Uniquely Me

[helblonde]

Yesterday, we finally got the sofa put back together. Thank god that's over with. Today, with the help of moriven, I got my dressform through its final fitting and all put together (thanks also to g0atface who got the bugger started). Then I modified the pattern I'm going to use for the dress I'm making for my cousin's wedding (oooh, next choice: silkcrepe, georgette, or charmeuse?), so I just have to buy the fabric and I'm good to go.

Here's a bit of a review of the Uniquely You dressform.

good stuff:
1) it works for my purposes. I was - just now! - able to use it to modify a pattern to fit me.

bad stuff:
1) The directions are crap - badly written, confusing, and done in a bizarre order. I'm glad I ignored them.
2) The little tie thingy on the front is put in the wrong place in relation to where the eyelets go (the ties come out under the breasts, but the eyelets in the cover are at nipple level), so using the ties effs up the fit of the bust.
3) The foam breasts are huge, oddly placed, and, at least for me, way too low. I was mostly able to shove the foam where it needed to go, but there is some residual lumpiness on the bottom of one breast.
4) The waist and hips of the dummy are mostly a cylinder. I am an hourglass. This meant that there was way too much foam at the waist and not nearly enough in the butt. When I'm feeling keen again, I'm going to have to buy more foam to fill her out a bit. The other problem here was that the excess foam at the waist made the cover bunch up at the center back. I had to improvise a way to tie the bottom of the zipper to the mast to keep enough downward pressure on the fabric to counteract the bunchiness.
4) They are big fat liars about one person being able to put the cover on the dummy.

Comments

[dame-cordelia.livejournal.com]

I should get one of those dress dummy covers - or is that something you have to make yourself?

[helblonde.livejournal.com]

The cover came with mine.

[sarahbellem.livejournal.com]

I ended up coring my UY form. I tore it open along the seam that connects the front and back, and then dug out a lot of foam around the "spine" in the breasts and abdomen. Then I glued both halves back together. That allowed it to be able to corset down and get a more realistic shape.

I switched to Fabulous Fit forms a couple years ago and think they're just about the best forms on the market now (mine is the Pro Maxima form, retails for $337). They use a foam padding system that you can adjust to get close to your figure. I also had to give a mastectomy to my FF form, though... It was the only way I could get the right shape for any historical silhouette. Still, it's better than nothing!

[helblonde.livejournal.com]

I was really tempted to do some eviscerating, I must admit.

Thanks for the link. If I change shape enough to do this again, (heh. when) I will definitely try them.

[sarahbellem.livejournal.com]

There is a company that will send you a plaster cast kit with instructions on taking a casting of your torso. You send the casting back to the company and they make the dress form out of foam.

Also, there is a cloth method of making a body double that I've used to make a reproduction of a 19th century dress form, but works as well on human bodies (although probably not with the same precision as the My Twin dress form). It's actually pretty straight forward, but it's one of those things that I can't adequately describe with words. :P

[ldyanna.livejournal.com]

There are instructions here:
http://www.taunton.com/threads/pages/t00002.asp

I'd think you would need several people to do this correctly though. Maybe at our household meeting?

[finickynarcane.livejournal.com]

I emphatically agree with number 4. I "helped" a friend with hers. I'm REALLY glad there was no one outside the window listening. At the time, the funniest line came from the fiance of the victim. He said; "By now, I know my sweetie's breasts. These aren't them." Maybe you had to be there.