The Dressform Project, or making a papertape dressform functional

A couple years ago, I convinced a friend to help me make a dressform, using the papertape instructions on this website (there are other methods here as well). I stood still for four hours while he wrapped me in tape. That is not an estimate, I timed it. Different people work at different paces, but my friend and I are both fastidious people, and in the end, it was done right, which is what matters.

We learned:

1. Don’t over-dampen the paper-tape.

2. Triangles serve best for covering curves (use small triangles to shape the breasts).

3. If you have orthotics that will make a difference in your posture, wear them! My left leg is 1/2″ shorter than the right, and that makes for a big difference in the hips when I’m standing barefoot without my “correcting” heel lift.

You can see pictures of the process at the instructional link above, since I have none of my own. When we were done, we had a reasonably stiff shell that replicated my torso accurately. I taped it together and stuffed it with plastic bags, then decorated it with paper mache. But it was not sturdy, and I was disappointed, thinking I couldn’t make it into a functional tool.

I was afraid to overstuff it, as I thought I would push it out of shape, particularly the shoulder area. So I left it as it was, as a merely decorative thing in my studio, gathering dust.

The first incarnation, in my old studio

Eventually, the poor thing started to sag.

I began worrying over how much it might cost to buy a dressform from the store, and put aside my dreams of being resourceful and making my own. I asked if anyone had one on freecycle, but to no avail.

The old sagging dressform was sitting idly at my dad’s house, and I was morosely obsessing over vintage dressforms on eBay (I couldn’t really justify spending the money), when M said to me, “don’t you have one already, the one that you made?” And suddenly it occured to me, that I (and my friend!) had put a lot of work into that thing, and with a little more, I might be able to make it functional.

So when we visited my folks for the holidays, I dragged it out and began the operation.

First, I cut it open and pulled out the stuffing; there was really not enough, hence the sagging.

I reinforced it from the inside (so as not to add exterior bulk) with duct tape.

I don't know how many plastic bags I used, but it was many times over the original amount. I didn't worry about over-stuffing.

I began to re-seal the form, adding more plastic bags all the while, packing them tightly into the shoulder area and continuing down.

When it was all sealed up, I looked for areas that could be firmer, sliced them open, and inserted more plastic bags.

Then I patched up the wounds.

Whole again

When I was satisfied, I paper mached over the masking tape. Now I just need to spray-paint the stand a nice antique gold.

The dressform is now sturdy, and my, my mom’s, and my dad’s plastic bag drawers are empty!

I don’t know whether I really compromised the accuracy of the figure by overstuffing; but I do know that it’s strong now, and won’t sag, and when it sagged it really wasn’t accurate. If it’s a little bigger than me in some areas, I don’t anticipate it being a problem, as I don’t intend to make extremely tight-fitting clothing.

Obviously, I’m not going to want to pin into this, but even if it wasn’t decorated, I wouldn’t want to pin directly into the form, as areas might weaken over time with repeated close pinpricks. I have some stretchy material, from which I plan to make a close-fitting cover that can be pinned into.

Finally I can start learning to drape… any suggested reading for a beginner?