Making A Dress Form

[phase1]

well, I'm taking a draping class this semester, and my teacher insists that we'll definitely need a dress form for the class. We have plenty in the studio, but we can't take them home.

I wanted to purchase one...but ummm...haven't really come across the $300 + that I may need.

I found these (http://www.taunton.com/threads/pages/t00002_p2.asp) instructions and decided o give it a shot. ( I remember mocha bringing this up in another thread)

here are some photos:

front (http://pic5.picturetrail.com/VOL91/2063398/4952038/65173895.jpg)

back (http://pic5.picturetrail.com/VOL91/2063398/4952038/65173908.jpg)

end result (http://pic5.picturetrail.com/VOL91/2063398/4952038/65173931.jpg)


now....I had my mc (male companion) do the taping for me. I tried to help near the top area, and we worked it out the best we could. I swear, this child must have had some built up anger inside cause he taped it so tight. I was getting dizzy and felt like I would faint. I think it turned out o.k. The only thing that's screwed up is the chest area. He did it so tight that the form came out flat chested :(...I think I can work with it, though. For the last picture I have it temporarily stuffed with towels and sheets. I need to go buy some of that poly batting and find a stand for it. I also added some more tape to smooth it out. I think it's cool 8)

It took us maybe a little over an hour. The instructions say to use about 2 -3 60 yard rolls of tape, but we didn't even use a whole one. Excuse all the lines at the waist. Seems like somebody can't draw a continuous straight line....

I just wanted to share this info in case someone else wanted to try it.

[lhyna]

:yaisse2 thank you for the info that's exactly what I needed. I have to make 3 gowns, this will be helpful. :)

[blufaerie]

I dont even sew clothes (yet), but I will definitely make a mold. I make ponchos and other crochet items and would love to have something to hang them from. Plus it will inspire me to make other things...like this tshirt I cut up last night...real cute!

[Msfit06]

this is hot i think i may try making one of these myself...

[charli]

You know, you can buy a used store display mannequin if you don't need one that's adjustable.

I used to have a My Double dress form, the adjustable kind, it was about $120 on sale and that was years ago. I didn't like it because the adjustable nature of it made it less firm, parts would shift. PLUS the biggest pet peeve is that it doesn't have leg stubs, or whatever, so it is nearly impossible to properly drape pants on them (hence the name DRESS form). Anyhow, I eventually got a store display dress form, a damn good one, with a hanging stand from a store remodeling sale for less than $20. This thing usually costs almost $300. And it has the leg stubs in it. And it's firm, it's something sturdy and then covered in fabric.

You could even try ebay for one.

[phase1]

thanks for the info charli. Yeah..I thought about trying to find a used one at a store that was going out of business or something. I didn't come across anything, though. I checked ebay this past spring and they had several...for really cheap, too. Now all I can find are the full body mannequins. I shoulda got one back then.


My teacher warned us about those adjustable ones..the ones with the dials, so I don't even think I want to waste money on one. For now I'll probably redo the taping procedure to get it more accurate and just work with that unless I do find a used one somewhere. When (or maybe I should say if) I go to grad school I'm sure I'll be investing in a better one.

[buttaflybaby]

WOWOWOWWW!!! I think I need to do this one and I've also saw another that was too cool!