My husband picked this up for me at a garage sell for $20. I’ve never seen a base like this or one thats only a torso. Is this a vintage form? Can anyone give me any kind of info on it?
This post was written by...
Shanna – who has written 7 posts on WeSewRetro.com.
I'm a young retro mom from Texas, looking for friends in my sewing adventures
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
I believe that it is a “bust-form” used for displaying clothes in a shop
so i can’t even use it for sewing?
The Oregon Shakespeare Festival uses a very similar model to display costumes. If you have the exact same measurements as the dummy, you could use it as a dress form, I guess.
Well thats a waste of $20 then I guess lol
I have one that I got for cheap that is close enough to my size to use as a dress form. You should even be able to pad it a bit if need be.
Wow I just found my measuring tape. Its actually almost exact to my measurments HA! thanks guys
I have an adjustable dress form, and I still had to pad it to make it match my contours. You can do the same with this one if it measures smaller than you. Just add quilt batting in layers in the places where it needs more curves and such, and then cover it with a slip. Even if it didn’t match your measurements, you could still use it to set in sleeves or to test your design inspiration. Just tonight I tried out a combo of a black faille bodice and plaid taffeta skirt on mine just by draping and pinning. I rarely fit on mine, but I still get a lot of use out of it!
What a thoughtful husband!
I have a dress form which is smaller than me, but close, I have padded it out when I’ve needed to, I find it GREAT for hemming, pinning and getting the right fit for facings etc. All those things that you need to do on a person, or are easier on a person
Also, for more fitted outfits, being smaller means I probably couldn’t a dress fit over a real size form – no wriggling to get into it.
A slightly smaller form is still far better then no dress form!
What a great deal for that form! The base is exactly like my Tiffany floor lamp btw…. so perhaps it is a form that someone made? I bought a dressform for $15 at a thrift store in SF and altered it to fit me with foam and batting and then covered it with broadcloth. The end result is a dressform that perfectly fits me and is nice to look at, plus didn’t cost me a load of money!
Here is the process on altering my dressform from my bridal blog
http://artnouveaubride.wordpress.com/2010/09/21/altering-a-dressform/