Hi there I am new to fitting clothes and making adjustments, but very interested. I recall reading an article about making your own perfect homemade dress form. The article suggested that we have a friend use duct tape and create a copy on our body then cut it away. This is all a distant memory of the details of doing this project. I was wondering if anyone has read this article also and or has this article and can tell me how to do this exactly. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
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Replies
There are quite a few discussions on this forum about making dress forms, out of paper tape, out of duct tape, and out of fabric. Look on the left side of this page, at the top of the "subject" column, and click on "Advanced search". Then on that page, type in "paper tape dress form" and you'll find a list of postings on the topic. There are lots of comments on pros and cons, as well as instructions. You can also Google the topic and find instructions - "duct tape double" is a phrase you can use to search on.
You'll need a friend to help you with the duct tape or paper tape forms.
Threadkoe and a few others here are considering getting together somewhere in the US to make our own dressforms and meet each other. Let her know if you are interested. Mary
An online sewing friend had a lot of luck with this tutorial:
http://rustybobbin.com/inklings/dtd.html
She's really very happy with the outcome, and her only modification (if she had to do any) would be that the recommended stuffing (plastic bags) occasionally falls out. She thought a spray foam insulation (the kind that hardens after drying, can be bought at Home Depot or Lowe's) might fill it and stay put. Here's her blog post about the experience.
Good Luck!
Kristine in Michigan
Here's a link to the Threads article "Clone Yourself a Fitting Assistant." The article describes four ways to make your own dress form.
I just recently made a dress form of my adult daughter, who lives in another city, so I could make sure things fit before I send them to her.
I found the instructions in a library book SUBVERSIVE SEAMSTER by Melissa Alvarado.
It worked well I think, though I have not mounted it on a stand yet so it is lounging on my living room couch at the moment. We got it done in about an hour with two people cutting duct tape and one person taping and we stuffed it (firmly)with polyester fiberfill.
They are a little vague on the mounting procedure in this book so I will be glad to check out the resources mentioned by others in this thread to see about that part.
Good luck.
Alice
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