This is FREAKING Amazing!

You guys!!!!! I’ve been working on fit, I’ve been on a mission lately. Then I saw Kelly’s post about making your own dress form. I’ve always wanted one and would have sprung for a moderately-priced one but I always worried that, with my long torso and that length being between my neck and bust, a standard one would not fit me.

So, this baby took me the last three days which is a LONG TIME for me. I was super precise with the seam allowances, the curve clipping, the stay stitching, etc. I worked hard on this and I was rewarded with something I can really use. This pattern is really cool actually. You put your measurements in and they send you a customized pattern. I made sure to input the Fit Adjustments because that is where my bust/torso issues could be resolved. You even get to choose how prominent your butt is and the slope of your shoulders.

First, the insides. Like I said, I spend a lot of time on this. The instructions are very thorough and thank goodness, because this would be confusing without good directions.

First you make the shell and then you make this thing below. You put this inside the shell and it connects at CF and CB. Then you stuff each side with A LOT of batting. I mean, A LOT. I used up one and a half bags of my own batting and then I went to Goodwill and and I bought three more bags. I used two and a half of those bags. So, essentially, this is what I would look like if you sliced my torso in half. Look at that booty (I chose the Curvy option).

And here she is! It’s supposed to be in a stand, obviously. I like this vase option, but it (she?) spins in the vase so I will have to do something about that if I keep it (her?) in that.

You use cardboard in the armhole and the base. In the neck, you use a large sponge that you carve into a cylindrical shape. I couldn’t find a sponge that large so I used three regular-sized kitchen sponges and stacked them.

I will probably put a bra on it (her?) for a more realistic shape.

I used a regular quilting cotton and a thick fusible interfacing. This would be totally fun in a bright floral. This would also be awesome if you were sewing for someone that is far away.

I did have one fitting issue with it. I measured my Low Hip and it was 37”. When I measured the hips here, they measured 39.5” so I’m not sure what happened. You can see how pointy the sides of the hips are here.

Here’s a close-up of the pointiness. I don’t think anyone has a hip like this. Anyway, I pulled out part of the stuffing, and pinched the pointy part from the inside. On the outside, I whip stitched a new seam that “cut off” the points. That’s why in the top pictures, you can see that there is some bumpiness in the hip area. It’s because it’s hard to hold tight fabric with one hand and sew with the other. There was NO WAY I was going to unstuff the whole thing (her?) and then turn it (her?) inside-out and sew that again.

For funsies, I put on one of my shirts. One of my main issues is a major swayback. This t-shirt fits it* (her?) just like it fits me. I’m hoping this dressform is going to really help me get fit right!

Look at that pooling! I get that too.

*I feel weird calling it, it, when it is my body double.