On Saturday I was at Fibre Space again, teaching one of my favorite classes, Dress Forms and Sweater Design.  It’s one of my favorite classes for a lot of reasons, many of which I’ve talked about before.  It’s fun, the people who come to the class are the type that are genuinely interested in learning about this skill.  Most of the time I get to spend some good one-on-one time with each of the students, which is refreshing.

While we were taking measurements, one of the students commented how great it is to have someone assisting with these measurements, because they don’t often get the occasion to be measured.  I know what they mean!  Michael, who is most tolerant of my work, sometimes complains about helping me take measurements.  I also sometimes worry that he’s rounding, measuring too loose or too tight.

Well, just after the class, I came across a UPcload, a startup company located in Berlin.  It uses body scanning technology to take basic measurements of your body.  It’s associated with different clothing companies, the point being so you will know what clothes will fit you, and look best on you – but the measurements they take are really accurate, and are accessible anywhere you have an internet connection.

The website scans your body using a webcam, using a CD or DVD for size reference.  You need to have dark clothing against a light background, and have your hair up.  There’s a flash movie that plays showing you each of the steps.

It’s not perfect – there’s a few measurements I would have liked that weren’t there, but it’s a good starting point and it has the main important ones – which will be more than enough for the average person.