Aug 26, 2008

DIY dress form tutorial

I started this dress form with the intention of getting help from my boyfriend... however it took so long to pre-cut the pieces of tape I ended up doing it all by myself because he passed out, lol!.... so it's possible to do this all by yourself, however having a helping hand would make it so much easier, but I got a good stretching out of my arms, :P

Materials:
- black garbage bag
- duct tape
- gummed paper tape, cut/ripped into 6-8 inch lengths
- sponge
- preparation time: 30minutes - 1hr
- taping time: 1-2hr depending on whether you have help or not

1) cut a neck hole and arm hole in the black garbage bag. Wrap an 1 inch wide length of duct tape below the bust line.

2) with another 1 inch wide length of duct tape, cross the strip over the chest and around your neck.

3) wrap another 1 inch wide length of paper tape around the narrowest part of your waist. Start placing short lengths of tape around neck area for stabilizing and starting everything off.

4) Place 6 inch length paper tape horizontally across the collar bone and chest area. Reinforce the horizontal strips with vertical strips.

5) Continue to past the waist to the hips.

6) Finishing off past the bum and mid-thigh.

7) I messed up cut up the front to get the cast off me, but I didn't have help to cut it up the back, which is what you should do.

Now paper tape up the cut area to reattach the two sides and VOILA, you have a dress form. Make end stops by using cardboard boxes in the shape of the neck, arm and bottom hole. You can fill the form with basting, newspaper, scraps of cloth, what have you. I had a mixture of scraps of cloths and newspaper. The cloth makes the form more heavy and stable. I also made a cover for the form to make it look a more presentable sitting in my living room, which took less than 10 minutes.

GOOD LUCK everyone, if you have questions feel free to ask me ;)

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Whoa, I don't know how you find time in your busy schedule to do that haha lol I think you are highway on your way to completing a real dress in no time.
Remember that grocery store challenge on the first project runway? Reminds me of the paper bag robe and garbage bag dress. I honestly liked it but I guess it was too easy for a challenge. I'm so excited for you!!! happy sewing =)

ifyouonlyknew said...

teeheee... a few weeks back I had more time... but it was well worth it! Don't you have a dress form from a friend?

Anonymous said...

i just noticed.. did you poke your betty button in on that paper dress? wow haha

ifyouonlyknew said...

pUAhAhahahaha!!! i didn't even notice that :P so no hun, no amazing foresight like that just guess i got a big-ol' belly button that it sucks in plastic and paper!!!!

Diva said...

I enjoyed what you did. I think I may try this out
I may even try a sleeve too. Thanks for sharing you'd idea. Love it.

 
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