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Quick disclaimer: I'm a StackOverflow regular and completely out of my element here...so go easy on me.

Just wanted to ask if anyone know of a simple way to measure or calculate the volume of clothing?

It would be easy to get the clothing's weight (mass) and maybe a little harder to get the "true" dimensions (height, width, depth).

Any suggestions, or guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

UPDATE #1: I read about using water for irregular shapes. Measure the water without the item, then measure the water with the item. Is there similar method that doesn't involve getting the clothes wet?

UPDATE #2: Am I making it more complicated than it really needs to be? Should I just fold the clothes and measure height, width and depth?

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    You mean of the _cloth_ or of the entire thing (including all the air or person etc. that might be inside it)? If you just want the volume of the cloth, find its mass and then find or estimate the density of the material.2011-05-31
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    Chemistry.....?2011-05-31
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    @Qiaochu Yuan: Yeah, I'm looking for the folded volume of clothing. For example, how much space on a shelf does a pair of jeans consume.2011-05-31
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    @Aryabhatta: sorry, when Google searching, a lot of the response to volume question were from chemistry majors....and I didn't know what 95% of the tags meant, so it seemed the best option.2011-05-31
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    @Update #2: There could be significant error if the dimensions are very small (hard to measure). You could reduce this error by stacking several copies of the same article of clothing, finding the volume of the stack (length x width x height), and dividing by the number of articles in the stack.2011-05-31
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    @Austin Mohr: Great idea! (If you want to add this as answer, I'd be happy to check it off) Thanks.2011-05-31
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    This is ill defined, if you assume point-particles the total volume is 0. If you dunk it in water you are only measuring how tightly water molecules bond with the fibers.2011-05-31
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    There's a lot of air in clothing, as anybody who's squashed down a suitcase to get more into it knows. See also those vacuum-storage bags that are advertised on late night television.2011-05-31
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    I don't think that this question deserves the two downvotes it has received, particularly since they are unexplained - related discussion available at [this meta thread](http://meta.math.stackexchange.com/questions/4113/quick-downvoting-of-ill-formatted-questions-by-new-users).2012-05-11

2 Answers 2

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Dunk the clothing in water and measure the displacement.

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    Depending on the material, won't this underestimate the volume since water will soak into it?2011-05-31
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    Sorry, posted my update, before I read this.2011-05-31
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    Seeing his comment now about the folded volume motivates his question a little further, so you are right. In this case, you might fold the clothing, wrap it tightly in thin plastic, and then place it in water. At this point, however, it seems like the clothing might well enough be approximated by a rectangular prism.2011-05-31
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    @Qiaochu, so use some non-wetting liquid, like mercury, instead of water. Did I happen to mention that I'm a pure mathematician, not applied?2011-06-01
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    @AustinMohr: I think what you said in the comments about measuring the volume of a stack of items was probably better.2012-05-11
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We were taught in our school a simple method to find the dimensions of a non-linear object.Based on it I am suggesting the following procedure: Fold the piece of clothing to the required size and place it flat in a rectangular plastic tray so that the clothe touches the two adjacent sides of the tray. Place a flat plate on top of the clothe, press it down level and measure its length, width and the gap between the bottom of the tray and the flat plate and multiply the measured values. I hope this method serves your purpose.

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    Nice approach....thanks!2012-05-11