Trying Out the New Dress Form

It doesn't look like me, yet. 

Finished form 

Yesterday I finished padding my new dress form. It started out as a bare, very small, dress form a week ago. T helped me measure for size, mom helped me fit the 'skin', and I spent a fair amount time 'filling' out the form to my size. I had wanted to make a dress form for some time now and finally purchased Judy Jackson's Customize Your Dress Form class from Craftsy. This seemed easier than wrapping myself in duct tape or essentially coating myself in paper-mache. I had read about both of these methods online, but they sounded a bit too claustrophobic for me. I found Judy's class to be very well done and easy to follow. Her method started out with a sturdy dress form in a smaller size that could be built out to my size. When I finally finished my dress from yesterday, I needed a project that would let me try out my fitting skills on the form.  I chose a refashioning project.

Too long and loose, but great neckline

This size 14 Jones New York dress came from the Salvation Army.  It was originally priced $6.99, but it came home with me when it went on sale for 70 cents.  The original garment had black velvet fabric, 16 buttons up the front, and a high collar that appealed to me.  I knew that I would not wear this as a dress, but I could shorten the length, take in the sides and possibly lengthen the sleeves in order to make a great jacket.

Can you see the pattern on the black velvet fabric?

The first thing to go was the shoulder pads.  Then I took in the sides between the armholes and waist.

Will there ever be a time when I add shoulder pads instead of taking them out?

I shortened the dress to just below the last front button and ended up cutting 16 inches off the length. I toyed with the idea of adding the excess fabric to the sleeves, but decided that I didn't want a horizontal seam in the middle of my sleeve.  I will just plan to wear something with long black sleeves underneath the finished shirt.

 The inside of this dress was finished nicely and I wanted to keep that look.  I ended up sewing on black seam tape with a machine zig-zag stitch to the bottom and then hand-stitching in the hem.  The fabric is see-through in the floral design and needs the black lining to show off the pattern.  I shortened the lining and basted in a hem by hand.  The lining is attached to the jacket at the sides and hangs freely everywhere else.

Black seam tape for the shirt hem and hand-basted hem for the lining 

The finished jacket looks good on the dress form and I'm pleased with the length.

Better shape and length

View from the back

Closeup of fabric, buttons, and neckline

Two thumbs up for how my dress form and its first refashion project worked out.  The form will probably need some minor tweaking to improve overall fit, but it really is nice to have a body double that that can stand for hours and doesn't mind the occasional pin prick.