Jan- New Form over Old
Barbara- Great PVC Stand Directions
Cathy- Valet stand worked great
Mary- Surprisingly good Husband Wrapping Job
DeAnn- Lots of details about the creation of Mabel II
Regan- Form took 2 1/2 hours, a record!
Jane- Lamp stand and other Good Ideas
Karen- Stand & leg ideas
Maureen- Torchiere Lamp Advice
Ariella- Swivel Stand
Kat- Used an old form
PMelr- Stand Do's & Don'ts
Bob - Kitty Litter?
Deborah - Sewer Pipe
Barbara - Old Coat Rack
Paula - Office Chair Bottom

Kat

Well I did it , made a duct tape double and there no turning back.  I had read the how tos in Threads and with my husbands help I got taped up.  What we did for a stand was an old grey dress form. If you put an add in classifieds people want very little for these or will give them away.  I expanded to form as far as it would go and set my double over top and carfully started stuffing. I used old pattern tissue, which I found worked well.  I would also like to mention that I'm a very large lady and this form has helped me in my sewing greatly.
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Ariella

Not having a trusted friend who could actually cover me with duct tape, I had to rely on my husband.  This is quite contrary to suggestions given.  However, all worked out well and including my husband in the process meant that he put his cabinet making skills to work.

Hence, the swivel stand. Actually this took no cabinet making skills at all.  To make a quick and easy stand, just purchase a patio umbrella stand of the kind that can be filled with water or sand and use a piece of PVC pipe the same diameter as the umbrella pole.  Build the form around that.  Cut it off at the desired length.  Insert it into the stand and..... voila... a quick and easy swivel stand.

That's the fun part... The other is that the DTC is a good duplicate of my figure. Am buying a fitness club membership next week.

Thanks for  the detailed instructions on the net!   Ariella
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Maureen

Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you.  I have always wanted a dress form and now thanks to you I have one.  I wish I knew about this before my daughter left for school in London, England she wanted me to alter several of her grandmother's Chinese dresses that her  grandfather gave her.  I would feel better able to handle the task if I had a dress form to put them on.

My sister came from Canada for four days and I put her to work.  She kept abandoning me to go outside and smoke so the tshirt kept rising up around the waist and bunching.  I was really disappointed in the job I did until I realized what was actually bothering me was that the form looked like my body!  The final measurements are exact.  I was going to cover it in a beige cloth but realized that a darker colored cloth would
show the seams better on light colored fabric.

Now I am trying dresses on the form that I did not feel comfortable wearing and can easily see what it was about their construction that bothered me so.  I would
recommend wrapping the neck up to the chin and will do this in the future when I lose weight and need a new form.  It would be beneficial to see how collars will sit since some of us tend to tilt our neck forward.

I have printed your instructions out for four other people. I ran into trouble with the old torchiere lamp that I used, I had it sawed down but found that my fabric tube would not go all the way down because of a metal coupler used to reinforce two metal tube sections.  I couldn't give up so I sprayed the joint with wd40 and used a flat-head screwdriver and a hammer to wedge a small opening all around the joint. The parts then were loose enough to screw apart. I had to remove the coupler since it was about 3/8" thick and by wrapping the fabric tube with several layers of duct tape it made the stand sturdy enough that  it doesn't matter that the two parts of the metal are just sitting on top of each other.  The longest part of the metal tube is attached to the stand and provides the support, the upper piece of metal tube just makes it look good.

Thanks again for all your help.
Maureen McFarlane
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Karen

I borrowed a copy of Threads from a friend who told me about the duct tape dress form and was surprised at how accurately it worked in the magazine. My mother and I will be getting together tomorrow to try it out.

Ironically, when I went to turn on our failing halogen torchierre, it completely died.  Perfect! (or fate?)  I will also be using a poster mailer--one of those round tubes to put in the torso which would allow the form to slide up and down the lamp stand.  Drill holes in the stand at various heights (and, of course, at normal height) so you don't have to do detailed waist work on your knees. To secure the height while working, simply reinforce the neck of the torso with more tape and thread through two shoestrings or what have-you through both the stand and the form.

