My Own Custom Made Dress Form

So, after struggling for quite a while with fitting patterns on myself, I decided to do some research on doing a custom made dress form.  Of course there are companies out there who do this for you but it's very expensive.  I thought I'd try to do it on my own.

I ordered a bunch of plaster gauze strips from a medical supply store, it's the same stuff they use to cast a broken bone.  Then I talked Steve into plastering my body one Saturday afternoon.  It took about 3 hours, and I was freezing because my clothes underneath the plaster got wet.  Plus, I'd never had to stay still for that long.  It was an interesting experience.

After the plaster had completely dried, we cut it off me, going up the front and back.  Then I painted this "ease release agent" inside all over the mold.  It's supposed to make it so that the foam you fill it with doesn't stick to the mold.  Then I put both pieces back together with duck tape and cloth strips.  If you do this yourself, use something a lot stronger.

Here it is upside down.  The guy I bought the foam from said it'd be best to close off the neck and arms and pour from the bottom.

So this is it.  Rigid liquid polyurethane foam.  I looked everywhere for this stuff and finally found a place here in Chicago that sold it.  It comes in two parts, the blue bottles and yellow bottles.  You pour and mix the two for 20 seconds, then this stuff instantly starts foaming like lava.  

Well....I made quite a mess because the neck and arm holes weren't quite sealed.  Oops.

Here I am trying to get the mold off the cured foam now.  The ease release agent didn't do too much good because it was HARD!  My fingers were so sore afterwards.

Here I am sawing with a knife trying to get this stupid plaster off.  There was foam and plaster dust flying around so I tied a piece of my fabric over my face.  Cute huh?!

Here is the dress form finally...and the mess I made from tearing off the plaster cast.

These pictures don't do the mess justice.  It was bad!

I tried to sand down the foam to make it smooth, but this foam stuff is tough!  So, that's why it sort of looks bumpy in places.

I bought some double knit in a cream color to cover the foam with.  I just whip stitched it together along both sides.  I think it looks pretty dang good and I'm so glad it's over with!  A part of me would like to try it again because there are so many things I know now to do better, but maybe not for a while!  If you want to try this yourself, let me know and I'll give you all the tips.

Portfolio

Specialty Collection: Bridal

These first two pictures are what they call a mood/theme page.   In a portfolio, these pictures go before the illustrations to set a theme for what you'll see coming next.  I tried to set the mood for soft, feminine lines with a touch of flare.

Ruffle Cover-Up

I can't take credit for this adorable dress, but I can take credit for the cute jacket that makes it a little less bare for those of us who don't want to show off bare arms, chest, shoulders and back.

The Criscell Dress

I'm naming this dress after my wonderful sister because it's really the first dress I completed after going back to school for fashion design.  She and I worked long hard hours on some sewing projects, and without her building me up, I probably wouldn't have realized my love or potential for sewing and designing.  Not only that, but she let me live with her while commuting from Chicago for my last semester of school.  And she always let me show her all my projects, and ooh and aah over them.  Sure do love you Celly!

Here's a picture of my cute sis and me at my wedding

Christmas Present for Criscell

Well, this isn't a dress, but I'm still pretty proud of it.  My sister showed me a skirt she liked, and told me to keep my eyes open for a shirt kind of close to it.  Well, I decided to make her one instead.  The hat I also made in my millinery class at school.

The Ashley dress

My husband's cousin Ashley gets the credit for this beautiful cowl neck jersey knit dress.  At the annual family reunion, she told me about this wonderful fabric store they found in Rome.  As it so happened, Steve and I had a trip planned for Italy that summer, so I memorized the name of the store, and later we visited it.  It was glorious, rooms full of fabric of all colors and textures, going literally from the floor to the ceiling.  Needless to say, I was in heaven.  Anyway, this dress was made from one of the many fabrics I bought there.

The Ashley Dress

 

Here I am at the fabric store

The Krystle dress

This dress is named after my good friend Krystle.  I've had many classes with her and she is wonderful inspiration to me.  She sews all of her clothes, and works very hart at her passion which is sewing and creating her own style.  She's a very proper, classy girl so I thought this dress a perfect fit for her.  Plus, I worked on it a little at her house when we'd have "sewing parties."  Love you Krystle.

Close up flat

This dress has short sleeves, a moderate square neckline,
while the skirt comes just below the knee.  I finished
it off with a large flower at the hip to add to the
vintage look.