The Right Tool For the Job: Modding My Dressmaker's Dummy

This week I modified my dressmaker’s dummy to be a more accurate fit for me. It was incorrectly sized; and also the bright teal color clashed with everything I put on it and made my photos look crappy. 

First I adjusted the shape of the whole thing: I cranked the dials down until the waist and underbust measurement were correct; and then I added bits of foam (from a thin foam mattress topper I had in storage) to bump out the boobs, belly, butt, and shoulders - all secured with spray adhesive and duct tape. 

Next, I wrapped the whole thing in quilt batting (which I got for free from the neighborhood swap group this week), in order to smooth out the whole thing and cover up the duct tape. The batting is secured with spray adhesive. 

The last step was to create a cloth cover for it, which I made from some old cotton sheets I had in my stash. I pinned it in place, sewed it, and flipped it inside out, just like making a quick furniture slipcover. 

There’s a zipper up one side of the body so that I can take the cover off to wash it or resize it; and the bottom is drawn tightly closed around the pole with a drawstring. 

Tada!  I love this. I can pin into it, iron on it, and now that it’s actually the correct shape and proportions it’ll be MUCH easier to drape and fit clothing and costumes on it. Also, the soft gray will look much better in photos. 

This was a fun, quick project (two afternoons), and except for the can of spray adhesive I had to buy ($12), it was almost completely free. 

A New Coat

I like my existing Viking coat just fine.  I last worked on it in November, and I was really happy with the result.  It's super heavy - heavy cotton lined with linen, with faux fur trim all around the edges - and very warm.  At BAM in November it got into the low 30s, and this coat was fantastic then.  (30º is Basically Arctic for us Ansteorrans).

However, I wanted something a little bit lighter, for cooler but not freezing nights.  Something without all the fur, something with a bit more swish to it.  I'll be honest with you, the idea started when I saw a coat on Pinterest that I absolutely loved, and resolved to make a copy of for myself.

So of course I made a new coat which is nothing at all like the Pinterest coat, because I couldn't find fabric in the right color.  I did, however, find a lovely shade of green linen at Fabric-Store.com called "Agave" that derailed everything I'd been planning, because I fell head over heels in love with it, and I ended up designing a completely different coat than the one I'd had planned.  You know how that goes.

The new coat is a basic T-tunic shape, with a dropped shoulder seam and angled front and back pieces (no gores).  It's fully lined, and the lining contains two inside pockets, because bitchez need pockets.    The body color is "Agave", and the edge banding and lining are "Graphite", also from FS. I made the blue trim between the body of the coat and the edge out of the remnants of my new blue dress.

I love my new coat!  I can't wait to wear it! Of course, in our weather, I may not get to wear it until late December.  We'll see.  It all depends on when the SCA decides to have events again, really. That might not be until November, from what I'm hearing.

But wait...

Did you notice something else in the pictures?  That's right - I got a new dress dummy!  I'm so excited about it.  My last one, Violet, finally died when I moved two years ago.  I've missed her ever since, and wanted a new one, so I finally treated myself to a replacement.   This one is kind an intense teal, and so in the pics above I have a white tshirt covering her so the color doesn't distract.   Everyone, say hello to Iris: