Thread: Dress form

I am thinking of getting one of these- but there are reviews all over the place on this one...

Singer® 150 Adjustable Dressform - Small/Medium*: dressforms*: sewing & quilting*: Shop | Joann.com

its a little over half the cost on sale... what do you guys think? I was kicking around picking up a used one- but as my mom pointed out bedbugs are an issue at this point (I know its not the same as furniture but the idea still kinda wigged me out)

thoughts and suggestions would be super appreciated!!!

There's a very popular German sewing page that's mainly frequented by goths and alternative people, and someone on there had made their own dress form. Maybe that would be an alternative for a start?

What you do is this:

- put on an oversized t-shirt that you won't need anymore
- have someone tape you up all around with panzer tape or something similar, something really strong, until you're practically in a stiff tape "armour"
- cut open one side or the back to carefully extract yourself from the construct - it should now have your measurements, plus maybe half a cm!
- tape the cut in the construct back together smoothly
- stuff the dress form with whatever, maybe crushed newspapers? styrofoam bits? wadding? something that'll last a bit
- mount it on a broom stick or something similar

I know people who have made very good experiences with these, although I personally haven't used one yet.

I bought that one and was disappointed in the quality for the price (and that it wasn't as adjustable as I thought). I ended up with a Uniquely You, which I really like.

I had one of the Joann ones years ago. I could never get it adjusted quite right and the fabric covering peeled off after a while. I would take your measurements and then see if you can adjust a store model one to fit you before you buy. I ended up donating mine to our local HS. I have a Uniquely You but haven't adjusted it post baby and I was preggo when I bought it used. I will say that it is awesome because you can pin right into it because it's made out of foam.

I own this model, but mostly use it solely for bedlahs and hanging skirts. Although the body is adjustable horizontally, the rib-cage and bust are not independent of each other, so it's not very handy for actual fitted clothing. It's not adjustable vertically through the torso, so if you have a long waist, or a short waist, you have to work by guess and by golly.

On the plus side, she looks fine sitting in my living room in my unfinished costumes! And she makes cutting the hem on a circle skirt easy. I put her on my dining room table, pin the skirt at the right height, and cut right at the table top.

I also own a similar form, and I agree with Zeeva that it has several shortcoming as far as what's adjustable. I got mine on some ridiculous low priced Black Friday sale, or I don't think it would have been worth it.

I don't really know of any way to fix the torso length if that's an issue- but I have come across some directions for how to 'pad out' a dress form to make it more like your own body and one of my upcoming projects will be giving it a try on the one I have. Some of the directions are for non-adjustable forms, but I think they can be adapted to the adjustable kind too.

The {NewNew} - Indie Artists, Artisans & Crafters of the NY Metro Region: Wardrobe Refashion: How-to Make Your Dress Form Look Like You (Only Better)
How to Adjust a Dress Form | eHow.co.uk

I'm sure there are other sites like these out there. I also found more directions for the duct-tape forms on threads:
Clone Yourself A Fitting Assistant - Threads

I am so mad, my mum donated gran's dress form to charity without even asking the rest of us! Argh! I haven't found anything I really like, so keep the suggestions coming! I tried the duct tape method, but it does deform a fair bit in process. I'm thinking of doing a plaster cast and figuring out some way of using foam to fill the negative and then just cover it in cloth- but that's a big project and I haven't found a good fill substance yet. Love the non-adjustable, cloth covered ones in the theater costume shop, but haven't found them anywhere and the costume shop isn't parting with them! I have no problem adding extra padding where necessary, but I need a base to work with!

I have purchased the ones from Joann's as well. they are great fro a couple years then the plastic (which is very thin) gets brittle and if you push to hard to get the measurements to change (ie. squeezing it in to make it smaller OR pulling it put to make it larger) the plastic cracks and breaks off Or the mechanisms that you move to increase or decrease break off and then it's totally worthless. This has happened 2 times now so I have bought a Singer dress form this time I just havent taken it ou of the box yet.

I have read enough bad reviews I opted out of it- which is frustrating because I have bras and skirts I'd like to get pinned up- hemming skirts with no help is... well tedious and a complete PITA.

Ah well- my pillow form will have to continue to make do for the time being.

A friend actually suggested plaster casting- I thought about it- but as she has a massive crush on me- I wasn't comfortable letting her touch my body to be honest. But it sounded fun- if I can convince the man to do it ... game on ;)