Dress Form in the Making

Dress Form Cutting and Removing

To create a dress form with my measurements my daughter artfully wrapped me in yards and yards of silver sticky duct tape. This was the moment my husband liberated me from the cocoon. But first thing's first.

When I told my 8-year old daughter she could wrap mom in duct tape she was thrilled. There are many sites with instructions on how to make a dress form your size. I even found one from 1938, which uses tissue paper and duct tape, so the idea has been around for while (http://blog.modernmechanix.com/) Here's a contemporary, and possibly more useful one: (http://www.threadsmagazine.com).

The supplies are quite simple:
- a fitted long t-shirt
- rolls of duct tape
- scissors
- helpers
- patience (and possibly a margarita if you're trying this on a summer day when it's hot)

Here's what I've learned:
Even though the tutorials are quite simple and easy to follow, when I was wrapped by my cheering child, it was hard to tell how tight the whole thing had to be. Breathing should be easy, because otherwise the final dress from will be too tight and so will your the garments. And don't we all have one or two of those in our wardrobe. ("Oh, I'll lose 3 pounds and it'll fit beautifully"). Applies to shoes as well. I have some pairs which "almost" fit perfectly. Almost. So I really wanted this to work.

Make sure, you have a helper who is rested and NOT hungry. Invite some friends and make a party of it. Making a dress form feels like spending an hour or two in a neon lit dressing room in a mediocre chain store trying on bikinis in the middle of winter. I strongly recommend creating an atmosphere....you don't need bright light to wrap someone in duct tape.

The worst moment is when you're fully wrapped, sweating, uncomfortable and the "wrapper" says : "One more minute, I'm almost done..." about 500 times.

But the moment of freedom makes it all worth while. The form in the picture below is a deflated version of myself. I'll stuff it tomorrow with some paper and think of a better surface, because the shiny tin man thing is not lending itself to sensual draping, in my opinion. I'm not sure yet how to stick pins into it (or for that matter get them out). But I'll finish it first.

Do I have any good tips? Yes, here's one: I would definitely wear a more fitted t-shirt and take more time. The shirt I used, was a bit bulky under the tape. Number 2: Look at the weather forecast. If it's in the 90's go swimming instead.

Other than that, you definitely need some food, laughter, patience and humor......just the things that make practically any situation work.