Dress Form Recommendations

[Lady Rebecca]

It's actually cheaper than that other form, too. Including shipping, it was $102. And it got here in about 4 business days.

[gem]

Well, last night I started working with padding out my mannequin using the Fabulous Fit fitting system. It's not perfect yet, and I still want to do quite a bit of adjusting to it (if not a whole new run from the beginning), but for a first try, I am pretty impressed! I tried my pink corset on it, and it's darn close to how it fits on my body.

There are a couple of issues I need to sort out, and I don't know if they're my figure issues, or issues with the form, or issues with my technique. I have a low bust, and I used a combination of scooching the bust pads downward + padding up the shoulders to get the proper measurement--but that made the shoulders too high (shoulder straps that are too loose on me are too tight on the form), so clearly I don't have that right yet (I think the solution is actually to add to the bust, either with batting or additional foam padding). I'm also having trouble getting the waist measurement right. I'm pretty thin through the midsection, but adding the pads to get the proper measurement gives the mannequin bulges that my body doesn't have. I think I'll have to fix that by wrapping some batting around the form *before* I slip the pads and cover on it, so the measurement is correct but the form is smooth.

The biggest problem, however, is with the height of the mannequin, which is a shop display form and therefore about a foot shorter than I am! Fine for bodices, but bad for skirts, so I need to figure out a way to increase the height of the stand. Hopefully Milord and I are off to Home Depot this weekend to sort that out.

Of course, I can't help being the *teensiest* bit disappointed that it wasn't perfect right out of the box, but what ever is? Overall, I was pleasantly surprised that it went together so well, and with less angst than I anticipated.  I'm going to go ahead and work on my skirt draping this weekend, because I think it's close enough at the moment, and fine-tune the fit of the thing when I have some more time.

[Master James]

My wife is fortunate enough to have this dress form:  http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Dritz-MY-DOUBLE-Dress-Form-Mannequin-/290525041004?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43a4a4516c  The great thing is you can change it quickly and easily to whatever type of sewing you want to do and you can adjust it to your proper height so you can hem without help.  If she is doing Elizabethan, we simply put her in her corset and then form the dress form to fit her so you have the proper shape with the corset on.  If she is making mundanes she just puts on a bra and we redo it again and presto!  She LOVES it!

[Lady Rebecca]

Yeah, I don't know if the fabulous fit system was worth it for me. At first, I put a bunch of the pads on to have a general fit, but I redid it a few days ago, and I am now only using five pads. Instead, I bought some foam from Joanns, and used that where I needed to pad the form out. For the most part, the fit pads were too lumpy and oddly shaped.