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Dress form for clients dress form, adjustable, Dritz, PGM, Singer, custom
Monica Walker   Advanced VA USA Member since 10/6/02 Posts: 7	Login to reply to this post Like this post Date: 12/9/12 5:04 PM I'm getting a lot of enjoyment sewing and creating patterns for ohers, and I need a dress form to handle clients that are not nearby. I have a form for myself, a cheapie adjustable model that replaced my custom plaster-cast form after I lost significant weight. Now that I'm sewing more for others who are MUCH smaller than I, I have no form to try their garments on. I just went through a beading debacle due to having to guess where contours were without the client at hand. (I say client, but it's my dear almost-daughter). I'll sew more for her and for others in the future, so I will either buy a nice form, maybe PGM, or a Dritz like my current form. Which way should I go? I like the thought of ad adjustable because I'm sewing for a variety of figures, all much smaller than I am. But, I don't love the tipsy bit on my cheap form. I was happier with my plaster double and her solid stand. What should I get when sewing for a teen plus other clients whose garments will not fit on my double - at all. Thanks Monica in Reston, VA
couturemom   Advanced NC USA Member since 7/19/11 Posts: 111	Login to reply to this post Like this post Date: 12/10/12 11:58 AM I don't have a suggestion for you - just a few comments. I actually have the opposite problem - sewing for people much larger than the small/medium size dress form I have. I find the dress form helpful to see how the garment hangs and looks, etc. However, I have not been successful at using it to fit (even myself). Unless your clients are extremely proportional (meaning that waist/hip distance is the same and shoulder width and torso height is the same), there are still things you can't fit on the dress form. For example, adjusting straps. That being said, if I was making clothes for a family member long-distance on a regular basis, I'd take the time to pad out a dress form to match their proportions.
Janie Viers   Advanced OH USA Member since 4/8/02 Posts: 2171	Login to reply to this post 1 member likes this. Date: 12/10/12 1:01 PM I owuld have the people do a paper double, or similar faux form. That way the neck, the armpits, the backwaist will be perfect and you don't have to worry about gaps or too tight areas. ------ JanieV
nancy2001   Advanced AL USA Member since 12/3/05 Posts: 6124	Login to reply to this post In reply to Monica Walker << Like this post Date: 12/17/12 9:01 AM Since you sew for paying clients, you might want to invest in two or three very stable PGM forms in different sizes (the smallest size which is a 2, a medium small size and a medium larger size. Then pad theses forms out with a set of Fabulous Fit pads (including the all important body suits) and supplement the pads with batting. As you may know, the top couture houses in Paris keep padded dress forms that duplicate each clients' figure. Remember you can always make a form larger, you cannot make it smaller. The form needs to be smaller than your client on every measure in three dimensions. The PGM website usually runs special sales on discontinued forms with free shipping. I bought my discontinued size 2 PGM form from the PGM website last year and paid $159 with free shipping. ------ The essence of life is statistical improbability on a colossal scale. Richard Dawkins

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