13) What are Dress Forms and how do I get them?
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This article is from the Textiles FAQ, by Lara Fabans lfabans@adobe.com with numerous contributions by others.
13) What are Dress Forms and how do I get them?
There are three ways to go about getting a dress form. The first way
is to check out your local thrift store, a garage sale, flea market,
or ads in the paper. This is a great way to save money and see if you
like it well enough. A good friend of mine found one that was almost
her body measurements for $25 at a garage sale. She didn't need it to
be exact for this level of her sewing.
Here are some tips on second-hand dress forms: Inspect it carefully,
inside and out. Test the dials/screws and make sure they turn well.
They may have gotten rusty, but as long as they are not completely worn
out, they can be cleaned up and used. Do make sure that it will fit you.
If you are very large or very small, crank out the dials to the maximum
and minimum settings and measure the dress form against your form. If
the fabric covering is ripped and/or stained, just cover the whole thing
with a thin, snug t-shirt once you've set it to your measurments (this
will also cover up the dials or the seams between panels).
I think $30 (and under) is a fair price for a used dress form in good
condition. Anything over $50 is highly suspect, since that is 1/2 the
price of a decent new one and you might as well save up the money if
you're that close. Unique and/or vintage dress forms could cost quite a
bit more, but then, you might not want to use it as a dress form.
(Thanks to Trystan for the tips on this!)
The second way is to make one. There have been articles printed in Threads
on how to use tape to create a basic form. Local shops and local
American Sewing Guilds may offer classes. There is one mail order
kit for creating your own foam dress form. I don't have it with me
at work, but will type it in to this area when I remember.
The final way is to order from a company. There are two types: adjustible
and non-adjustible. The adjustible is usually made of plastic plates
with foam on them that can be moved around via dials. The non-adjustible
is a large foam "body" that gets formed to your figure by means of a
muslin shell that you fit to yourself and then zip onto the form. I've
heard that the adjustible can be flimsy. And I've heard that the non-adjustible
is not very flexible when going through changes (i.e. when gravity starts
to work).
I sent off a request for information from Dress Rite Forms of Chicago. I
was impressed with their brochure, but haven't ordered one yet. Personally,
I would go for a non adjustible and then just add extra pads as needed.
There is a company out there that sells foam pads for those special places.
Update: Yours Truly was given a Uniquely You for Christmas from Santa Husband.
I haven't received it yet, but will update this more with my trials and
tribulations of creating the cover. We stood in line at New York Fabrics
for 90 minutes because they were having 30% off everything for 3 hours
only and the forms were on sale for 99. So we were out the door for $75
(that includes our local sales tax).
I know dress forms exist for men, but haven't really found any information
on them. Also, I haven't found information on pants forms.
Another tip from a helpful reader:
If you buy a dress form, it's usually expensive enough that you
don't want to have to buy another one if you gain 10 pounds (or lose 10
pounds), and very few women are proportioned exactly as the dress forms
are. Using towels, pins and a tape measure, pad the dressform with rolled
towels until it was exactly the right size and evened out. It's a long,
painful process, but it's worth it.
Another tip from a helpful reader:
Stuff bras and then position as needed.
NEW: For those who want to make their own dress form from duct tape, check
out this URL:
http://www2.netcom.com/~leahna/DuctTapeDouble.html
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