First of my DIY Wedding series!

Doesn’t it look like a space skirt?

I made 3 dressforms – one for me, and one of each of my bridesmaids.

PRO:
Since I’ve made dresses for myself before, I get so tired of hopping in and out of my clothes and at the same time, not being able to pin myself down to make the clothing fit perfectly – so having a body double is great.
I’m also making the bridesmaids dresses for my wedding and they both live across the city. I thought it’ll be easier to have their body with me for fitting instead of calling them out every few days.

CONS:
If your weight fluctuates a lot, it may present a bit of a problem.  And if you don’t sew, what do you do with it?  I’m giving it to my bridesmaids along with their dresses so they can be creative about that.
If you stab pins into them, the glue from the tape will leave residue on your pins – ick!

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I didn’t take pictures of every single step because either I was doing it or had it done to me so doesn’t leave my hands free but that’s okay.  Hopefully the instructions are clear enough if you’re interested in making one and if not, you can always ask me!

Now there are YouTube videos about making dressforms that I skimmed while I made this one and though it’s not quite perfect yet.  I’ll post up what I can and also some tips to make yours actually perfect!  You definitely need someone reliable, careful, and meticulous to help you do this.

A relatively good video for reference is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KI415xPiWbk

What you need:
Old T-shirt
2-3 rolls of duct tape

METHOD:

1. Put on your old t-shirt and make sure it’s long enough to cover your bum.  Wear a non-padded, supportive bra for a nice bust shape.
2. With legs shoulder-width apart and standing straight, wrap duct tape all around body right under your bum, around your waist (smallest part of body) and right under your breasts.  This will define the shape of your body.
3. From the breast down, the first layer, I went horizontal layers across the front, back, and then the sides.
   TIP: Do not try to keep the tape perfectly straight because your body is not.  Curve the tape to the shape of your body to keep it accurate.  Especially the bum – lift it with the tape so it doesn’t flatten it.
   The second layer, I went vertical.  And the third layer, I went horizontal again.  This way, you ensure even thickness of tape all around.
4. Around the breasts, it’s best to cut small pieces of tape and go in concentric circles to prevent weird bumps.  It also works well around the shoulders or anywhere with a lot of curves.
   I did not do that for the first two dressforms but did for the last one and it looks much better.
   Do three layers all around that upper region.
5. Using a t-shirt sleeve or toilet paper, wrap around your neck and tape that area three times (none of my dressforms had this which I regret since it’ll be hard to gauge where the straps go or when needing to make halter necklines).
6. Cut straight down the back (watch out for your underwear and bra!) and shimmy out of it.  Carefully tape the back securely.

You should be left with this!

Now comes the stuffing part which normally doesn’t get a lot of coverage in online tutorials so hopefully this will be more helpful.

What you need:

Wire hanger
Duct tape dressform (this is one of my bridesmaids)
Bag of fiber fill (I bought mine from Dressew)
Long cardboard pole which I got from Fabricland (call ahead because some stores re-use theirs for rolling fabric)
Duct tape
Cardboard (missing from image below)

So first take a wire and bend it in half and stick it into one of the cardboard pole.  This will be helpful (but not necessary) if you need to hang the dressform somewhere.  Insert into the dressform.

Start stuffing the bust region from the neck and arm holes.  Try to distribute evenly and make sure there are no empty spaces.  Seal off the arm holes first.

Take 1-2 strips of sturdy cardboard and wrap it around the pole, aligning the base of the wrapped cardboard with the base of the dressform, and tape into place.  This creates a stopper so the base doesn’t fold inwards from the weight of the dressform.

Measure the circumference of the base of the dressform and cut out and oval-shaped cardboard of the same size. Cut a hole the size of the pole in the middle.  You should use a sharp X-Acto knife because I tried to do it with scissors and I am in hurt!

Stuff! stuff! stuff! all areas from the neck and the base until it’s relatively firm all over the dressform and evenly distributed.
Make sure you stuff around the pole so it stays centered.
Slide the base through the pole until it hits the cardboard stopper.  Fold the remnant fabric over the edge of the cardboard and tape into place.  Add another stopper on the outside to prevent the dressform from sliding down the pole once it’s completed.

Finishing touches – Tape the neck hole (better if there was a neck shape) to the pole.  And the step that I missed – tape the hole of the cardboard to keep hanger in place.
And TA DA!  You’re very own customized dressform 🙂

I know there are some wrinkles but I didn’t stuff it as firmly as I could have.  I figured after the first one that it doesn’t need to be as stiff if I’m not actually draping with it but if you plan do, then definitely stuff it until firm.  Just don’t over-stuff to the point that the tape starts to rip open.

If you just want to fit a patterned dress over it, then you can leave it like this.  If you actually want to create outfits using the dimensions of your body, then mark it using a sharpie.

This is a great source to show you where to mark it:

And now you are ready to get creative!  I hope it was helpful and good luck!

A few additional TIPS for this project:

• I found the stickiest, thickest, and most resilient duct tape was from Home Hardware.  Other brands are inferior.
• You can buy coloured or patterned duct tape for the last layer to make your dressform prettier!
• If you want to save money on fiber fill, you can buy a pillow when it’s on sale ($2-3 at Walmart) and wrap it around the pole and stuff it in the waist area.  That way you only need enough fiberfill for the bust and bum of the dressform 😉  One of my better ideas.
• Get a cheap tripod/microphone stand and slide the pole over it.  It’ll keep your dressform standing straight.