An additional idea...
As I am a costumer, I will need to work with arms and/or legs.  I would suggest a few modifications:
1.  Purchase or dig out of your closet a form-fitting mock turtleneck and tape the arms (this will avoid the bunching of fabric at the back) and allow you to tape the arms.
2.  After taping the arms and entire body, cut down the back of the arms as well as the back of the form to ease removal.
3.  Re-tape the arms down the back and cut off at the shoulder.  Punch holes with ice pick on torso and arms to lace on arms when needed.  The same could be done with legs if you use spandex shorts.

Karen
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Jane

About 2 weeks ago I did the taping for a friend, using only the info from the article in Threads. She wore her usual underclothes and a slip under the T-shirt. I basted a piece of double-knit to the neck, the shirt was plenty long. It took all morning to get ready, tape her up, cut off the form, and stuff it. Another friend stopped by when she was nearly taped up, she thought it was some kind of armor at first.

Before I cut the form off I did mark a plumb line to show how the form should be mounted so it would stand at the same angle she does, and a few horizontal lines on the back to match up the edges when we taped it up.

We didn't use a coat hanger in the shoulders, instead, I cut out a silhouette of her shoulders from doubled corrugated cardboard (one of her shoulders is a lot higher than the other, a hanger might have evened them up).

We stuffed her form with plastic peanuts and plastic grocery bags, and I cut the cardboard for the bottom by having her lean her hips against the wall sideways, then facing front and measuring out to the opposite side to get a cross-section shape. We cut a circle where the lines crossed to put the cardboard tube through-did remember to put it in as we stuffed.

I had a broken halogen torchiere lamp that we used for the stand. We pulled the wires out and her husband cut it to the right height. The base was already weighted and everything.

After I left my friend fine tuned the double by adding scraps of batting to the stuffing where the peanuts hadn't filled it out well and taped the bottom in and put it on a stand.

If (when) we do my double I plan to start with a long sleeved turtleneck T-shirt and make it longer if needed. The lamps are so cheap I may just buy a new one for a stand, if I can't get one out of someone's trash or a garage sale. The broken one didn't have the safety features to prevent fires so a lot of people may get rid of them instead of buying new bulbs when they burn out. A new one is only $15 on sale, and has a screen over the light bulb and an auto shut off.
                                            Jane in Ohio
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Jan

Some one asked a question about combining their old (regular) dress form with their new duct tape form.  I was faced with the same situation,
since I "outgrew" my form.  I now have my new duct tape form taped on top of my regular, old dress form and it works quite well.  I stuffed
the bust area with old shoulder pads (from a long lost top) to fill in the space between the 2  forms.  I used some leftover batting to fill in
the area below the waist.  I was lucky because I didn't have big areas to fill in with the batting. The two forms fit pretty snuggly except in
the hips and stomach.

Another comment - it is helpful to make sure that the t-shirt fabric does not get bunched up in the back where you will be cutting the form
off.  When a friend and I made my form we didn't think about that and had a difficult time cutting my form off.  When we did my friends form
we were careful to arrange the excess t-shirt fabric so it was smooth across the back. Big improvement!

Jan Raith
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Barbara

My sister and I had a great time this weekend playing with duct tape and  saran wrap, etc.  I had even more fun at Home Depot in the plumbing
department the next day.  The "plumbing guy" and I came up with the best stand ever that requires no drilling, gluing or other hard stuff.  All you
need is PVC pipe cut to the lengths you need and they do that for you at Home Depot. Here it is:

1)  4" diameter PVC pipe cut the length from floor to bottom of dress form,
2)  place a PVC toilet base (yes!) into that - this gives a platform for the  form to rest on
3)  insert a 2" diameter PVC pipe cut your height from floor to just below your shoulders
4)  onto that place a "double T" joint (has 2" openings on 4 sides).
5)  place a 4-5" section of 2" PVC into the top joint for the neck.
6)  place a 2" PVC pressure cap over that to close the top nicely or don't cap it and tape the wig stand on instead
7)  measure the width of your shoulders less the width of the double T joint and divide the remainder in two.  Cut two pieces of 2" PVC equal to that
measurement and insert them into the shoulder openings.
8)  place the whole thing into a Christmas tree stand and tighten around the 4" section of PVC.

