This is not my first experience with dress forms.
I had a professional do a plaster of paris on me about six years ago. To my surprise, when Lonnie and I picked it up, it was an identical figure to mine.
I had the form for about two months and the ribbon that was marking the lines of my figure began to buckle. The form was shrinking right before my eyes.
I called the professional that had made the dress form and she contacted the supply company. They informed her there was a problem with some of the product that was being used.
She said she could fix it for me but I decided to get my money back because we were going to be moving to Florida in about two weeks and I did not want to take the chance of it shrinking at a later date. I paid $250.00 for this dress form which was too much money to have problems with it in the future after we had moved.
Six years went by and I kept looking at the dress forms that you can buy in the stores. After seeing my double, I just was not satisfied with them. Then I happened to be surfing the sewing section on the web and came across the instructions to make my own.
This is my Duct Tape Double Form. It turned out to be quite a success if I do say so myself. It only cost me about $50.00 to make. I cannot take the credit for this master piece though. Lonnie, my husband, did all the cutting and wrapping.
I saw the Duct Tape Dress Form instructions on the website of Duct Tape Doubles at Leanna Studios. I immediately started talking to Lonnie about doing one for me. His answer was definitely no and that I should try to find someone else to help me.
I set out on a mission to come up with a great pole to mount my duct tape form on. I searched a couple of stores and finally wound up at Wal-Mart and purchased on sale a torch lamp for $14.99. What a deal!! I purchased 8 rolls of gray duct tape, 5 rolls of white duct tape, 10 packages of 20 ounce polyfil fiber for stuffing the form. As you can see, I did not want to run out of any supplies. I used the white duct tape for my final wrapping.
I headed home with all my treasures feeling very confident that this was going to be a great work of art.
After arriving home, I anxiously had to figure out how to put the stand together. The website had several different methods for stands. I studied some of them and decided to use ideas from two different methods. I put my lamp pole together with the base attached to the bottom. I eliminated one of the sections of the pole to make it the right height. I particularly like the torch light lamp, because it has a weighted base and the duct tape form won't fall over as easily.
Now, I needed to figure out how to attach a heavy duty suit coat hanger to the top of the pole. I cut a notch in the top of the pole, just deep enough for the hanger to sit in it. I then used gray duct tape to secure it so it would not wobble. Hey, it worked. So now we are ready for the taping session.
I had all the supplies and had finally convinced my husband it was going to be a piece of cake.
On Friday, I scrounged up two old T-shirts to make a bodysuit to wear under the duct tape. The T-shirt for the top part was a form-fitting turtle neck so the duct tape could be wrapped up around the neck area also. I left a hole in the very top of the neck so I can put a pin cushion in the top part of the neck section.
I cut the regular T-shirt in half, then sewed the bottom half of this shirt onto the turtle neck T-shirt making it into a very long shirt. I made sure the shirt was as snug fitting as possible so when the duct tape was wrapped around it, there wouldn't be many lumps and creases in it, except for the ones that belong to me. LOL!
As taping day rolled around, Lonnie was still complaining that he is not good at this sort of thing and that I was going to yell at him the whole time he was doing it. Now, may I ask all the women out there; "Since when do we yell at our husbands!?"
Well, I made a promise to him that if he would do it, and be serious about it,(Lonnie loves to joke and be a clown.) I would not be critical. He agreed to those terms.
We began gathering up our supplies and lining them up on the table in the order we would need them. We both looked at one another and with a sigh, Lonnie said, "I still don't think this is going to work!". I said, "Quit your fussin and let's get started!"
We read over the first couple of instructions. Lonnie began to wrap the duct tape as illustrated in the instructions and I am trying to be as nice and quiet as I possibly can. All of a sudden, I began to feel the duct tape getting tighter and tighter until I finally had to break my silence and tell Lonnie that it is too tight and is cutting off my circulation.
Lonnie at this point does not know what to do to relieve my discomfort, so we both decide that all the tape has to be removed and start over. Luckily, I purchased more duct tape than I needed.
At this point, we both silently felt that this was going to be a complete disaster, but we trudged on. He began again wrapping the duct tape around me being careful not to get it too tight. It all started to fall into place and we both began to feel a bit more comfortable about the whole ordeal.
The first layer of duct tape has been successfully applied and now on to the second layer. The second layer went considerably smoother than the first. As time goes on, Lonnie became more confident in this project he so diligently refused to have any part of. It is now time to cut this masterpiece off of me.
Now, I have been really good up to this point about being too verbal about this whole process, but when it comes to cutting this thing off of me, I decided I better set some guidelines. Lonnie listened carefully to my instructions on how to accomplish this feat without drawing blood and then he proceeded to cut away at the back of the form. He cut at angles all the way up the back and neck. Lonnie helped me work my arms out of the duct tape because as you can see we taped down my arms about 5 or 6 inches.
What a relief to get out of this mummy suit. It was a little uncomfortable to stand as still as possible for about three hours, but it was all worth it. I completed the rest of the steps without my assistants help. He was tired, hungry and had just plain had enough of the duct tape double at this point.
I have to admit, if it weren't for Lonnie, this wonderful masterpiece would have never been created. Thank you dear! I am now trying to convince him to do the bottom half for me but I have not been very successful. LOL!!
Anyone that sews for themselves needs to make their own dress form. I say, "GO FOR IT!"