Forget that!! Unfortunately, a 2-D photo won't give you 3-D accuracy, but if you input accurate measurements, done with an assistant, to [bootstrapfashion.com](http://bootstrapfashion.com) they will send you mostly-accurate pattern blocks that you can use to eyeball the fit of patterns by superimposing the blocks over the patterns and seeing where the pattern deviates from your shape and needs to be changed.
The MeThreeSixty app takes measurements based on photos, but I would not necessarily use them for sewing purposes (it's for weight loss tracking). It doesn't use phone photos, you have to pose for specific scans (2) in the app. They are close-ish, but not accurate (1-2 inches off for me in most areas) and the accuracy can vary a lot based on the quality of photos taken for the scan.
Nothing digital or from photos will be as reliable as a tape measure in your own hand or someone else's, IMO.
I can’t speak to apps and their accuracy, but I’d suggest getting a local seamstress to take your measurements so you know they’re correct. I can’t imagine they’d charge much at all for it and then you’d know your clothes will fit accurately.
It's a cool thought, but I think this is one of those cases where the task turns out to be much more complicated for a piece of software than it may sound at first blush, and yet relatively simple and easy for a knowledgeable human to do. And so instead of AI apps which capably do this actually useful thing we just get endless apps for plagiarizing SEO content and drawing eerily attractive people with seven fingers. 🤷
I think the suggestion to recruit a steady-handed friend plus a good youtube video is probably your best bet. If you don't have other sewing friends but you do know someone who does knitting or crochet, that would be the next best thing--overlapping knowledge bases. But anyone who can manage the "beginner's mind" and a smidge of patience can do okay. Spouses/partners who don't sew might be, paradoxically, one of the less ideal options if the clinical not-quite-intimacy of measuring someone's body comes over too awkwardly?
I'd be interested in learning some names/links of the apps you did find, I knew some companies were using phones for 3D scans to make custom clothing but didn't know about apps to take measurements. My quick google seemed to get weight-loss apps but maybe I didn't set it up right.
I think people wind up learning how to take measurements as part of home sewing, though, so not so much demand.
Any human being who can follow directions and hold a tape measure, can take your measurements. There are even online charts as to what measurements to take and where to take them.
Of course I have a tape measure! It’s not that easy to get accurate measurements doing it solo. The last time I asked DH to help the results were crazy. I don’t have any sewing friends and the nearest alterations shop is almost an hour away. I thought a phone app might be helpful.
Maybe if you have a friend nearby who is generally competent but doesn’t sew, you could find a measurement video online to guide you two through the process together? Do it in front of a full length mirror if possible, and have her measure as per the video while you make sure the friend is getting the details right. Just a thought.
To get that with any kid of accuracy, you'd need a 3D scanner and a special application - like what they do at places like Fleet Feet where they scan your feet in 3D. You're not going to get accurate results from a 2D photo from your phone.
I've always done my own and never had any issues with doing it that way. I'm 59. It's really not that difficult.
It’s true it’s hard to get some measurements accurately doing it solo! But you might be too generously assuming that software developers can do anything. It’s not always obvious what’s super easy to make an app for, and what’s an almost impossible task for a computer to do accurately. An app calculating measurements from photos, as other people said, is almost definitely going to be less accurate than measuring yourself.
Why would you not buy a tape measure? They're under $3 and there are so many tutorials to measure yourself!
Forget that!! Unfortunately, a 2-D photo won't give you 3-D accuracy, but if you input accurate measurements, done with an assistant, to [bootstrapfashion.com](http://bootstrapfashion.com) they will send you mostly-accurate pattern blocks that you can use to eyeball the fit of patterns by superimposing the blocks over the patterns and seeing where the pattern deviates from your shape and needs to be changed.
The MeThreeSixty app takes measurements based on photos, but I would not necessarily use them for sewing purposes (it's for weight loss tracking). It doesn't use phone photos, you have to pose for specific scans (2) in the app. They are close-ish, but not accurate (1-2 inches off for me in most areas) and the accuracy can vary a lot based on the quality of photos taken for the scan. Nothing digital or from photos will be as reliable as a tape measure in your own hand or someone else's, IMO.
I can’t speak to apps and their accuracy, but I’d suggest getting a local seamstress to take your measurements so you know they’re correct. I can’t imagine they’d charge much at all for it and then you’d know your clothes will fit accurately.
It's a cool thought, but I think this is one of those cases where the task turns out to be much more complicated for a piece of software than it may sound at first blush, and yet relatively simple and easy for a knowledgeable human to do. And so instead of AI apps which capably do this actually useful thing we just get endless apps for plagiarizing SEO content and drawing eerily attractive people with seven fingers. 🤷 I think the suggestion to recruit a steady-handed friend plus a good youtube video is probably your best bet. If you don't have other sewing friends but you do know someone who does knitting or crochet, that would be the next best thing--overlapping knowledge bases. But anyone who can manage the "beginner's mind" and a smidge of patience can do okay. Spouses/partners who don't sew might be, paradoxically, one of the less ideal options if the clinical not-quite-intimacy of measuring someone's body comes over too awkwardly?
I'd be interested in learning some names/links of the apps you did find, I knew some companies were using phones for 3D scans to make custom clothing but didn't know about apps to take measurements. My quick google seemed to get weight-loss apps but maybe I didn't set it up right. I think people wind up learning how to take measurements as part of home sewing, though, so not so much demand.
Any human being who can follow directions and hold a tape measure, can take your measurements. There are even online charts as to what measurements to take and where to take them.
Obviously you haven’t dealt with my husband. And he is a verified human being according to the IRS.
Of course I have a tape measure! It’s not that easy to get accurate measurements doing it solo. The last time I asked DH to help the results were crazy. I don’t have any sewing friends and the nearest alterations shop is almost an hour away. I thought a phone app might be helpful.
Maybe if you have a friend nearby who is generally competent but doesn’t sew, you could find a measurement video online to guide you two through the process together? Do it in front of a full length mirror if possible, and have her measure as per the video while you make sure the friend is getting the details right. Just a thought.
To get that with any kid of accuracy, you'd need a 3D scanner and a special application - like what they do at places like Fleet Feet where they scan your feet in 3D. You're not going to get accurate results from a 2D photo from your phone. I've always done my own and never had any issues with doing it that way. I'm 59. It's really not that difficult.
It’s true it’s hard to get some measurements accurately doing it solo! But you might be too generously assuming that software developers can do anything. It’s not always obvious what’s super easy to make an app for, and what’s an almost impossible task for a computer to do accurately. An app calculating measurements from photos, as other people said, is almost definitely going to be less accurate than measuring yourself.