Tutorial Quick Duct Tape Dress Form

I made one of these for my boy and I adore it! Another thing you can use to hold the dress form up is a doll stand. They can be picked up fairly cheap at any hobby store. When you are stuffing the dress form, stop when you get to waist level. The curved wire of the doll stand should fit inside the waist/hip area of the form without distorting it. Stuff more cotton around it and tape everything in to place! Ta dah!!

 

i have seen similar things for making patterns. Which u could easyly do with this as well. As long as u know where seams are, u simply cut where u would see seams, if that makes sense. I have done this in rl, twice. Its a great way to make things... form fitted, and a cheap way to make patterns. The only thing u have to remember is if it is form fitted u are ether going to have to have a zipper, or buttons down one seam to get it on. The other option is to use really strechy fabric.

 

Lol I do that with people xD Now I have a real dressform though. Its a piece of shit, but at least its adjustable


Another thing ive found to be amazing in the ducttape dressform catagory is using thick foam sheets to make forms when you're sewing for other people's dolls!!!

You'll want to get the measurements and keep them handy to reffer to. Then you'll want to take either the shoulder or hip width (whichever is larger) and cut a long foam block out that is the same width. Then cut a __| |__ shape in the top, and wrap a thin piece of duct tape around it to fit the neck measurement. Next, you'll want to wrap another thin piece around the midsection to make the waist measurement. Then do the chest (if you're working with a girl, cut out a small rectangle, roll it up, and ductape over it to make the breasts) and keep adding duct tape from there until you have the correct measurements

 

This is amazing, I've been looking for a doll sized dress form. Thank you.

 

Your writing is fabulous - and your tutorial is FANTASTIC!

Thank-you so much for posting this.
I will have to make one, SOON!!

 

that would be so useful and safer than using the actual body to make things on.

 

I have made a duct tape dummy for myself and this is just like it. The only difference is that with the doll you use a plastic bag instead of a t-shirt underneath. I had just been thinking about what to use when I ran across this thread. With the full size dress form I had to put an oval of cardboard in the bottom to keep it in roughly the right shape, but maybe the smaller size of the doll makes this unnecessary. Anyway, great job and thank you for posting the pictures.

 

wow thats such a great idea!! thanks for sharing

 

wow! I was just wondering if this method would work on my dolls.
I'll def be attempting this when my amber arrives. Thanks!

 

This is going to be so handy! I am about to embark on clothes making and remembered this thread. I'm about to start making my ResinSoul An a dummy so it will be easier to make his little asian-inspired tunic and pants. But I'm going to stuff mine with toilet tissue as we don't exactly have any cotton balls in the house. XD We don't use them for anything!

 

I'm definitely going to try this.

 

this is a really great idea! In fact, if anyone has a mature 43cm Bobobie that they would be willing to do this with, I would be willing to pay for a doll dress form!

I am buying a BBB Ariel soon, but I don't know when I will be able to get her, but I want to start making clothes for her now. So if anyone tries this on their BBB mini (mature body) I would be more than willing to pay for one. I would post a WTB thread on the marketplace, I'm just not sure if goes in dolls-mini or accessories or what!

 

Great pictures and ideas thanks!

 

This is an amazing idea...it would definitely help for making doll clothes. Hmm. Maybe I can convince my friend to let me do this to her Soom girl and use the form for my sculpture class :3 ooh, ideas...

 

Does the ducttape not get your pins gunky?

 

Yes it probably will get your pins gunky...not sure if it will work as well for dolls, but papertape is a better alternative for a dressform (at least human size ones) I believe it will not make your pins gunky. (You can get papertape at Staples)

 

Yeah, I tried this and the next day the form had split, I guess I overstuffed it... but I don't feel like trying again >_<

 

I did a Ducktap Dressform of myself and had this trouble a lot. What works is having a continuous strip wrapped around the entire dressform (around the neck, chest, waist, and hips).

 

That is so creative and SO going to be useful! Thank you for putting this up!

And thanks for the smiles at the crayfish imagery and joking!

 

what about medical paper tape?

 

Thank you so much for this!! I'm not very good at patterns, so this is going to be very useful. Your instructions were also very clear and precise. A very good tutorial.

P.S. It does make your pins a little gunky, but I haven't had to much trouble with it.

 

omg, it's absolutly perfect and great !!!!
I love dollhouses, and above all, shops for dolls
but I have no drss form for my 16 inch dolls, and was sad cause not able to buy some on ebay (

Now thanks to you, I'mm be able to create my own dress forms !!!! i'm too too happy

And don't worry, i'll also try to use them for sewing ))

Thanks and thanks again for this topic and the pics (as sometimes not english speacking people can not understand all of the explanations, now, thanks to the pics, I'm not lost at all, too impatient to try the adivces )))

Thankssss

 

I made this for my doll (ResinSoul An) and its fantastic! It does get my pins a little sticky, but I just pull the sticky off them with my fingernails in one slide and they're clean again.

This was SO handy! It's sitting my sewing box now, because I use it so much! I love this idea! As soon as my other boy comes home he's being form-ed. XD

 

Totally cool!! I love it. : ) I echo everyone who said thanks for the pics and tips.

