I had a look at the choices for dressmakers dummies, and saw that the choices were pretty varied. I decided that seeing as I'm in the middle of a diet, an adjustable one would be the best option. I went for an Adjustoform Supa-Fit Deluxe , mainly because it was on sale, it was adjustable, and came with the chalk hem marker.
Once it arrived, I put it together and then went about changing it so it fit me. I took the following measurements of myself:
- Upper bust
- Bust
- Midriff (just below the bust where the band of the bra goes)
- Natural waist
- High hip
- Full hip
- Side neck to apex (fullest part of the bust)
- Bust apex to centre front waist
I then took to adjusting the dress form, the little dials were really tricky! I had to use a pen for some of it cos the dials were quite stiff. I got the size of the form to about half an inch smaller than my actual size then got one of my bras that is the style that I wear all the time, but I don't use because of the colour (you'll see why in the photo) and put that on it, and padded it out with wadding. Measuring as I went, I then added wadding to the appropriate areas. Constantly measuring and comparing was the key, adding bits as necessary. Once I was happy with the overall shape, I then covered the whole lot with some cheap conforming bandages that I got from the 99p Store. Not amazing quality, but seeing as it was only going on the form, it didn't really matter. Handily it comes in different sizes, so was useful for either covering large areas, or smaller areas. I made sure that I kept the 'ditch' between the bust, so it didn't have that rather unsightly 'mono-boob' look.
Seeing as that look isn't terribly pretty, I wanted to make a cover. I got some cheap teal Spandex from eBay and using my measurements, I made a template for the material. I took an inch off each edge so that the stretch material would be nice and snug. I didn't have to be hugely accurate as it would stretch out, but I got the basic shape sorted. It was the first time that I had sewn stretch material, and it was a bit scary! But I managed to get it together ok. Then just needed to put it on the form and make sure that it fitted correctly. Luckily because it's stretch material, the bottom folds under the form, and doesn't need any finishing.
One funny thing is that I've always had a slightly distorted view of my figure, and always thought I was terribly large. But actually making this and seeing a 3D version of myself that is the same size as me has made me realise that I'm not actually as huge I thought I was. I realise that I still need to lose weight, but I'm not the elephant that I once thought. So a bit of a bonus!
I also plan to mark the appropriate lines with ribbon so I have accurate lines that I can use for centre waist, neckline, etc. but I don't really want to do that until I've lost the weight that I want to lose, then I'll do the final adjustment of the form, re-sew the cover and fit the ribbon lines, I'll update that later when I get to it.
Oh and as with every good dress form, she has a name. She's called Veronica. Just watch Avengers: Age of Ultron, and you'll understand :)
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