I’ve mentioned it before, but a few years ago my skin crawled when I went into a vintage store. The smell, sheer quantity of clothing…everything about it gave me the creeps. I was 19, had just moved into my first apartment and had somehow landed an $18/hour government job while I was in school.

I bought clothes at the mall & ate lots of sushi.

Four years later those heady days are gone, and while I have my degree in hand I’m working at a $13/ hour not-for-profit job with a theatre. I still eat sushi, but I definitely don’t buy my clothes at the mall anymore. Every few Saturdays I grab a cart and go root around for whatever I feel I’m missing in my wardrobe. I can usually get 7 items for $60, anything from dresses to oversized sweaters and high waisted skirts. Whatever is in, it’s there.

I’ve started reading street style blogs (start with lookbook.nu), and have actually started having fun with getting dressed! Me! Who didn’t know how to apply liquid eyeliner two years ago!

The only problem I’ve had with shopping vintage is that a lot of what I buy requires basic alterations. I love my oversized men’s shirts & altering 80s lady blouses, but I’m screwed when I have to cut 8″ of material out of the back or change their sleeves! Free or cheap sewing machines are easy enough to find at local garage sales, Op Shops, or freecycle listing, but the pinning that’s required to reign in some of my favourite finds can be really hard sometimes.

Enter the duct tape dress form, love of my life.

The original tutorial is from etsy labs & details how you can create an exact replica of your body to use for a perfect basis for alterations.

The Duct Tape Dress Form Tutorial a la Kyl

Materials

• 3 rolls of duct tape
• 1 long t-shirt you’re willing to cut up
• a hanger (preferably one that has a top you can spin around indefinitely so you don’t accidentally break it later)
• a helper
• A bag of poly-fill (pillow stuffing) from your craft store or mega consumer centre.

Method to the Madness

1. Put on a long T-Shirt that covers the area of your body you want your dress form to have your measurements for (ie – want the bum in there for dresses? Find a longer T-Shirt!)
2. Have your helper start taping around you, starting at the bottom of the T-Shirt, wrapping up.



(Take a picture cause it’s weird that someone is wrapping you in duct tape!!)

3. When you get to the bust tape vertically to help reinforce the desired shape.
4. Figure out something for the shoulders! I wrapped around a number of times like I was making duct tape suspenders.
5. Repeat until you have made the form three layers of duct tape thick.
6. Mark centre on the front and back for reference with one big line down the middle vertically, and another one horizontally.
7. Have your assistant cut you out from the back!
8. Slide the hanger into the dress form and start re-attaching the back together. Seal off the sleeves, neck & bottom with duct tape.
9. Stuff!

Want more Pictures? Check out Etsy’s original version!

My Tips

• I used a bag of poly-fill that was almost the same size as me to fill the form, so don’t think you’re buying too much when you eye the bag.
• I found that after a few days my dress form was peeling! I had overstuffed it slightly, but I liked how firm that made the form so I added final layer of packing tape to the dress form and it has stopped exploding out from its self.
• The last layer of tape, whatever kind you use, should consist of as many long pieces as you can muster. This will add the the overall structural integrity of the piece.
• I broke the original hanger in my dress form by accidentally spinning it around too far. Fixing this was easy, I cut the hanger out and swapped it for a metal & plastic hanger that I can spin around as much as I like, and then taped it right back in.
• After I finished this, I broke into a really fine red rash. I’m hyper sensitive and I think the plastic in the duct tape gave me a small reaction, so if this happens to someone equally as squishy you’re not alone & it’ll go away in a day. You must suffer to be beautiful!

This project is a lot of fun, and worth tackling if only so you can let your co-workers know that you like getting wrapped up in duct tape on the weekends. Just don’t say it too loud!