My dress form is not the prettiest thing on the planet. Most aren’t. They are for functional use and all those dials and pieces moved about are there for logical reasons. But, at least for me, I don’t sew that often enough to have my lady just hanging out in the blue (yes, she’s blue). I got to thinking that I’d want a pretty dress form, one with those ones with stylish prints on the body that aren’t so much for use but for decoration so that my office looked “better.” But at $50 a mannequin, that was just too much to spend on decoration. Instead, I opted to retool her look. I found a nice stretchy fabric with a modern print on it at Joann’s, and got about 2 yards worth just in case I messed up. I dialed her down to close up any gaps that were showing around the blue forms and began pinning away. A few basted stitches here, a refit there, more pinning, and a final overlock stitch securing the cover nearly completed her new outfit. The last touch I did was to create a hem along the bottom, insert a narrow piece of elastic, sew that together and closed the hem. Whala! Turn it all right side out and put the cover on my lady. It now fits snugly around her and tucks under the bottom portion with the elastic holding it in place. Honestly, I was rather impressed and surprised at how well it turned out. Yes, I did have to make a second attempt (thank goodness for extra yards!). The first attempt was way too snug and looked just awful. So I re-worked it and now I have a lovely dress form decorating my office with a stylish cover that would rival those $50 mannequins! Total cost for fabric and thread = less than $15. Not bad. Not bad at all.
Dressing up my dress form.
