![]() And this is precisely what the custom forms presented on the following pages provide (as did my poured-foam form): an accurate recreation of your posture and your shape, while keeping within an inch or so of your current circumference measurements. These issues are typically much more important than questions of circumference, since most clothes hang from the shoulders or the waist, and don’t fit snugly. ![]() None of these fitting benefits is possible if the form you’re using doesn’t mirror with reasonable accuracy your posture, the shapes that make up your shoulders, the position and angle of your neck, and the unique distribution of your body weight. Of course, custom-made forms are just as useful as commercial ones for all the traditional dress-form functions–draping, visualizing, shaping collars, holding garments during sleeve insertion and hemming, and so on. This is the process I use on my form, for example, to correct all garments for my nonsymmetrical shoulders. You can simply reposition the seamlines involved right on the form, when you’re ready to stitch them, without worrying that the weight or drape of your fabric might throw off your elaborate flat-pattern changes. Minor adjustments become so easy and obvious when you’re looking at the actual problem in fabric on “yourself” that you often don’t even need a muslin or a corrected pattern. With a few pins, some muslin, and 20 minutes, you can explore more pattern tweaks (and learn more about fitting) on a custom form than you could in hours of flat-pattern investigation on paper. What’s so earthshaking about having a clone in the sewing room? It’s simple: fitting is the hardest thing about sewing, especially sewing for yourself, and having a form on which to solve your fitting problems transforms the challenge from a slow, abstract process of measuring and altering outlines on a flat piece of pattern paper into an immediate, hands-on process of playing with fabric (or paper) on a 3-D version of yourself. Print subscriptions come with FREE access to our tablet editions. Get more dress form ideas by ordering a subscription of Threads magazine. I’ve recently been investigating other form-making methods that are so simple, quick, and inexpensive that I’ve returned to my original evangelical enthusiasm, and am ready to start shouting out the message once again: every sewer needs a dress form! But the process I used (making a surgical-plaster body mold, then filling it with an industrial foam) must have seemed a bit too costly and/or demanding, since not many people appear to have followed my advice. Ever since, I’ve been telling anyone who’ll listen how useful it is to have a full-scale duplicate of your body on hand when making clothes for yourself. Paper-tape dress form is the easiest and cheapest of all.Ī few years ago I had a custom-fitted body form made for myself, which totally changed the way I fit clothes and alter patterns.
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