Yes, some of you girls said Dress Form and you got it right! I was busy making my dress form last weekend. I made one 3 weeks ago with the materials from above. I wanted brown paper tape instead of duct tape. I got the wrong paper tape. The results were less then ideal. While the form holds true, the same can't be said about the tape. My dress form peeled like an orange.
So I went out and got myself some industrial cloth woven duct tape. Woven tape was a much better choice. It was sticky enough to stay and have some give so it moulds to your body better. I got 3 rolls. You are supposed to layer it trice, but I ran out just after the first layer! It was still thick enough to hold but wasn’t stiff enough to hold it’s shape. I compensated with stuffing. I used loads of newspapers. This is the part that took a lot of time. It was stuff and measure, stuff and measure.
In case you are wondering why my form is so colorful! I got a roll of silver to test. Tested ok. But when I went back, they were out of silver! So I had to make do red instead. Then, I ran out of tape during the process, so I substituted with leftover brown tape. While stuffing it, I dug around and came out with clear transparent duct tape. It holds well, so I used it to tape down the brown paper tape and wherever else I needed to tape up.
It was my first attempt so I’m happy to say, I got measurements close enough. It can wear my clothes well. But boy is the dress form heavy! My next attempt after this one expires should be a lot better. But right now, I have a dress form tailored exactly to my dimensions! Good enough for me! Now I need to get a tight turtle neck shirt for my form. It’s kinda flashy with so many colors it hurt my eyes :D
Sewing
I have been meaning to start. But I kept hesitating because I was scared. Sewing isn’t like knitting. When it comes to knit, you can always frog and restart. With sewing, once you cut the beautiful fabric, you can’t really ‘uncut’ it. And I am still a baby when it comes to sewing. So I kept giving myself excuses. Well, wait till my dress form is done, wait till I get the patterns, wait till I get the proper tools, wait wait wait. Well, I’ve ran out of excuses. My dress form is done and my patterns hopefully, on the way. I made myself sit down and go through my Simple Chic book by Machiko Kayaki in detail. Finally managed to get a rough idea and figure out what to do. Time to get started.
Knitting
I have not done much here. I spent time tidying my stash and decided that I will try not to start anymore new project until I finished something in my WIP. Note, the key word is TRY. :) My green tea comes to mind. Poor dear have been neglected for quite a while. Phildar Babydoll needs to be ripped and recalculated. It’s too small. I recompiled my Knit list the other day and almost fainted by the long list. I’ve also decided to try stay on my yarn diet wagon longer unless it’s a good deal on some yarns I’ve been eyeing for a long while.
I have a few crafty ideas running amok through my mind lately. I’d need time to compile them to something that makes sense to me. Cheers my friends!
8 comments:
Very cool dress form!
Laura, your post is so funny today. I love your colourful dress form but it's a good idea to dress it in a fitting blackturtle neck T. Then it will look so chic. Yeah, I'm scared of the cutting part in sewing too. I've been looking at that Simple Chic book everytime I go to Kinokuniya but haven't plucked up the courage to buy it yet. Keep thinking I won't be able to sew anything from there!
Wow ... I don't know you can make such a thing yourself! It would be cool to let it dress my sweaters and cardis too!
I like the black dress on the cover of Simply Chic ... very classy and beautiful ... are you going to make that?
Cool!! I never even thought of that!!
I love the dress form. I am too afraid of looking at myself to make one. I mean, like, heck, it would be like seeing myself in the mirror, but in 3D. Ack!
I love the form! That is so creative :)
That's so interesting! How is it done? Wrapping tapes around you?
Don't be afraid to sew!
ground rules - buy more fabric than you need, go up a size rather than down and cut your pieces generously.
Basting is a genuinely good idea, it shows in a way that pinning just can't - plus you can try on a half made item without skewering yourself.
It's a lot quicker than knitting too!
Don't fret, just take a deep breath, say ' i think i can ' and go for it!!
(PS i have to put one of my bras on my dress form - underwear can alter your shape heaps, so use the bra you would wear under the item... trust me, it's far less painful in the long run)
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