My "New" Dress Form

The other day my hubby and I were driving around and we passed an antiques store. The store had four dress forms just sitting outside! So my hubby pulled over and I hopped out to see what they were asking for one. Turns out the guy only wanted $20!!! I was so excited. This is what it looked like when I got it.

These measurements are way off from being mine so I had to "plump" it up a little. I took an old pillow and used the stuffing to fill out the form. I was having a hard time with the, um, upper body so I had to use an old bra to help me out lol!

Once it was all stuffed I took some material I had and covered it. Thankfully I had started to make a top out of this knit fabric, but then I changed my mind, so I had the perfect piece already cut and mostly sewn to fit the dress form.

As you can see it's super lumpy! I smoothed everything out and then stitched the bottom shut. Now I don't have to try everything I make on a million times before I'm finished! 

Dress Success!

I did it! And I'm so stinking excited! I made a wearable dress! This was less of an on a whim type of thing. I saw a dress online that I liked and then I drew it out and broke it down in to pieces. My dress doesn't look like the original one because I used a totally different type of fabric, and I changed a few things, but it was a great starting point.

I used a knit fabric that I found at JoAnn's on red tag sale. I'm normally not an animal print type of gal, but, I thought I could make some really cute leggings for my girls. Once I went to get it cut there was only like 3 yards on the bolt so I just decided to buy it all. Yay for that decision because now I have a new dress!

To make this dress I used some of the same, successful, techniques that I used to make my first dress. I took my measurements and measured the the space between the dress collar and where I wanted the top piece to end. Then I took my hip and length measurements. Both pieces were rectangles cut to match my measurements. The sleeves were rectangles cut to the length I wanted and the width of my upper arm. To make the collar I folded my top rectangle in half and then cut out a piece.

When I opened it up it looked like this:

Then I just pieced everything together and sewed it all up. 

I ended up cutting my collar space too big so I made a facing for it and then threaded elastic through to pull it up.

finished collar

I also added elastic to the portion just under the bust to pull it in more so it would be fitted and less bag like. I have so many ideas for cute summer dresses I just need to find the right fabric. I seriously love sewing! :o)