Yesterday mschilepepper came over and cut me out of my clothes.
After wrapping me in nearly 120 yards of duct tape, that is, to make a me-shaped dress form in order to avoid the sort of last-minute storm of cursing that tends to happen when I sew things according to a pattern and then discover it does not fit me in the slightest because the pattern was designed with a baby elephant in mind. Also, since I plan on doing a lot more free-form work on my costume this year, it will especially help to have a three-dimensional model of myself to pin things to, and then yell at, and then punch. It’s not QUITE right, I put some of my clothes on it and the waist on the dummy is a bit bigger, but it should absolutely suffice for my costume-making purposes this year. And for the cost of one t-shirt, two rolls of duct tape, a pile of little nickels, and a ‘thank you’ dinner for a friend who had to handle my ass, it was a damn good deal, too!
It is more than a little disconcerting to have a replica of my torso impaled on a post hanging out in my living room.
Also, yes, this does mean I have a stick up my ass.
!!! I’ve seen people talk about this, but haven’t been brave enough to do it myself. I am anxious to see how it works for tailoring. I have a dress form, but it is so rickety that I kind of want to screw it all together and rework it to fit me exactly. I am just intimidated and wussy, while you are awesome.
As long as you’re not super-claustrophobic, it’s easy enough to make one. I had a couple of fleeting freak-out moments because I felt like I couldn’t breathe deeply enough.
That may very well be what’s kept me hesitant. That and asking someone to come over and witness me in such a state because I am a huge whiny self conscious baby 😉
OMG! I’m gonna make a me too.
Wanna handle my ass?
Only for a dinner in exchange.
What are you going to do with a dummy of yourself?
I dunno. Fuck it?
I didn’t really think that far.
O_o
YOUTUBE
I need to do that too, for the wedding dress. Mock ups in broadcloth start in about 6 months.
You are so awesome, sewing your own wedding dress. 🙂
I’ve been wanting to make one too 🙂
I’ve been wanting to make one and yours is about the 3rd one I’ve seen done. It looks pretty damn good. I mean you’re licking it so it must be good. LOL Seriously though it looks good. What did you use for the stand?
Re: I’ve been wanting to make one too 🙂
I had a cheapo floor lamp from IKEA that I wasn’t using, I took off the lampshade part and used the rest as the stand.
Re: I’ve been wanting to make one too 🙂
I never would have thought of that! 🙂 If I ever get around to making one (I have like a gazillion dream projects in my head) I think I’ll just scout out a lamp at the second hand. WOOT! 🙂
Re: I’ve been wanting to make one too 🙂
I had a coat tree that wasn’t precisely functional anymore due to broken pegs, and I would’ve given it to her to use as a stand, except somebody decided to dispose of it while I wasn’t looking. :-/ You can find coat trees at thrift stores just as easily as you could find a torchiere lamp, so keep that in mind!
Yeah, it stands to reason it’s a smidge bigger than you, because there would have been no way to get the tape tighter without really creating issues. Plus, flesh is squishy when you put tighter clothes on, so there’s that. You can just cinch it in a little tighter when you tape up the back. Better a little too big than a little too small, I’d say. You can always take something in a smidge, but letting out seams is a bitch kitty.
Yeah, but the skirt in question is actually quite loose on my body and I can hardly get it zipped on the form. It’s not an issue of “well, when I put this item on I suck in my gut.”
I’m so intrigued and aroused. you should totally take pictures of your torso in scandalous situations.
I should also rig it with a head and use it to take the carpool lane!
Personally I would make some sort of crime scene up with it as the cadaver, or maybe I have just watched too much CSI.
I’ve been thinking about that, too–practical Halloween crime scene applications.
i keep meaning to make one of these, but because my weight is always up and down, i am looking forward to my own little dressmaker’s dummy. the singer ones are cheaper than i thought they would be. someday.
I’ve been working on losing weight and figured getting a full-price dress form in my size would probably not be a wise investment at the moment.
Do you fluctuate so wildly that a duct tape form wouldn’t even be a sort-of-helpful guide?
not wildly really, i guess i just want more preciseness, and i could see me losing 20 pounds right after making a duct tape one. hey! maybe i should do that right now!
Yeah, I figure having gone to the effort to make something that duplicates my body, my body will take that as a sign to drop pounds much faster thus rendering my work useless in a matter of weeks.