$3 Duct tape dressform and springish skirt

So due to all this extremely unusual spring like weather, I've been itching to make things. I have to admit I was in a bit of a winter craft slump, I swear if I made one more scarf I would vomit. I've wanted to make a custom dressform for about a year now. It all started with a broken hat rack my bf was getting rid of when we moved. I thought it would make the PERFECT stand for a dressform. I think it came out pretty awesome. I even made a skirt already (not that I needed it to make the skirt, but still... it's neat!). Unfortunately I don't have pictures of us making the dressform, we couldn't find the camera and I was too excited to make it to even look for it.

Materials used:
1 old extra long shirt I no longer wanted ($0)
1 & 1/2 rolls of duct tape ($3, on sale at Marden's)
a bunch of old scraps of fabric, left over quilt batting, polyfill, old pillow stuffing, and/or newspaper ($0)
1 old and broken hat rack ($0) or you could use a coat hanger in the top and have it hang, although it might be tough to use it because it will move real easy.

Directions:
Wearing only the underclothes you normally wear put the old shirt on (if you don’t want everyone to see your bum then wear really thin shorts or pants). Have someone else apply the duct tape in short increments. The longer the pieces are the more it gets bunched and twisted. It takes longer but the results are well worth it. We started at the bottom and worked our way up to the top. It certainly gets a bit umm… intimate in some places, so I would definitely have someone you trust do it. When the shirt is covered in duct tape, have the other person take a permanent marker and mark where your waist is, bend over and draw a dotted line on the tape. I had him write “waist” on it. I also had him draw a dotted line where my pants sit. I really hate things on my waist (or even touching it really, I can’t stand seams on my stomach.. I wear a lot of babydolls) and sometimes when making clothes I tend to forget that, then things sit awkwardly and I’m always tugging at them. Use a pair of scissors and have them cut you out of your prison of tape (cutting through the shirt too, make sure you don’t cut the bra!) Push the sleeves of the shirt into the dressform and tape up the holes. Now tape up the back of the shirt (on the inside and outside, or you will run into what is happening to me, the back keeps busting open!). Then tape up the neck hole. Stuff the dressform with anything you can find. I used tons of old fleece scraps I was tired of looking at, as well as a bunch of unusable batting left over from many quilting projects. Don’t overstuff it, but you want to make it firm. Then start taping up the bottom. I used fairly short pieces and gradually worked my way in towards the middle, leaving a whole in the middle. I then added pieces of tape just inside the whole so it wouldn’t be sticky. I can actually reach my arm all the way inside and move stuffing around. It also makes for easy assemble and disassemble. I can also change the dressform if I gain or loose weight (hoping on the latter) or if I want to make something for my sister (soon to have her own dressform!). So after you make the whole just stick it on top of the stand and TADAA! Your very own dressform!

Here are the pics of my finished product, along with the pics of my new skirt!