The best thing about this stand is that the dress form can swivel with no fancy hardware - the 2" pipe just turns inside the 4" pipe.  The rigidity of
the PVC pipe at the shoulder also makes a solid demarcation for shoulder and sleeve seams.

To economize on stuffing I first padded and shaped the shoulders with heavy  tissue paper right on the PVC stand and taped them in place.  Then I wadded
up heavy tissue paper inside a blanket of bubble wrap (had some from a  recent move) and taped that core around the body part of the PVC stand.  I
imagine newspaper would also work for the core.  I then glued two "push up" bra inserts into each breast, added fiberfill to firm them even more and
taped large squares of cardboard over all of that on the inside of the form to hold the breast padding in place.  Finally, I "dressed" the pre-padded
PVC stand with the duct tape double stuffing the form and closing it up the back from the top down.  The last step was to cut a cardboard base and tape
it into the bottom of the form.

Once I had the stuffed form on the stand I was able to compare my shape and posture to my double's shape and posture in front of a mirror and could make
the refinements needed - mostly I needed to tighten things up a bit by adding tape and pulling tighter.  When I was happy that I had a good enough
clone I wrapped most of it with a final layer of tape to cover all the wrinkles and tape edges.

I LOVE my double!!!  We have been looking for good dress forms for over a year now but most are about $150 and up and don't begin to be as good as
this one that cost me about $40 to make!

Barbara Lies
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Cathy

Thanks for your great idea and all your help
P.S  when you said a size 10 needed 1 1/2 rolls of tape, I decided to purchase 10 rolls.  A bit too many!! I used two rolls and barely a part of a third!!!

Thanks  Cathy in Colorado

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Mary

I wasn't expecting much ... my husband is an engineer and definitely doesn't have an artistic eye or much patience for handwork.  Though I
was on target with my assessment of him, the double still went surprisingly well.  The last post I read on this suggested it goes
better with longer strips so I asked George to do it that way.  Otherwise, we followed the original instructions.  He didn't keep the
shirt smoothed out at all underneath and it bunched horribly at the small of my back.  Also, he wasn't very careful with the tape.  There
are plenty of places where smaller pieces should have been used around the armholes and the tape wasn't kept as smooth as it could have.  Like I said, he just doesn't have the patience.  I did tell him that he couldn't possibly make it too tight -- only too loose.

By the time he completed the first horizontal wrapping, I had decided it didn't matter how lousy a job he was doing -- I was so much fatter than
I had realized.  MY goal was NOW to lose weight so I'd need another double made!  So I lightened up and encouraged him to just keep going.
I figured we'd learn from this one and maybe in a few months we could try it again.

By the end of the second round, I was feeling faint -- it was TIGHT!  I had visions of fainting and wondering what my shy, overly cautious hubby
would do.  Would he rush me to the emergency room?  I could just see the doctors saying "Mr. Cavanaugh, could you step in here with us. Now just WHAT were you doing with your wife when this accident occurred?"  I took a deep breath and knew I would have to get a grip.

By the third wrapping, it had loosened a little and I was fine.  The end was in sight and I was getting excited.  I sure could see why I struggle
with fitting -- a trip to the scales afterwards confirmed my worst fears -- I am now the heavier than when I was nine months pregnant with any of
our children :(

In spite of all this, the double turned out well.  Using the string and scissors as a plumb, he accurately marked lines and managed to cut
through the fabric bunches at the back.  I know I'll be able to use this!

One of the kids had an old music stand; it comes apart for storage -- the bottom works perfectly as the dress form stand.  Tonight we'll tape
and stuff and I'll let you know how that goes.

