Does anyone own a dress form? I am getting one & have questions!

[amarok]

i bought one from UK (i live in finland) in the spring. that's like 6 months ago. i just used it yesterday succesfully for the first time. before that it's only modeled some of my clothes. and i've had the biggest problems with the adjusting-thingies: when i make something that's very tight, it won't go on my model, because the clothe gets caught on the adjustment bits

well, all and all, i think that only professional ones and only "professionally" used model dummys can be helpful. but that's just me talking after being very disappointed in the second class dummy i bought. at least i didn't pay much for it, though. and if i'd bought it from finland the same dummy would have cost twice as much!

[toothfairy51]

Hi Michell,
I have a 'Uniquely You' dress form from Atlanta Thread Supply. I bought it online, on sale. I think it was $130.00. It is very firm foam with a fitted covering that you first put on your own body, insideout, and pin tightly to fit you. You cannot do this yourself, someone else needs to do it for you. Then once it is very tightly pinned to your shape, take it off (there is a full length zipper in the back) and sew along your pins. Now struggle, and I mean struggle, to get the cover onto the foam form. It isn't easy but, once it is done right it's a fabulous dress form. You can pin anything anywhere on it. No knobs, and it's height adjustable as well. I'm really glad I got this one. It has been wonderful to work on.
Do a google search for atlanta thread supply (ATS). customer service was great as was shipping. You choose the closest size to your measurements.
I love it!
I hope this helps 
toothfairy51

[Michellegio_sew]

Hi Michell,
I have a 'Uniquely You' dress form from Atlanta Thread Supply. I bought it online, on sale. I think it was $130.00. It is very firm foam with a fitted covering that you first put on your own body, insideout, and pin tightly to fit you. You cannot do this yourself, someone else needs to do it for you. Then once it is very tightly pinned to your shape, take it off (there is a full length zipper in the back) and sew along your pins. Now struggle, and I mean struggle, to get the cover onto the foam form. It isn't easy but, once it is done right it's a fabulous dress form. You can pin anything anywhere on it. No knobs, and it's height adjustable as well. I'm really glad I got this one. It has been wonderful to work on.
Do a google search for atlanta thread supply (ATS). customer service was great as was shipping. You choose the closest size to your measurements.
I love it!
I hope this helps 
toothfairy51

Is it re-adjustable by chance?

(I am planning on working out alot more after christmas is over and get into really good shape, but that could take a long time after having three kids and wanting to sew before exercising!

[toothfairy51]

Hi Michell,
I have a 'Uniquely You' dress form from Atlanta Thread Supply. I bought it online, on sale. I think it was $130.00. It is very firm foam with a fitted covering that you first put on your own body, insideout, and pin tightly to fit you. You cannot do this yourself, someone else needs to do it for you. Then once it is very tightly pinned to your shape, take it off (there is a full length zipper in the back) and sew along your pins. Now struggle, and I mean struggle, to get the cover onto the foam form. It isn't easy but, once it is done right it's a fabulous dress form. You can pin anything anywhere on it. No knobs, and it's height adjustable as well. I'm really glad I got this one. It has been wonderful to work on.
Do a google search for atlanta thread supply (ATS). customer service was great as was shipping. You choose the closest size to your measurements.
I love it!
I hope this helps 
toothfairy51

Is it re-adjustable by chance?
(I am planning on working out alot more after christmas is over and get into really good shape, but that could take a long time after having three kids and wanting to sew before exercising!

It is. Just make sure that you don't cut off the excess fabric of the seam allowances once you've finished sewing the cover to fit you. What you do is, once you've pinned the cover to your body, you take the cover off and take out the original stitching. Then restitch to your pins. Do this, just don't trim the fabric in the seam allowance. Then if you need to make it a bit larger, at some point in time, you can just take out your stitching, re-pin, and re-stitch.
Very nice dressform.
 

[toothfairy51]

I'm gonna have to figure out the proper way to use the 'insert quote' thing. Sorry about that.

[Fraugee728]

$400? You could get a better one for that kind of money!

I am a fashion design major and we call those "dial-a-dummy"s. I have one that I begged for in highschool, but I like my professional one much much better. I just won the professional one in a design competition.

I have a dritz twin fit and it is a bit of a hassle to work with. I don't like the gaps that happen between the pieces when you make the form bigger and I don't like the fact that the form is a b-cup and I am an a-cup and the part that I have the most problem fitting is the bust. Also, if I put a bra on it, one side collapses. Not good.

