I would really like to sew some adult clothes...at least try my hand at it. My teen daughter would love for me to make her some skirts, and having a dressform just sounds so wonderful to me. She is in college and works, and the dressform would allow me to fit her, without her being actually here! :)

First, does anyone have one to sell?

Can you recommend a good brand, or features that are must-haves?

Do you know of a good online source for purchasing one?

I would like one to cover sizes 12- 16. Is there such a mannequin?

I've been looking at ebay, and trying to educate myself about dials and adjustments, but would sure appreciate some good advice from you girls!

Many thanks!

You can make your own out of duct tape! It'd be way cheaper and more accurate. Can you usually sew her clothing without any alterations from the pattern? Because a purchased dressform can make some adjustments, but not too many and then what's the point?

I haven't made one yet myself, but there are detailed instructions in one of my sewing books, "Sewing for Plus Sizes" or something like that, by Barbera Deckert. I know I've seen instructions on-line somewhere - try a google search.

:lol: We did the duct tape this Saturday. I took some pictures because it was so hilarious to be twirling her around in silver tape. It took about an hour or more to do. Then when I went to cut it she was was hollering, "Don't cut my booty!" It WAS sort of tricky. (Notice Kent in the background...wondering what in the world?????)

http://soaa.org/v-web/gallery/albums/creations/ductapemolly.jpg

I went to Hancock's yesterday to buy some stuffing to fill it up...but that's so expensive. They had bean bag pellets for $20.00 a bag, and I think it might take two bags to really get it full. That's what got me to thinking, maybe I should just jump in and buy the real deal.

I guess I should wait and see how it turns out before I go the bigger bucks route. I'm just thinking how lovely one would be sitting out, and throwing fabrics together and stepping back and looking at the effect. Maybe I'm romanticizing my need for a true dressform!

anybody? :)

Did you try freecycle? I think you'd be surprised how many people might have dress forms sitting around, unused. Other than that, scan garage sales. That's where I got mine, for about $15 and I'm sure I could have paid less but I was far too excited. :lol:

I would really like one too Melony, but I've been hesitant to spend the $. I've stalked several on eBay though :) I'm very interested to see how your duct tape version works out. I thought about trying that to see if I really used one and if so, then I'd invest in a 'real' one. Is there any way to use something else to fill it? That seems awfully expensive for filler - yikes!

I haven't tried it, but I was thinking that tightly packed balled up newspaper might work? I want to make a duct tape one, too...

man, if you lived closer I'd give you the dressform I have sitting out in my shed....I got it from a friend, but since I rarely make adult clothes I never have used it!

if ya wanna drive to washington you can have mine (I believe its a plus sized one even) for free ;)

I want one too! I'm sure it would be a lot easier for me than staulking my family members for sizing and trying things on. LOL!

Keep us updated on the hunt!

there is a foam in a can than is used to seal leaks it expands to fit the hole... I can't for the life of me think of what it is but it's super cool!! and it's not terribly expensive I think a couple cans of that would work great, you'd have to do it in spurts as it takes some time for it to fully expand

Melony,

Did you do a Google search for duct tape dress forms? You should be able to pull up alot of info on what to stuff it with. I have heard of the foam crack filling stuff works well. Let me see what I can find for you my friend . . .

http://www.leanna.com/DuctTapeDouble/

http://www.taunton.com/threads/pages/t00002.asp

http://sewing.patternreview.com/cgi-bin/review/readreview.pl?readreview=1&ID=408

Hope this helps and DO post a picture when you are done. DH said that he thought it would be kinky to wrap me in duct tape. ;)

I have a dress form. And it sits. Of course I got pregnant within a few months of getting it, so I'm sure that hasn't helped.

My mom and I made the duct tape forms before, and I used the HUGE box of polyfil from WM ($8) to fill it. Pretty sure that was enough.

Things I don't like about the dress form - my bust is lower (5 babes will do that to you) than on it, so I can't alter darts. My wasit and hips are VERY ill-porportioned (waist isn't much smaller than hips), and it's hard to get the right measurements on the form.

Things I DO like about it - I can take measurements of other people I'm sewing for, and check to make sure stuff fits. That way I'm not constantly stopping to have them try something on before I go to the next step. I don't sew enough for other adults to warrent buying one though imo(mine was given to me).

But if you just want it for you and your dd, I would stick to the duct tape model. I think it gives a MUCH better representation of your true size/shape. The only thing - take your measurements and compare them to the duxt form. Some places may be off some.

how about filling with old clothes/thrift store pillows/newspaper mix just to try how it works and see if you want to buy "real" stuffing?