Want to make a custom-fit dress form with your own body measurements? Not keen on making one of those duct tape mannequins or splurging on an expensive ready-made one? Then this is a DIY custom-fit fully pinnable mannequin which I made is an inexpensive and great alternative.
I wanted a dress form for many years, but the good quality ones are very expensive to buy so I was looking into some alternatives and I came across the whole… duct tape business… 🤐 But it seemed like quite a lot of effort for how it turns out, and anyway, if I did a duct tape mannequin I would anyway like to upgrade because I would not be very happy with it.
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I then stumbled across a company called Bootstrap Fashion that produces customised patterns for dress forms. In the video above I am taking you through the process & my experience of how I made my own dress form personalised to my own measurements. Click here to watch the video, or if click on the thumbnail above.
To make your own DIY dress form you will need a Bootstrap Fashion custom missy or custom plus-sized dress form sewing pattern. If you are unsure which pattern it’s best for you they have a good size guide & FAQ on their website.
Before ordering your pattern make sure to measure yourself and take note of the measurements. If possible ask someone to measure you to ensure that you have as correct measurements as possible.
To order your pattern go to bootstrapfashion.com → click on DIY dress form patterns in the menu and scroll down to DIY dress form or click here to buy your own custom-fit dress form pattern. You then put in your own measurements and shortly after you will receive a personalised PDF pattern via email.
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Materials & Tools used:
My goal with making this dress form was to make it from as many repurposed materials as possible. As you can see below I succeeded in some areas, but not in others. 😅
- Coat rack – You will need to get a coat rack (or dress form stand if you prefer) for your dress form. I wanted to find my coat rack second hand and looked for a suitable one for over a year before I gave up and just ordered one off on Amazon around 6 months ago.
However, once I received it I decided that I didn’t like the brown colour very much in my sewing space so I decided to paint it with some leftover white chalk paint. I painted two layers of chalk paint and then using clear wax and a wax brush I applied wax onto the coat rack. Once I had done that I polished the wax onto the coat rack with a clean lint-free cloth. I then proceeded by using brown wax to create an antique look. I applied the brown wax with my brush and then polished it with a cloth until I was happy with the look. I only used the brown wax on the parts that I thought was going to be visible outside of the dress form. - PVC pipe tube – 3-5 cm wide. They recommend you to buy a 38″ long pipe for standard heights and 48″ for very tall heights. This was another thing I had to buy new from Home Depot.
A tip: With the 5 ft PVC pipe which I got I think that you will have enough length to make two dress forms – so if you and a friend are making your own dress forms you might be able to share this cost! - A sponge or sponges for the neck (8 cm in height, 18cm in width and 18cm in length.) My friend gave me an old piece of memory foam which I used for my neck. You can also use car wash sponges or cleaning sponges depending on what is available to you.
- Cardboard (around 0.6 sq.m) I am sure most of us has some of that laying around which you could use for this 😉
- Cotton twill for my shell/main fabric – I got 1.10 m as recommended for small to large sizes. I decided against upcycling the fabric because I wanted to make sure it was as strong and sturdy all-around as possible.
- Fusible woven interfacing – get at least as much as you get for your shell fabric as you will iron it on before cutting out the pattern pieces
- Cotton-poly fabric for interlining/stabilizer – As this will go inside the dress form you will not need to worry about if it matches with anything else. The most important thing is to pick a strong and sturdy fabric – I went with a black polycotton mix from my stash.
- Matching thread
- Two zippers (18-23 cm)
- Contrasting thread for topstitching (optional) I used a silver thread, but many people seem to use a red topstitch for their dress forms.
- Polyester Fiber Fill Poly-Fil – around 2.3 kg for the smaller sizes and up to 4.6 kg for larger / plus sizes. I recommend getting some extra if possible (spoiler alert: I did run out!) In my attempt to repurpose I found two bags of polyfill at Value Village, and then I got an old pillow from a friend as well as I butchered some low-quality pillows that I already owned.
- Craft glue
- Small razor knife
- A sharpie – perfect to mark where to cut the coat rack & plastic tube as well as the cardboard pieces
- Mitre saw + mitre box – As you will need to cut the PVC pipe and coat rack I found that this was a very helpful tool compared to a normal handsaw.