 

Okay, I tried this and I'm sure I did it wrong because the measurements between the form and the doll are average a half inch off. :/

Or is that normal?

 

This didn't work as well as I hoped it would. Though half way threw I ran out of duct tape and tried to use electrical tape instead. I think that was my mistake. The electrical tape actually went on perfect but didn't hold the shape well at all. So...don't use electrical tape...just a heads up I guess. I'll have to try again when I have more duct tape.

 

I tried it and I covered it with stretch fabric.

 

Here is my Resin Soul mei dress form. Needs to be stuffed. I think i'll put a dowel up the center and make a stand to the exact height of me Mei.

 

A suggestion for everyone trying this - Glad Press'n'Seal plastic wrap can make a much thinner layer of plastic beneath the duct tape to help keep the form as close to true dimensions as possible, and won't move on you while you're wrestling with the duct tape!

 

Wow!! This is a life saver of dolly resin!!!! Thank you so much!!

 

yow, this is so quick and easy to make! thanks for putting it up, it'll sure come in handy for when i get my doll > <

thanks for posting this!

 

Nice! when I made cosplay, that's what we did to make a human dressform (except we used old t-shirts instead of plastic bags).

 

kool thanks. You rock.

 

that's ingenious! i never thought of that..i'm going to do that once my bjd arrives to make dressmaking that much simpler! thank you times 100!!

 

I just wanted to say that I did try this out on my AOD Rao and it works an absolute treat. This idea is brilliant and highly recommended - so far, I've just made a halter style top for her, but it fits perfectly.

Thanks again for sharing your idea

 

I did this for my boy! I was sick of dealing with his constant squirming and moving around and falling down while I'm trying to make clothes for him. Now he's got a cute lime green duct tape dress form. Only instead of plastic wrap, I used some scrap fabric and made it into a long tee shirt that reached about....just past his groin to the bottom of his butt. it seemed to be easier to cut.

 

I never would have thought of that! Thanks for sharing

 

lol we did one of those for my older sister one time. we needed to make her a Glenda dress for the wizard of oz play at church. =^.^= It was funny to watch. You should consider getting some bright colored duck tape and making jackets or dresses like that!

 

Wow!! what an amazing idea!!!

 

wow thanks a lot this is pretty useful, i was wondering how could i make one without damaging the doll!

thumbs up!

 

It looks quite easy to make and is soooo great! Thank you so much for this awsome idea

 

I'm scared of doing this. Why? Because my girl is made of vinyl, not resin. I fear it would be far too easy to cut into the vinyl than it would be to scratch a resin doll while making this.

Any tips on doing this safely for DD/Obitsu people?

 

Mmm... very good idea! Now I won't have to use my doll as a dollform! Thank you for sharing!

 

I make these a lot for sewing. :3 I use packing tape to wrap the doll in and stuff mine with plastic bags from the grocery store! You can also make fur wig patterns by wrapping the head and cutting that off.

 

.......This...has to be...the most AMAZINGLY WONDERFUL idea for a diy dress form I have found yet! Lots of them involved tons of labor and supplies I didn't have, but this one, I have EVERYTHING! Now I'll know EXACTLY what I want to do when I get a new doll and want a dress form for it so that I don't have to use the doll while sewing!

 

Wow--this is great! Thanks for sharing (running to find tape and plastic bag).

 

X3 Awesome.
Definitely gonna use this to my advantage.

 

sweet! I never thought of that. I'll have to try it. now I won't have to strip my doll and take the top of the head off to fit what I'm working on. XD

 

That's an awesome idea! Would anyone be willing to make a few, maybe from a minifee, littlefee and a 58cm such a feeple or delf for me? I could pay for shipping and what not of course PM me if you'd be willing!

 

This is such a good idea!

My friend LOVES to make clothes and wants to make doll clothes but doesnt have a BJD. So i can make her a form and let her use that!
Perfect!

 

Brilliant!!! I am going to try this right now! (Now my dolly doesn't need to fear poking)

 

Very nice. I've been looking for a way to have different doll sizes on hand without actually having the doll

 

I know this is a bit of a late reply, but better late than never?

If you have a thin piece of cloth/old shirt you can place it over your doll under the plastic bags and tape, and cut over it so your scissors slide over the cloth instead of your doll. Note that if the fabric is too thick and bunches up too much your dress form will be slightly bigger than your doll.

There are also scissors that come with a rounded tip specifically designed not to scratch or nick the surface they're pressed up to. I'm not sure where you can get them locally, but mine came with my dissection kit (the rounded edge helped prevent accidental damage to internal organs and etc.).

 

This could work on a guy for the upper body part and pants, right? The same basic idea, but going through the legs instead of around?

 

this is great. i never would have thought of it.

 

I made one of these earlier today. Fantastic idea!

I found that the process of wrapping and stuffing added about a centimeter to my dolls measurements. I'm just going to count it as "ease" for the final pattern.

Thanks so much for the tutorial!

 

I've seen people do this for personnal dress forms, I've always wanted to do one for myself :P But never have. Never thought to do this for my dolls, though. Now I know what I'm gonna do soon, LOL :P

 

lol this is so cool XD

 

awesome idea!! im going to use it when i get my doll!