This is going to sound funny but 'Help A Guy Out!'

[dj_jammer506]

Okay, I hope no one is going to freak out on me. lol

First of all, I am a male.

Then why am I posting in this forum? Eh?

Well... In a play I am going to beperforming as a woman.

And as a male I am rather curvacious, so as a female I can only hope to be a glamorous and curvacious as possible.

I wish you could see me, I'm laughing so hard while I type this! lol

But I am looking for a formal gown pattern, something that I can dance in. I don't need anything that is too revealing up top, seeing as how everything up there is fake! lol

Anyway, who knows of any patterns of the such?

Thank you so much!

Much Love!
 - Josh A.

[BYA]

I like Burda patterns because they are easy and they have a good plus selection.....but some people hate them. YMMV

[dj_jammer506]

Thanks to BYA I've found a great style, and it's really just what I'm looking for, but... Not in my size... : [



Any Help?... Anyone?

[Sophisticated Hippie]

You didnt mention what size you were needing.  Thinking that most guys would need a larger womans size I would suggest looking at Vogue patterns.  They have some very glamorous styles and I'm almost positive I've seen something very similar to the picture.  Most of their regular line patterns go up to a size 26 even without looking in the larger womens section.

By the way, I dont think its strange for a guy to be sewing or posting on here.  Some of the most famous designers are men.

[SpottedFrog]

I've dressed men in womens clothes as well as been part of the proccess of creating womens clothes for men. I worked in a costume shop, director cast 2 guys as Cinderella's Ugly Step Sisters. One was a football player, the other a basketball player, they were fantasticly ugly girls.

Are you supposed to be a woman in said performance? or are you disguising as a woman in this show? Makes a difference in how much body alteration you do (not permant of course, I'm taking creating/ reducing shapes via underwear).

BEFORE MAKING THE DRESS get/ make the underwear!!! You likely don't have big ta-tas, you need them in place to make the dress fit with them. If you choose a smooth front gown like the one pictured, you need to tuck/ hide/ wear compression shorts ** (sporting goods store for those) to hide your manliness. Tightie whiteies will show under a dress like that, boxers will be ever worse.

BOOBS: You said you were a big guy, is your shape suited to wearing a corset to give you a waist? If so I reccomend using a longline bra/ bra pattern (corset with bra cups at the top) and simply stuff the bra cups with polyfill, sew a little cotton across the cups to close them up & keep the stuffing in.
How to find your bra size: measure the under the bust line, have a woman help you find this if need be. The cup size should be proportionate to the rest of you (don't ask how many women wish they could pick their own cup size!!). You will probably go with a C cup if you are very broad in the shoulders.

WAIST: yes, you need a corset, no you don't need to be able to squeeze in 6 inches. Two inches should be firm but comfortable (unless you have a gut). Adding boobs & hips will create the illusion of a smaller waist as well. If you have a gut/ are thick through the middle, skip it all together. And your chosen gown style will not be pretty.

HIPS: bike shorts, granny panties, whatever is smooth enough under your gown to pad & create hips. Old shoulder pads (ask any woman over 30, we probably all have a drawer full) are nicely shaped little bits of foam rubber you can slip in to give a little extra in the right place smoothly. Sew in place so they don't shift while wearing.

BUTT: once you've padded out everything else, it's highly likely that your butt will suddenly look very flat. Depending on the character pad or don't pad, same method as the hips.

Once you are all padded out, measure yourself with your new figure, now you have the measurements to make your gown

You will be hot wearing all this!! especially under stage lights. Your chosen gown looks to be sleeveless with the bolero which is a very good choice for potential sweatiness.

* Fredrick's of Hollywood sells padded panties, both hip & butt styles, but I don't know how big they go. Handy to look at at least.

** Compression shorts are what wrestlers wear under their trunks, padded in the right places & makes things smooth.

[craftydame]

you probably don't need the compression shorts, from my experience. a tight pair of undies (womens would be best) would work as long as you tucked (up and back! ). that's what most of the drag queens i've known used. if you're going to wear something over top to add the padded hips, that will add a bit more coverage as well.

for the boobs, bird seed works, but makes rather firm boobs. for more realistic boobs, balloons filled with pudding (or jello if you want perkier!) or hair gel will work. double bag them! you don't want spillage!

i disagree that you can't wear a corset if you have a belly, and that the dress design will look bad. fat girls can be sexy too! 

 

[SpottedFrog]

I'll clarify my belly statements, I meant very specificly a beer belly, all up front & centered on the torso, not just extra evenly disributed around the whole torso. Extra all over that dress works out fine, with a beer belly I don't think it would be nearly as comfortable. Even when women are apples, they tend to carry the weight a little differently from men, that's why I said what I did. I never said big girls couldn't be sexy nor intended to imply it in any way, I was focused entirely on male silhouette -> female silhouette.

[dj_jammer506]

HAH!

Penlowe, I loved your post so much!

To clarify, I am a woman in the show, not a male pretending to be a woman... Does that make sense? lol

I have made the fake boobage with rice and pantyhose, and have the bra for them.
I went with about a 'D' Cup because thats what feels and looks nice on me. I'm 6'2" with a large frame so it just fills out right when I wear them.

For my waist, a coset isn't in the works. I have one that I can put into use if necessary, but I already know I'm going to be belting and dancing across the stage alot. I agree that it would give a smoother finish and I'll wear it for times I'm on the stage and not dancing or singing.

Hips and Booty: Have not got there yet. My character needs to be hippy, but I don't how well it would work if I had to stuff 15 thousand shoulder pads under some biker-shorts. I was wondering If I could sew a pillow-like creation and stuff it with polyfil to acheive the same results.

My measurements come out roughly to be:
Bust: 50
Waist: 41
Hip: I'm thinking about a 52-ish...

Those measurements bring me to a 28W on Vouge's Patterns. I can honestly size up the pattern a little where I have to if necessary, so that's no biggie. But I can't find anything nice above a 20.

It pisses me off that there is nothing glamorous out there in larger sizes.

*sigh*

Anyway, I am off to continue my search... No fun.

[Aislynn]

This is, quite possibly, one of the most interesting threads I've read all day...

As to your undergarment and padding issue:  have you seen the spandex slips that are made for shaping?  It's essentially a tube dress made out of very stretchy material, and I wonder if you couldn't modify one of those with your, erm, pillows to make a very smooth, yet voluptuous figure.  They're nice because they don't have boning, and don't constrict movement, particularly if you cut them short-ish.  And if you're going with a dress silhouette like the picture, you don't even need to cut it short.

As for patterns...the selection available is dismal...  Check out Simplicity's Plus Sizes, though, as they do have some formal wear patterns, and the Khaliah Ali collection is probably the smartest thing out there for plus sized patterns.  There's specifically a formal separates pattern (4401) that has a similar silhouette to what you're after.  And it's separates, which may be more comfortable for you in the long run!  And if not, you could always tack the two pieces together.

Good luck!  And for goodness' sake, post pictures!

[SpottedFrog]

If you get assistance/ have more time making your own corset would be best. I should have been more clear on that, usually only a very slim man can wear a womans corset, and only if he is on the shy side of average in height. For your height & build, the corset should be custom made.

Yes, if you need more hip & booty than small pads will give, by all means make pillows. I know the panties from Fredrick's the hip pads & booty pads are separate.