Patterns, Techniques, Articles, Blogs, and other resources to learn how to sew
If you want to make a dress form that’s an exact copy of your own body, a duct tape dress form might be the way to go. They’re inexpensive to make and don’t require fussy measuring. Deby from So Sew Easy shows how she made a duct tape dress form of her own. Go to her blog for the tute.
[photo from So Sew Easy]
It doesn’t matter whether you sew by hand or by machine, you need a pincushion. You need a spot to parks pins and needles and keep them within easy reach for when you need them again. There are a lot of styles of pincushion to choose from. Some magnetic, some fabric. Some cute, some purely functional. This “little bit extra” pincushion has a spot to store all the different types of pins and needles you might need while sewing. Polka Dot Chair has a free sewing pattern you can use to make one for yourself.
This handy little pincushion has a circular shape and is divided into sections to store different types of pins. The bottom section is for your regular straight pins. Just poke them in and they’re ready for when you need them. The top has one section with a felt flap perfect for holding your sewing needles. I don’t know about you but I don’t like mixing my hand sewing needles in with my pins on a pincushion. It makes it hard to find the needle when I want it. So having a separate section for the needles is a great idea.
This “little bit extra” pincushion also has a spot to hold a few fabric clips. Fabric clips have become popular alternatives to a traditional straight pin. They hold fabric pieces together without piercing the fabric, which is important when sewing leather, vinyl, or other materials that will show permanent holes from pins.
You can sew the “little bit extra” pincushion from large fabric scraps or small fabric cuts (fat eighth). You probably already have all the supplies you need to sew one in your sewing supplies already.
Get the free pattern for this “little bit extra” pincushion over at Polka Dot Chair.
[photo credit: Polka Dot Chair]
I tried the it twice and both times I see the same thing that is happening in your picture. The bust on mine is not the same from side to side and the same is for the hips. Also, it’s impossible to work on and pin it because the glue gets stuck on the pins.
It’s really time consuming to make and mine didn’t work. I actually tried the dial dress forms to be able to match my measurements and shape, but again the my form expands evenly and creates holes as you expand it. I gain and lose weight all the time so I needed a dress form that would allow me to do that.
I looked into fabulous fit dress form and found out that they had a padding system that you can apply to your dress form. Their dress forms look great but I thought to just try the padding on my dial dress form first to save money, and to my surprise it worked like a charm.
I can pad up just a single area if gain weight in my stomach or all areas singularly. The fabulous fit padding system really works for me.