My professional form is industry standard size 8. It is made by PGMPro :http://www.pgm-pro.com/
And it would have cost around $400. I can actually pin stuff to it and I don't have to worry about any gaps. It is easy enough to pad up, although you can't go down. Just use batting and fiberfill to pad up and measure to make sure it is right. The slightly cheaper ones are $300 and then even cheaper are $219. I like that my new dressform has a butt, so I can see where things hit better, but I think that is an upgrade.

The shoulders "collapse" to get stuff over the top. Just push in on the shoulders and they stick in, push in again and they come back out.

I wish I would have known to get one of these types of dress forms in the first place. They are so much sturdier and so much easier to drape on. The dial-a-dummy is mostly plastic, while my new one is metal, wood, linen, and some type of stuffing. And it has wheels, but that isn't such a big deal.

You can also get a custom made form from PGMPro, but you have to get a price quote on those. I bet they are more money, but it is probably worth it. If you wanted the $219 one, I would go with a size 6 or 8 with your bust measurement and pad everything else out.

I am sure uniquely you is much better, too, for fixing the reasons I don't like my twinfit, since you pad that out yourself, too.

I have had both types of forms, and I heartily recommend the PGMPro dressform over any dial a dummy (I also have a Dritz My Double).  I, too have an apparel design degree who purchased the latter dress form before I knew anything about draping. 

Even if you're thinking you're not going to use it hardcore, I have to tell you that buying a dial a dummy is a waste of money.  You can't pin into it, there are no side seams to work off of, and they're generally quite flimsy.  None of these forms will mirror your exact body shape, even being adjustable.  Your best bet is to to get a more professional dress form that's either:  a little bigger, so when you try on your garments in progress you can nip them in a little during the fitting process, or a little smaller and pad the areas that need to be larger.  Either approach will work. 

If you're worried about the cost of the PGMPro dressform I would check on ebay.  That's where I bought mine.  I am also getting a good chunk of money back (I think like $80 or more?) because I clicked through to ebay after searching for the dressform on live.com (I currently temp for the Microsoft company cashback) and ebay had 25% cashback that day, so, voila!  If you want more information about this, you can PM me and I can help.

So, basically:  adjustable dressform=bad.   Sturdy, pinnable dressform=good.

*note - I just noticed that you live in Canada.  D'oh!  The cashback thing I mentioned is only for US residents.  Sorry .

[Michellegio_sew]

It is. Just make sure that you don't cut off the excess fabric of the seam allowances once you've finished sewing the cover to fit you. What you do is, once you've pinned the cover to your body, you take the cover off and take out the original stitching. Then restitch to your pins. Do this, just don't trim the fabric in the seam allowance. Then if you need to make it a bit larger, at some point in time, you can just take out your stitching, re-pin, and re-stitch.
Very nice dressform.
 

LOL I wouldn't need it to get bigger (hopefully! except maybe in the chest by some miracle?) I just was thinking that if I can actually stick to my workouts that maybe hopefully eventually I will finally have those "buns of steel" and "hip hop abs" - google hip hop abs, its actually pretty fun (Does chasing your cat away from your fabric count as exercise?)

[amarok]

BUT if you're planning on losing some weight and need to buy the dressform asap, you can buy one in your ideal size and then pad it so that it's the right size for you before you're smaller, and you can take the pads off when you're in the ideal size.

[KikiForPresident]

I've owned one for two years (my Christmas present too!) and I really love it.  It's a "small" Sew-Stylish (I *think* that's the brand name).  I'm a 32-24-35 and it fits me pretty good.  It's a tiny bit larger than me but nothing that really messes up the sizing.  It's 100% perfect for hemming skirts and dresses (was always my weak-point before).

Hope this helps a bit.  It's a PERFECT Christmas gift for a sewer! 

[Michellegio_sew]

BUT if you're planning on losing some weight and need to buy the dressform asap, you can buy one in your ideal size and then pad it so that it's the right size for you before you're smaller, and you can take the pads off when you're in the ideal size.

Well, actually I am fairly small already (36 - 30 - 39 at 5'3" tall - 120 lbs) so I will probably gain weight if I work out, I just want to have a flat stomach because I had three kids so there is some flab/loose skin...I am so jealous of the people who can pop out all these kids and still look like they did when they were 20.  (but that is a whole other post on a whole other site!)

As far as dressforms go I am still buying the only kind available where I live which is within my budget and I shouldn't have to add padding, except maybe to the stomach...