What if I loose / gain weight?
During 2020 I gained some weight, was it due to the pandemic or just a natural part of ageing? Only time will be able to tell.. 😄😅
I want to be super clear that I know that I am still slim, and I am not unhappy at all with my body. My concern was just that I would have to put in a lot of effort into this project and I was afraid that I would make a custom dress form that would only be “my measurements” for a short period of time.
However, I then realized I should do as I always say and that is to make things that fit my body right here right now not some future goal and/or idea of what my future self is supposed to look like.
If you do change a lot in size by either gaining or losing a lot of weight then maybe you can consider making another one.
But most of us just fluctuate a bit up and down in weight anyway, and if I gain weight I can just pad my lady (aka dress form, tailors dummy, mannequin) up and if I lose a bit of weight then I can just reduce the fabric if needed.
At the end of the day, clothes are supposed to fit your own body – not a dress form. But having a dress form is such a great help in the design process no matter if you are a fashion designer or a home sewists such as you will be able to judge better how things will look on a body.
A tip if you fluctuate naturally a lot throughout the month is to measure yourself for a month and then just go with the biggest measurements that you get. Life is way too short to wear too tight clothes if you ask me!
Final thoughts!
Overall I am super happy with how it turned out! First of all – it looks great! The effort of making this project was definitely worth it. I am so excited that I finally made this piece because it’s going to make so many other projects that I have planned for 2021 so much easier to do.
I have missed having a dress form I used to have one many years ago but I sold it (it was just a super cheap one made of styrofoam, but it was only what my student budget could allow at the time).
The dress form is not an exact copy of me. The measurements are correct (at the bust, underbust, waist and lower hip/buttocks measurement), but I have a slightly different hip shape to the dress form, which has a much rounder shape than my hips.
DIY Dixie made a video on Youtube where she compares her adjustable dress form to her bootstrap fashion dress form (watch her video here) and she mentioned her concern about Bootstrap Fashion not including the high hip measurement. I completely forgot to mention that in my video above, but I had the exact same concern when I saw that! And as someone, as Dixie puts it in her video, ‘with a prominent hip bone’ this might be partly why my hip shape isn’t correct. Another factor is that I have what is apparently called ‘hip dips’ which makes me not as round around the hips as my dress form is. My width at the lower hip measurement is instead mainly located at the bum instead of the side of my hips.
One confusing part, which I don’t know if it’s meant to be like that, or if something went completely wrong is that the dress form is a bit taller than me. I followed the instructions of cutting off the coat rack to the height that the pattern asked me to cut it to.
Why I think it might be meant to be like this is because when I am working on the dress form with this height it is perfect for me (much more agronomical!) as I will not need to bend and look down at my dress form when working as I would need to if it was my actual height.
If you have any insights and thoughts about this leave a comment down below and let me know!
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What I watched/listened to whilst making this dress form:
- Marie Forleo & Seth Godin: How to Show up & Do the Work (Even When You Don’t Feel Like It)
- Kim’s Convenience
- Mr Queen
- The Forgotten Kingdom by Signe Pike
- 19th Century Fashion – How To Tell Different Decades Apart? by Karolina Żebrowska
Further resources:
- Order your custom-fit Bootstrap Fashion sewing pattern here.
- Morgan Donner made another custom-fit DIY dress form with expanding foam – watch her video here! In my opinion, her version and the Bootstrap fashion-version are the best DIY dress forms that I have seen out there so far!
- DIY Duct Tape Mannequin video tutorial by coolirpa
- Watch this tutorial from Redthreaded to learn how to pad up a dress form
- Another awesome way you can pad up your dress form by coolirpa
- Adjustable vs Custom Dress Form? Watch DIY Dixie’s comparison and review here.
- Don’t want to make your own custom dress form? If so check out Beatrice Forms I have heard great things about them, but they are an investment at USD$1499!
Want to save it for later? Pin it!
I really hope you liked following the process of making my own dress form! Let me know in a comment down below if you are interested in or have given making your own custom dress form a try? I would love to hear about your experience and thoughts!