I can't get over how well it came out; hope this encourages some of you to give this a try.
 

Mary in Dalton, GA
 

We finished it last night -- It was a lot of work but I am so excited. George and I worked in our living room because it had plenty of space
and light.  We were taping the bottom to the form when my daughter came by with a new boyfriend.  He picked it up and went scurrying off to our
bedroom and my daughter just cracked up.  The poor guy could only wonder.  I'm glad it's over and safely tucked away in my sewing room
upstairs.

It really looks fine -- the places where he didn't tape smoothly kind of bother me.  I was thinking about it this morning and realized it was
only duct tape cellulite!  It won't affect the fitting at all!  Now to jacket fitting!

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DeAnn

Expenses so far:
3   Duct Tape          @2.97                    8.91    {needed 1 1/2 rolls at the most]
4    Poly Fill 16 oz    @2.59                    5.28    [on sale at 1/2 price]  Needed Five

Things we learned:
Taping is about a two hour process.  Make sure you have not had a lot of things to drink for several hours prior to beginning the process.  You cannot stop in the middle and finish later - it needs to be done all at once. Small pieces of tape on the curvy areas are a MUST.  DH loved this part! :-) It doesn't need to look pretty - it only needs to be snug, not tight enough to distort the contours of the body. Mark Armscye before removing taped form from your body. Mark Neckline before  removing taped form from your body. I don't look like I thought I look - that DTD tells it all.

Chapter Three coming soon.
DeAnn in Citrus Heights, CA
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Regan

First, I added enough length from another T-shirt to make the whole thing just below mid-thigh.  That way, I'd have lots of extra room for the
tape to draw in fabric.  Then I sewed an old T-shirt sleeve to the neckline.  I didn't intend to do it, but I sewed the seams on the
outside of the neck.  Turned out to be a good idea:  my neck didn't get rubbed by the seams after taping began.

I wore a bra, old but typical of the styles I wear.  Early into the first tape layer, I noticed in the mirror that I seemed to be wearing a
silver breastplate.  I told Dawn I just needed a spear and a helmet with horns, and I could sing soprano.

As each layer drew it in tighter, I looked more and more like a woman wearing a body corset with attached bustle.  For the first time, I could
see my left shoulder is higher than my right, and my left hip is lumpier than my right (oh that cellulite).  The rest seems pretty symmetrical, for an ancient fertility goddess...or a Wagnerian soprano.

Because I planned to mount it on my existing dress form, Dawn took chest, bust, waist and hip measurements while I wore it, then wrote that directly on the tape in indelible marker.

As Dawn cut me out, steam came out.  Do this in air conditioning, folks.  It does get warm in there.  Whole process took about two hours.

I mounted her on my dress form, secured the neck with tape, then used fiberfill to pad the voids.  This was kind of tricky, since I had to allow for the space between the unclosed back seam and still fill firmly.  That was why I had Dawn do the measurements -- I could measure
to check my accuracy of fill.  OK, I got a little impatient, so the form's really not all that firm, but neither am I.  She seems to be working out ok so far...

It only took about thirty minutes to pad her and secure the back seam.  That part does take two people:  one to hold the form edges together, the other to tape them closed.

When my DH saw this silver creature standing in the bedroom in the moonlight, he demanded I throw something over her.  He also offered to paint her flesh colored.  I dissuaded him from that when I told him I'll buy some lycra or spandex to make a tube to cover her silver essence.  I put a skirt on her that I need to hem, and a wide brimmed hat.  DH didn't wake up startled by the other woman in the room...

I'm thinking of calling her Hebe, after the goddess who hunted peacocks.  I'll be using her to indulge my own peacock tendencies -- to make well-fitting clothing in a variety of nice colors.  Then, again, the opera ain't over till the fat lady sings.  Well, I'm a musician, I sing soprano, and I'm fat (well, flabby).  But Brunhilde just doesn't appeal to me...  Any suggestions for a good name?

Regan
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