Buy a dress form or make my own from duct tape?

[ElderberrySyrup]

Was thinking of buying a dress form/dressmaker's dummy (or getting one for Xmas), they seem to cost £100 or so, but when I googled them I found lots of intriguing tutorials on how to make your own from duct tape and some people seem to think the home-made ones are better anyway.

Does anyone here have any experience (of either the home-made or normal ones)?

Thanks!

depends how confident you are with duct tape - in my experience you may spend time and money coming up with a messy lump that'll be no use, but it'll be more fun trying than buying one.
if you're adept with the duct tape you will at least be able to more accurately represent your own body shape (if that's what you're after) than even an alterable dummy will allow.

LOL. I don't have much experience with duct tape.... Is it a difficult medium in which to work?!

ever had to fight with selotape? - i imagine it's a similar process.
i find if you want to achieve the right shape it's easiest to have a dummy to begin with then add on extra at points where the dummy doesn't quite match the shape you need - by pinning wads of fabric then smoothing them down with a flat fabric piece. best of both worlds for shaping as you can use the alterable dummy without wadding too if you're making for numerous body shapes. HTH

Invest in an expanding dress form.

If you don't like it/don't use it much you can sell it on again - the resale values are very good. If you buy one second hand you probably wouldn't lose much if anything.

The reason for getting an expanding one is if your figure changes or you end up making something for someone else in the future.

As for the duct tape, it is sticky, fiddly and unsatisfactory. The professional stands are fabric-covered polystyrene so you can easily pin fabric to it, which is extremely handy, whereas you can't easily pin duct tape models. Also you would also need to make some sort of stand for the duct tape one.

I've just made one of my dd to better fit her dance costumes , it's not fantastic but it's ok and just what I need and for the money it's a no brainier. I'm not a professional dressmaker and I'm going these costumes to save money so I really couldn't justify getting a dressmakers dummy especially given her age 12 and the fact that she will be growing and changing body shape quite quickly.
It wasn't all that difficult to do actually you just need to put enough duct tape round your models body so it's rigid when you cut them out of it.
I filled mine with crumpled newspaper and expanding foam, I think I might need to top it up in parts but I imagine it will be quite easy juts to cut a hole in it , fill the gaps with foam and tape over the hole.
I would definately do it again.

wow, thanks for these v helpful answers.

I have quite wide shoulders and I'm not sure if a real one would be accurate shoulder-wise but I imagine I could extend them with foam or wads of fabric somehow. Do the shoulders adjust?

I went all around her body up to the neck and around her arms, that bit wasn't so good as she found it hard to keep her arms up and both in the same position.
But this gives ok dimensions of her bust and shoulders .

Elderberry I have a broad fat waist :o You can wrap a bit of wadding/polar fleece around the shoulder area and stick it to the dress form, then cover it in a fitted tshirt to get your exact measurements.

Is the hem marker useful? If I buy one I would like one of the ones with a traditional wooden stand so it can at least look nice, but those ones don't seem to have the hem marker.

yes, hem marker are pretty useful if you are sewing clothes a lot - but you can do the same thing with a long metal rule & tailors chalk, so not really that necessary, just a nice gadget IYSWIM

& agree with just padding up your stand in areas to fit the shape you need - though the traditional wooden stand manikin, sounds like you mean a professional one, if so they are a LOT more than £100 - mine was over £500 & that was years ago

this one

def not spending £500!

oh wow, that actually looks like a really nice one for the price too - glad to see they've improved, I do have an adjustable one too, but I've never really got on with it & I was using my similar looking, none adjustable one for work - hence why they've got you by the balls & over charge it was so expensive

It does, doesn't it?

I've never used one before despite having done quite a bit of sewing but I think it would make life a lot easier. I really struggled with pinning on a collar and facing the other week, I had to hang it over the knob on the back of a dining chair. I am into sewing vintage dresses at the moment so fit is everything.

I do a lot of vintage type shapes, so yes, agree the stand will help you a lot - though in the mean time, try padding out a coat hanger to give shoulder neck shape & hang it from a cord attached to door etc, that should help with collars etc & keep you going until you get your manikin

BRILLIANT idea, thank you!

I live in a beamy house with lots of ancient nails and hooks in the beams so I can even hang it right next to where I sew

great stuff :)

I have that one but in black, which comes with lighter wood. It's nice and came with a free hem marker, clothes brush, tape measure and even a screwdriver to put it together with! I got mine from sewing online or sewing direct I think.

I have that one elderberry - it's not perfect, but it's pretty good for the money, and plenty adjustable enough for my broad shoulders and waist/hip ratio (I'm quite hourglass). I have to pad a bra for her though, as her boobs are a bit feeble.

Yes she is a bit flat chested!