Resources - Preparing for your scan

Getting a great scan starts with your 30 minute scan coaching session with the founder of Beatrice Forms.

Your personalized consultation with Alison takes only 30 minutes and can make a big difference in getting the result you desire. We’ll be discussing your sewing goals for your Beatrice, how to capture your desired form silhouette to meet your needs, in addition to any other concerns you have. The optimal time for your consultation is before you scan.

Book your pre-scan consultation >

To make the most of our time, we highly recommend watching our Beatrice 101 video series prior to our meeting.

Your scan clothing needs to lay flush with the body because our scanning technology reproduces your shape based on the clothing’s surface.

When your body scan kit arrives, please try on your scan clothing over the undergarments you plan on scanning with to assess the fit.

What’s a “good” fit?

• It’s fairly snug. We are looking for a pretty snug fit, especially under the arms, but not so tight that the clothing distorts your figure.
• The clothing hugs your curves. Check areas like around the bust, at the arms, and the small of your back for fabric that may pull away instead of hugging your body smoothly.
  
  To fix this issue, scootch more fabric into the area so it lies flat in contact with your skin. Or you can pin or sew the garment so the fabric lays flush with your body (we can remove the pinned out fabric darts from the scan later during the editing process.)
  
  
• For clear definition around your curves:
• • Tie elastic around your natural waist and at the underbust if you would like bust definition.
  • For those with a bust, make sure the shirt is not pulled down over your bra too tightly. If the shirt is pulled down too much, it will compress and lower your bust. Feel free to measure your bust girth and position with the scan clothing on to ensure you scan with the desired bust shape.
  • For those requiring cleavage definition, apply twill tape between your breasts. Wrap it behind your neck and firmly secure the ends to your bra with a safety pin and trim the ends off as shown below. This helps greatly to achieve definition between your breasts by holding the fabric close to your chest.

Please let us know if you have any concerns before your body scan session. In many cases, we can work around fit issues without having to exchange your clothing for a different size.

Before you scan, it’s important to consider what kind shape you want to create for your form. This shape will impact your fitting and design outcomes when working with your custom Beatrice.

Here are things to think about:

Undergarments
When you scan, you’ll want to wear the undergarments that you will be wearing under the clothing you will be designing on your Beatrice. It’s important to wear your bra and any other shapewear that you normally wear when you scan because you might not be able to apply these to your form later and achieve your desired silhouette. Foam just doesn’t behave the same as your body tissue & skeleton, so it may not compress under bras and shapewear like it does on your body.

Also note, people with breasts must wear a bra during their scan. This is due to limitations in our scanning & fabrication process. Please do not hesitate to reach out to us if you have any questions about this.

Posture
The way you stand profoundly affects fit. For example, when one slouches, the lengths along the front of the body are compressed. The shape of your bust and tummy change as well.

Before you scan, notice how you normally stand. We recommend that you stand in a comfortable, upright posture with legs shoulder width apart. An upright posture will ensure the clothing you fit on your Beatrice will have enough length to accomodate your body when you stand up straight.

Note: We no longer need you to mark your shoulder points so ignore that step in any of our videos.

You’ll need a cleared indoor 7’x7’ space with as much light as possible. Watch a video of a scanning session here to see a good example of a scan location. Things to consider when selecting a location:

• Indirect natural light is best, but diffused artificial light is good too.
• It’s ok if there are things outside of the cleared area, like furniture or art on the walls, but mirrors will need to be covered.
• At the time of your scan, you’ll need to remove or turn off anything that might move in the background (i.e. pets, people, ceiling fans, tv, blinking lights, etc.)

Click here from your iPhone to download the Beatrice App. On the day of your body scan, make sure to update your Beatrice app to the latest version.

Clean your iPhone lens to ensure accuracy.

Have your body scan kit card handy when you scan - it has your customer ID and the email address you provided when you ordered your Beatrice. You’ll need to enter those when you upload your videos so we know who they belong to.

Please watch this video of Nathan and I completing a scan. It really helps to get the clearest picture of our body scan process! (Note: we no longer use the scale marker for our scanning process even though it’s shown in this video.)

Also, here’s our Top 5 Tips for scanning video:

That’s it! If you have any concerns or questions, please let us know.