Sewing Stunt Double

By Connie Amaden-Crawford

Make an economical, pinnable and longlasting DRESS FORM that's a true reflection of your body shape. Then enjoy the ease of fitting your garments without twisting and turning to fit hard-to-reach areas and repeatedly taking the garment on and off. Get together with friends to purchase supplies and streamline the process.

A DRESS FORM DUPLICATES THE HUMAN TORSO. It's usually made of papiermaché and covered with a heavy linen fabric, which is steamed to tightly conform to the dress form. It has collapsible arms and is set on a movable, height-adjustable stand. Dress forms are available in standard sizes and figure types. Adjustable dress forms are the most common forms on the market today. However, an adjustable form leaves spaces where it's imperative to pin when fitting a pattern, such as the center front, center back and shoulders. Garment manufacturers use dress forms to drape original designs and perfect basic blocks or patterns. Sample garments are then fitted, checked and corrected on the form. Manufacturers select more general forms because their basic patterns and designs are proportioned to fit a variety of customers without involving too many alterations.

Custom Dress Form

This basic form can be made in about an hour. New forms are easily made as the body changes or if various body sizes are needed. Create a dress form for your personal use or for your business when individual fit is necessary. The featured dress form has a finished linen shell with a shoulder princess seam. An arm, made from canvas and firmly stuffed, is also available to attach to the dress form. (See "Sources" at the end of this article.) The arm is used to drape and check the finished sleeve fit.

MATERIALS

• Lawn-and-garden trash bag to fit over the body (not tight or too loose, and long enough to reach 3" above the knees)
• Duct tape (about 3 yards)
• 3 to 5 rolls of 2"x 60 yard self-adhesive paper packing tape––not the shiny type (See Sources at the end of this article.)
• Permanent marker
• Heavy cardboard scraps
• Basic sheath-dress pattern with shoulder princess seam
• 5 to 6 pounds of polyester fiberfill
• Stand (See Dress-Form Stand.)

From the August 2006 issue of Sew News magazine.