This is my first topic so please bear with me
I'm very excited about how well the dress form turned out and just wanted to share it with you all!
With many thanks to my wonderful fella for making it look so amazing and it was lots of fun to make.
Sorry for the number of massive photographs I may have been over excited....
I used-
100m of bright blue gaffa/duct/duck tape (about £10 from eBay- you can use any colour of course!)
1 black bag/sack
Clingflim
A pair of scissors
About 3Kg of stuffing
and a lovely patient assistant!
If you are going to give this a go make sure you have a drink nearby and tie your hair up before you start if it will come into contact with your dress form as you won’t be able to lift you arms up very easily ....or walk very far! (as the photo proves I didn't have much mobility but did feel like a super hero, sorry its blurry, my house mate was mid-giggle).
I put on a black bag bin liner, with arm and neck holes cut roughly into the top. I then taped down the excess -which was quite a lot -to give it a bit more shape before the wrapping and to help reduce crinkles and folds in the final finish.
It took about 2hours to wrap (having never tried it before it was a bit of trial and error to begin with!). You can use paper tape, but I have seen it peel off as it dries out so I wanted something a bit stronger.
Wrap under the bust area first which will help stop the black sack from moving. If you need to extend any areas (We needed to on the neck, arms and legs) then wrap a layer of clingfilm around the area so that you can continue wrapping without it sticking to you! The first layer was used to get the basic shape, making sure it was pulled tight against your skin at this stage will save a lot of time later! And will also make sure it’s a nice finish. We wrapped 2 layers on most areas, with 3layers in parts that needed more stability i.e. the bust, shoulders, under arms etc.
After cutting it off then taping it back up the back, I stuffed it with polyester toy filling over two days to allow for expansion after the initial stuffing. (Please ignore the mess! I decided this was more interesting then putting the washing away)
I decided on polyester even though I know this blunts pins as I wanted a stiff form but light which held its shape well even over time which I didn't think I could get with news paper/plastic bags/old clothes.
I also considered foam filling (the kind you find in a can that expands) but I wanted to have more control on the filling then this would allow me as gaffa/ gaffer/ duct/ duck tape doesn't hold its shape perfectly (i.e. doesn't stay cylindrical but rather more round!)
I inserted a coat hanger to enable hanging, which is supported by the shoulders. I padded the coat hanger with some of the polyester filling so that it didn’t sit too high in the form then continued stuffing around it!
I cut the base, arms and neck shapes out off cardboard to insert into the gaffa tape shell to stop the stuffing falling out and then taped them sealed, make sure you do the neck one last as this is where you stuff from and therefore you can adjust the stuffing easily and ensure a hole for the coat hanger is in the right place. You can also build a stand into the dress form, but I don't think our flat is quite big enough for that!
The base isn't quite straight but as I will be hanging it this doesn't really matter to me, it just makes my shoulders look wonky when its free standing on the floor.
After hanging for 3days I patched up the areas where some of the tape has slipped/stretched slightly-only about 1mm! and also covered any messy bits with the remainder of the tape. And I even fashioned a gaffa ring for my dear boyfriend as a thank you!
The proud man-
And he says he isn't crafty! He is going to sign the neck panel for me too.
Thanks for looking
Any C&C’s are always welcome!
