reference object shown on the two images, it is furthermore possible to determine the relative position between the two points from where the two images were made. In another preferred embodiment of the method according to the invention, the reference object is a plane having a known shape and measurements. Preferably, said plane is a sheet, for example of paper, and the person takes up a position centrally on the plane. Preferably, said plane is a rectangular plane. Using a rectangular sheet of paper, for example a sheet of paper of A3 format, the actual

measurements of the persons can be readily determined. The perspective of the sheet of paper on the image furthermore makes it possible to determine the position and the distance between the camera and the person and to make corrections for image distortion caused by camera position errors. In yet another embodiment of the method according to the invention, the relative positions of the actual measurements and the cross-sectional measurements are determined. Due inter alia to the curvature of the backbone, the cross- sections whose actual measurements are determined are rarely in line. In order to ensure when making sewing patterns that the fabric in the final article of clothing will extend in a straight line and a good fit is obtained, it is important that the relative position of the actual measurements and the cross-sectional measurements be taken into account.

Preferably, the two images are used as a reference when making the sewing patterns. From the two images, the relative positions of the measurements can be readily determined. Said relative positions can be readily taken into account when making the sewing patterns, for example by projecting the two images beside the plane of drawing for making the sewing patterns.

This is preferably implemented in software, because zooming in and zooming out of the images and the sewing patterns can be realised in a simple manner by means of software. Another embodiment of the method according to the invention comprises the step of making sewing patterns of clothes for the person. In doing so, use is made of actual measurements derived from the images, the dimensions of the girth measurements and their relative orientation.

The invention furthermore comprises a computer-implemented method according to the invention. The above and other aspects of the invention will be explained in more detail below with reference to the appended drawings . Figure 1 is a schematic view of an embodiment of the method according to the invention.

Figures 2A and 2B are schematic views of a camera

correction .

Figure 3 shows a pattern made by using the method according to the invention.

Figure 4 shows a second embodiment of the making of a sewing pattern according to the invention.

Figure 1 shows in schematic view an embodiment of the method according to the invention. According to the method, there is shown an image 1 showing a front view of a person 2 and an image 3 showing a side view of the person 2. When the two images 1, 3 are being made, the person 2 is standing on a sheet of paper 4, for example an A3 format sheet.

Said sheet of paper 4 forms a reference object, on the basis of which the actual measurements of the person 2 can be calculated. Of said A3 format sheet 4 it is known in advance that its measurements are 420 mm x 297 mm. In the first image 1, the length x of the front side of the sheet can be measured. As it is known that in actual fact x must be 420 mm, a conversion factor can be calculated, which can be used for calculating all the measurements in the image 1. Thus, the length 1 of the arm can be calculated, for example, but also a first dimension al, bl, cl, dl of various cross- sections of the person 2.

In the second image 3, a conversion factor can likewise be calculated from the length y of the side of the sheet 4 and the actual width of 297 mm of the sheet 4, which conversion factor can be used for measuring the actual dimensions in the second images a2, b2, c2, d2 of various cross-sections of the person 2.

In order to increase the precision of the calculation of the measurements in the two images 1, 3, the distortion of the camera by means of which the images 1, 3 were made can be taken into account.

By comparing the proportion between the length x of the front side of the sheet 4 with the length r of the rear side 7 of the sheet 4, the distance from the camera to the person 2 can be calculated, whilst the distortion in the images 1, 3 can also be taken into account.

Thus it is possible to determine the height of the camera on the basis of the distance s between the front side and the rear side of the sheet on the image 1.

In addition to that, the precision of the determination of the actual measurements can be further increased by taking into account the position of the person 2 on the sheet 4. The position of the person 2 on the sheet 4 determines in what plane the various dimensions al, bl, cl, dl must be calculated and to what extent the measurements x and r must be taken into account for obtaining a correct conversion factor . These calculations can also be used for the second image 3. It is furthermore possible to take into account the angle between the two camera points upon making the two images 1, 3, which angle will not be exactly 90° at all times.

One aspect of the possible distortion by the camera will now be further explained with reference to figures 2A and 2B. Both figures 2A and 2B show a circular object 5 having a centre 6.

