How to Make a Dress Form

Dress forms are mannequin-type bodices for making fitted dresses. Making a dress form to fit your body is important if you do a lot of sewing. Dress forms were very popular during the turn of the century. This dress form is easy to make, functional and can be covered with material to make it fashionable.

Things You'll Need

• 1 long T-shirt
• 2 rolls of duct tape
• 1 roll of paper towels
• Scissors
• Cardboard
• Packing peanuts, expandable foam, Polyfil or newspapers

Instructions

1. Put on the T-shirt. Use one that you never need to wear again because you are going to cut it up.

2. Wrap the duct tape around the T-shirt. Start at the bottom and make it tight around your body. You need a helper for all of the duct tape parts of this project. Do not allow any gaps in the duct tape.

3. Stop wrapping under the breasts. Cut several strips of tape and apply them vertically along the curves. Make sure the tape is secured to the shirt.

4. Wrap the duct tape around the chest, under the arms and around the back. When the breasts are covered, run the duct tape from the top of the front to the top of the back. Cover the shoulders and wrap it around the neck. Make sure the whole torso, with the exception of the arms, is covered with duct tape.

5. Repeat this process and cover the form three times with the duct tape.

6. Cut from the bottom center of the back of the T-shirt to the top. Remove the dress form from the body. Run duct tape up the middle where it was cut to hold the pieces together.

7. Cut a piece of cardboard the size of the bottom of the dress form. Tape it to the form with duct tape. Make sure all of the corners are covered. Cut the sleeves out of the T-shirt and place cardboard the size of the holes in the empty spots. Use the duct tape to attach the cardboard to the body. Make sure there are no gaps or holes between the cardboard and the dress form.

8. Fill the dress form with the filler. Place cardboard in the neck hole, if needed.

Tips & Warnings

• For a more finished look, you can paper mache the dress form and paint it, or simply cover it with fabric.