Duct Tape Body Form

I've been wanting a dressmakers dummy the longest time but have never been able to afford one (even on ebay they seem expensive, especially with shipping costs.)  But I recently bought the Subversive Seamster book (which is great - lots of inspiration for refashioning and customizing thrift store finds) and it's got instructions for making a body form from duct tape.  It is really cheap to make and is molded totally to your body shape so it apparently more accurate that a tailors dummy. 

So one night last week we gave it a go!  I thought Cole would enjoy wrapping his mum up in shiny tape and wants me to make one of him next.  I got a couple of rolls of duct tape for £2 each and other than an old t-shirt, some cling film and some stuffing, that's all you need.

The first step was to put on an old t-shirt that I didn't mind losing and wrapping some cling film around my bottom half and neck (so that the duct tape doesn't stick to me. )

Then Cole started wrapping the duct tape around me.  It's important to get it close so that it does reflect the right measurements.

It got a bit more complicated after this point because you then had to do a daisy pattern over my boobs to get the contours right (I did that bit myself!) and then did strips down the front and back.

Now, it was around this point that I started feeling VERY uncomfortable!  It was so tight!  I'm so glad we live in an age when we're not expected to wear corsets anymore.  I was really struggling to breath and moving about was nigh on impossible! 

And finally I was all wrapped up like a sausage!  I did ask John if this was a look that did it for him and that maybe I could wear it in private sometime - but he didn't seem very keen!  Obviously I'm only joking here - I can't see rubber and bondage being quite my thing if my duct tape experience is anything to go by - I couldn't wait to get out of it (or maybe that's the point!)

Anyway, after being cut out of it down the back, I taped it back together again and stuffed it with some polyester stuffing I had.  It's a bit unstable at the moment and I think I'll look for a lamp stand to put it on (come on Ikea) but I'm really pretty pleased with it.  I did have to take some of the stuffing out when I measured it and compaired it to my measurements - I'd overstuffed it at first and managed to put 4 inches on my waist - NOT good for the ego!

Okay, it's not the most attractive thing (a bit silence of the lambs?) but it does the job and only cost me around £5 in total which is pretty good in anyone's book.

Comments

[Marie]

I've always wanted a dress form too! But, you're right, they are expensive.
I've never heard of this technique. It can't believe it worked so well!

[Jo]

I've done a bit of a google on it and there's a tutorial on the threads website - http://www.taunton.com/threads/pages/t00002_p2.asp

[Tiff]

I love this idea!!! I too have wanted a dress form but couldn't justify the price tag. I might give this idea a try, but I'm really not sure I want to see what my shape really looks like;)

Tiff

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