how to make a dress form

Last Friday, Uzi and I finally had time to make a dress form. He was in the mood because his class was just playing with papier-mache that morning.

I got the idea here but we did not follow the steps religiously. I let Uzi mummified me his way since, I figured, he must have learned something from Art class that day.

MATERIALS: Tight shirt. Paper tape. Water. Sponge. Electrical tape. Scissors.

All the images I used above are from Google. I did not put an image of a “tight shirt” because the image search yielded inappropriate results.

First, I had to find a tight shirt that I will no longer use. I used this white sleeveless number. It wasn’t that tight but I tucked it in my shorts so that it will conform to my body. I wore a bra. Yes, I cut my hair. Yes, it looks weird. Let’s move on.

Uzi used the sponge to moisten large strips of paper tape. He started on my waist area. I had to rest my arms on two chairs because they were on his way.

He worked all the way up until the underbust. Then he started on the shoulder with an X pattern from the front all the way to the back.

For the bust area, little pieces of paper tape was used so that the curves will be formed correctly.

The whole process was starting to get constricting. Good thing we were watching The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. And guess who his guest band was? COLDPLAY! I shrieked. I love them so so so much. Picture below shows Guy, their bassist. He is all forms of cute.

COLDPLAY!

While I was watching them perform their song Lost, Uzi worked on the sleeves and neck areas of my dress form.

Then I waited for it to dry. At this point, the Daily Show was over and I was incredibly bored. My back was also starting to itch. Not fun at all.

When the dress form was already stable but still soft to get out of, Uzi cut the back, top to bottom, including my shirt. Not the bra, though. Slowly, with my arms moving at the same time, I eased out of the dress form. Poor Uzi was already too sleepy at this point.

We joined the back again using electrical tape. Then I covered the electrical tape with more paper tape.  Look, my shirt!

The sleevehole and neckhole areas were still a little uneven so I added little pieces of paper tapes. I also made the base a little thicker so that it will not topple over. I just added several layers of paper tape.

This evening, I painted her. Oh yeah, her name is Lane (Rory’s bestfriend on Gilmore Girls). I was aiming for an origami paper look when I painted her but I’m not that skilled with a brush and a tub of paint. It still needs some sort of a fixative. This is what I came up with:

The picture is a little blurry because I used my camera phone. I don’t have my Nikon at the moment. Just as well. At least, it “hides” my mediocre painting job.

The whole project took a total of 3 hours, painting included. I am so happy with it. I know that I should have included my hips but the bust and torso areas are where my problems lie when I’m making my dresses. I’m excited to make dresses again. I actually have one design brewing in my head at the moment. Can’t wait…