The Dress Form 2/19/13

Sarah, with the help of her maid of honor, Courtney, made a dress form from paper packing tape. There are bunches of sites and videos on the web that provide detailed directions to make a custom dress form, saving you from the expense and trouble of buying a form and adjust it to your precise dimensions. Sarah actually has a regular one of her own (she shipped the form she made to me in the box her "real" dress form came in.) Every site I saw uses duct tape to for the custom form. I'm not sure why they chose the paper tape, but it works.

The form in the form box. 4 lbs vs. ?

It did maintain the shape well during shipping. Not sure duct tape would have, especially if it ended up in a warm place. I had to stuff it and used a variety of towels, bed linens and plastic grocery bags. The challenge was to create a stand for it. I thought about hanging it, but pictured the whole thing coming down from the ceiling with the almost completed gown on it.

Ikea Kroby lampstand

 

For the stand, at first I thought I would use the base of an Ikea floor lamp. But that turned out to be not enough of a base with the stuffed form on it--it wanted to fall over backwards.

During stuffing...

I had kept the heavy cardboard tube left over from the purchase of yards of blackout drapery lining years ago. One of those things you look at and think, "I know this will come in handy one day." Well, this is one thing that actually did. Hubby sawed a few inches off. I replaced the lamp base with that of a small patio table. The tube fits snuggly over a screw holder thingy. Nice.


I inserted some stuffing in the shoulders then inserted the tube and padded around it to hold it straight and in place. The bust needed special attention. I taped bubble wrap on the bottom to discourage gravity from letting the stuffing fall. So far so good.

Looks a little cockeyed, but I can deal.

The table base works well.

 These sequins arrived today from Cartwright Sequins. The amounts seemed huge, but looking at the tiny packages...I don't know. Sequins are really, really cheap!

 This is our growing bead selection, including seed beads, glass pearls, bugles and rocailles gather from JoAnn.com and Michaels. We also have some Swarovski crystals that I will put on here at some point.

 Beads from JoAnn

Practice.












My next steps: Make the muslin mock-up for the bodice. This might include two layers: a lining and an outer layer. We're inserting bra cups into the bodice, so that will involve slightly different measurements. And, designing the pattern for the bead work and practicing on the silk.

Making progress.

The Pattern

So, Sarah created a dress form from duct tape that she has sent. I think I will find a way to hang it in my work area. Pics when it arrives.

I am working on a beading design. She wants dinosaurs. Yes. You read that correctly. Subtle dinosaurs.

Here's the pattern I'm using. I'll have to modify the bodice for the sweetheart look. And the back doesn't seem to have a closure--but that's easy to work around, too. I was looking for a pieced skirt and this should be perfect to get the high/low effect in the photo.

I did a little practice beading and it should be no problem other than coming up with an acceptable pattern and the time. I need to find sequins.

The date is Sept. 7. I'm sure it will come too soon!

She said yes!

We knew the news could come at anytime, and we knew he would ask her in a creative way. We got the call in November, the day Sarah ran her first half marathon. Toward the end of the route, her boyfriend, Doug, through a series of signs held by friends, popped the question as she ran by. She lost a minute or two to leave the race to say yes!

So, the first thing I asked about details was, "Are you going to make your dress?" Sarah is a bit of a sewer. When she said no, my next question was, "Can I?" It's been a dream of mine to make the wedding dress of my only daughter. She said yes!!

Amazingly, she finalized the design when we visited her last week. I say amazingly, because she had great difficulty choosing what to wear for school every day! We're combining several designers for her custom look. The beaded bodice and tufted silk and petaled skirt are based on this dress by Martina Lianna.

 This is the shape of the skirt, including the tulle underlay. The design is Monique Lhuillier.































Below is the bead work on the Marian Lianna dress. I'll develop my own design and pray it and my skills produce such a love effect. I have a lifetime of sewing experience, but have never done such beading before. I'm looking forward to it!

My first step will be researching construction tips and practicing beading. Sarah lives across the country--I'm in Phoenix, she's in Philadelphia. She and a friend are working on a duct tape dress form she'll send to me soon, so I can make a muslin mock-up to send back to her, so we can get a perfect fit and yardage requirements.

I hope to document my progress, failure and frustrations and successes and joys. Not that I have nothing else to do, such as novel writing, job hunting, etc.

When I get stuck with the dress or my writing, I'll fix up blog and make it pretty.