Is there a way to make clothes fit any body type?

[Rosaline Optera]

I'm just starting to learn how to make clothing, and I don't seem to be doing too badly. But, I've noticed something strange. Everything I make doesn't fit anyone else well but my avatar, and I know it's probably a pain to have to adjust the items.

So, I was wondering if there was a way to make it so that the clothing automatically fits any body type. I know I've seem something like this in some clothing items, and clothing from other stores seem to fit all body types well. Help would be very much appreciated, and I thank you in advance. 

[Ishtara Rothschild]

System clothes (such as shirts, pants etc.) automatically fit all sizes. It's just a texture that is wrapped around the avatar body and stretches as necessary.

Prim attachments, however, are impossible to auto-adjust. Customers will have to adjust them themselves, either with the standard building tools or with the help of a so-called resizer script. If you add one of those, make sure to get a low lag script that resizes the entire linkset instead of scripts that need to be added to every child prim. The script should also offer and option to delete itself after the customer is done adjusting the item, in order to avoid lag.

Another customer-friendly method is to sell a set that includes different size options. You could ask a few of your friends if you can get a copy of their shapes, assuming they are self-made, or buy a few popular shapes on the Marketplace, and then adjust several copies of your clothing item to fit these shapes.

[BettyBoop String]

Well if it only fits you and nobody else particularly well then it's possible that you have a very different shape to the majority?  Most here are stupidly tall but if you use one of the default SL avatar shapes and work on something close to that, you can at least claim to aim for a default shape in the same way that animators often use the default SL character meshes for use in animations.  You can't make animations to suit all sizes either.

Once you've got something that is a good reference, do one thing... leave prim parts modify!  At the end of the day we are all different shapes and sizes and you can build to a reference but let others fix for their own dimensions.  Please please don't assume that dropping in resize scripts is a catch all solution because they're woefully inadequate and an insult to those who want to make something look great on themselves.

I've heard all sorts of excuses from "they'll copybot me" to "I don't want the extra support if they break it" or "if they edit it badly it makes my creation look bad".

So, if someone has a no mod item and absolutely need it to fit, they're pretty much driven to copybot just to get a modify ability, make it copy/mod and there's your support gone.  Just copy then edit.  If you think it makes the item look bad because someone else has badly modified it, is that different from it looking bad because it can't be made to fit in the first place?

By all means put a single script resizer in but leave it modify for those of us who want it to REALLY fit.

At the end of the day it's your choice but please also make sure the item advert correctly reflects the permissions and that the description is accurate if they're mixed.  It's annoying to buy something that said it was modify when the reality is it has a script to reszie.  That is not modify!  Nor should the listing say MOD when only some of it is mod, that's why there's a choice for "see item description" for mixed permissions.

Don't fall into the copybot paranoia, it can be copybotted whether it's no mod or not.

[Rosaline Optera]

Thank you both for your responses, I really appreciate them. I'll take both into consideration. =D

As for my shape, it's one I created myself. She's not too tall, too short, and she's proportionate to her body shape. 

[Patricia Mattercaster]

I'm going to start making prim attachments using the smallest shape i can find, perhaps a child shape, this way i'll know the prims will scale down to fit the smallest avatar. But when i box the items for sale i will first adjust the prim attachments to a medium shape. This is more convenient for customers i think, something that will fit most without hassle.

[Rosaline Optera]

That's a very good idea. 

[Penny Patton]

@Patricia

Everyone should do that, it really helps to make it easy for your customers to re-size attachments to fit any shape.

I use a 4'11"/150cm (actual height, not the Agent Height displayed in the appearance editor and most scripted height detectors) adult proportioned shape for this.