In figure 2A, the camera 7 is positioned close to the object 5. On a picture made of the object 5 by the camera 7, the points of contact 8 will be shown as extreme points of the object 5. Said points of contact 8 are located a distance zl in front of the centre 6. If it is assumed that the distance between the points of contact 8 is the diameter of the circle 5, too small a value will be calculated upon

calculation of the actual measurement.

In figure 2B the camera 7 is positioned at a large distance from the object 5. It is clear that the distance z2 from the points of contact 9 to the centre 6 is smaller, so that a smaller deviation will result upon determination of the actual measurements.

By taking into account the above effects of the distance from the camera 7 to the person 2, a greater precision can be obtained upon calculation of the actual measurements.

Now that the actual measurements of the person 2 can be calculated on the basis of the first image 1 and the second image 3, possibly taking into account the distorted effects of the camera, said actual measurements can be combined with predetermined shapes 10, 11, 12, 13 of specific cross- sections of the person 2. The cross-sections preferably correspond to the positions at which a traditional tailor would also take the measurements.

As is the case in figure 1, the predetermined shapes 10, 11, 12, 13 can be scaled on the basis of the calculated actual dimensions al, a2, dl, d2. Once the predetermined shapes 10, 11, 12, 13 have been correctly scaled, the actual girth of the person 2 at the location of said cross-section can be determined.

Using the method according to the invention it is thus possible to determine the actual waist circumference, chest circumference, hip circumference, etc on the basis of only two images 1, 3 of a person 2. From image 2 is also possible to derive the horizontal orientation of the girth

measurements relative to each other, which represent the person's posture. Used in combination with other

measurements, such as the arm length 1, which can be more easily derived from the images 1, 3, it is subsequently possible to draw a pattern 14 (see figure 3) . Using this pattern 14, fabric can be cut and be sewn to make an article of clothing.

In figure 3 it is furthermore indicated in the pattern 14 which parts correspond to the cross-sections a, b, c, d of the person 2 as shown in figure 1.

Figure 4 shows an embodiment of the method according to the invention, in which the relative positions of the cross- sectional shapes are taken into account in the making of the pattern .

On the left-hand side, the plane of drawing 20 for drawing the pattern 21 is shown. Beside said plane of drawing, on the right-hand side, the contours of the front view 22 of the person, the side view 23 and cross-sectional dimensions 24 are shown. The cross-section 24 indicates that the cross-sections are not in line but follow the curve of the person's back.

The lines 25 and 26 indicate a vertical distribution of the cross-sections, by means of which the waistline distribution can be measured. This can be taken into account in making the pattern 21.

Furthermore, auxiliary lines 27 may be placed between the contours of the front view 22, the side view 23 and the pattern 21 so as to facilitate taking over specific

proportions in the pattern 21.

Claims

A method for making sewing patterns for making clothes for a person, which method comprises the steps of:

- making a first image in a first direction of the

person and a reference object positioned near the person;

- making a second image in a second direction different from the first direction of the person and the reference object;

- calculating actual measurements of the person as

shown on the aforesaid two images on the basis of known dimensions of the object and the two images;

- determining cross-sectional measurements of the

person on the basis of predetermined shapes, with the direction of the cross-sectional plane being oriented substantially perpendicular to the first and the second direction; and

- making sewing patterns on the basis of the determined actual measurements and the orientation horizontally of the girth measurements and the cross-sectional measurements .

A method according to claim 1, wherein the first image is a front view of the person and the second image is a side view of the person.

A method according to claim 2, wherein the

predetermined shapes comprise the cross-sectional shape at hip level, at waist level, at chest level and just below chest level. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the predetermined shapes are based on

statistical data.

A method according to anyone of the preceding claims, wherein the position of the camera relative to the reference object is determined when calculating the actual measurements of the person that are visible on the images so as to be able to compensate for any distortion caused by the position and the orientation of the camera.

A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the reference object is a plane having a known shape and known dimensions.

A method according to claim 6, wherein the plane is a sheet, for example of paper, with the person standing in the centre of the plane.

A method according to claim 6 or 7, wherein the plane is a rectangular plane.

A method according to anyone of the preceding claims, wherein the relative positions of the actual

measurements and the cross-sectional measurements are determined for making the sewing patterns.

A method according to claim 9, wherein the two images are used for reference when the sewing patterns are being made. A method according to anyone of the preceding claims, further comprising the step of making clothes for the person by making use of the patterns. 12. A computer-implemented method according to any one of the preceding claims.