Beginning with a dressform!

Hello! This being my first post here, I'm going to explain a bit about my goal for this blog. I am trying to put together a set of garb or two to wear to The Society for Creative Anachronism events, and it is my hope to chronicle this adventure here. I have some experience in sewing, but not much, and I have only sewn a few pieces here and there. This past summer (2018) I sewed three pieces for costumes to wear to the Renaissance Faire with my boyfriend, Ember. Sadly, none of them are at all period accurate, and while they gave me experience and were fun to work on, I can't use them in my garb. Previous to that I had helped sew Halloween costumes with my mother when I was a child, but I can't accurately count that as experience. So this will be me basically starting fresh on the sewing adventure!

Since I don't own a sewing machine and don't have ready access to one, most if not all of the sewing I'll be doing for my garb will be handsewn. I want to create an Elizabethan lower to middle class woman's garb, with a few licenses on fabric for my limited budget.

My overall plan is to sew a kirtle, a pair of bodies, an undergown, and a petticoat, and partlet, and a head kerchief. I also plan to knit a pair of stockings and garters. I'll have to wait on having period accurate shoes until I can afford to purchase them, since I don't work in leather currently.

The first step in this process was to make or buy a dressform, as I don't have one. I looked online and found a ton of reviews and tutorials for a dressform made out of duck tape and an old t-shirt. I had seen one just like it in my mother's laundry room growing up, as she had one made almost ten years ago! I was excited to try the process, and reached out to two of my friends. We made a night of it, and gathered the supplies, and got to work.

The supplies we used were:

2 rolls of silver duck tape
Part of a roll of turquoise duck tape to mark seams and waistline
Permanent marker
An old t-shirt
Scissors
Pen-knife
Plastic wrap
washable marker
Foam board
1 bra, with the cups cut out
Stuffing
Small hanger
25 lb kitty litter tub
An extendable shower curtain

After gathering the supplies, my friend marked my shoulder lines and a neckline on my body with washable marker and covered my neck in plastic wrap. She then layered 3 layers of 2-3 in long pieces of duck tape all around my neck. After removal (and a break for dinner),we placed more saran wrap over my shoulders and chest over an old t-shirt, and began taping my body.

We began by laying a line of tape snugly under the bust, around the waist at the point where your waist bends, and at the hip where your body bends. Then we taped "seatbelt" lines diagonally across my chest to support the bust, and began wrapping under the arms. We were careful not to tape the skin, as the skin under your arms is very sensitive.

Once the line under the arm was done, then we taped across the back and chest, and around each breast, making sure to layer several times. We then taped over the rest of the torso. We made sure to have at least 2-3 layers on every part of the torso.

Finally, we cut the t-shirt and taped dressform off in a direct line straight up the back of the spine. We made a mistake here, and immediately taped the back up again without filling the breast cavities. I actually cut out a neck circle from the foam board and taped it in, and then realized that I had to fill in the breasts. We then place the bra cups into the breast holes by reaching into the cavity of the dress form while my friend held a flashlight and my other friend handed me pieces of duck tape. I reached in filled them with stuffing and covered them with tape to help keep the breasts supported, even when the dressform stood alone, and then filled the cavity of the dressform with 3 bags of stuffing. I bought 3 because that was all that was at Walmart, but I really probably could have used four or five to give it the proper firmness.

I realized, too, after we cut out a hole for the base of the body and taped it in that it needed a way to stay supported! A dressform that's standing on a table is really only good for fitting pairs of bodies or bodices, but can't be used to fit a skirt or kirtle or gown. So I found a hanger, slit a hole in the back of the dress form and cut out a place to poke the top through. The first hanger I found was too big, so I found a smaller one, fitted it in, and taped the slit back up. We had a bit of trouble fitting it in at first, but we figured it out.

After my friends left I tried to figure out a place to hang the dressform so I could use it, but the curtain rod wasn't long enough to fit between any two walls, including the nook I use as my craft space! So I cut a hole in the bottom of the dressform's foam board, and a hole in the top of the kitty litter lid, and shoved the curtain rod up into the dressform and down into the litter and voila! A supported dress form that spins, and won't fall over! It's also easily taken apart to transport in pieces, as long as you can tape plastic wrap over the hole in the lid.

All in all, the whole process took about 3 hours. The video I initially watched mentioned that it would take about 1 hour to do the taping, but she also said that all the supplies would cost about $20. They did not cost $20. They cost $85. I expected that it would cost around $50, but I obviously underestimated the cost. I'll have to adjust my expectations for how much each project will cost. Especially since I'll be buying fabric that's made from natural fibers instead of nylon or rayon, it'll cost more.

I can expect that each project will take me about 30- 50 hours to measure, cut, fit and hand sew, potentially not including mockups, which will mean it will take me several months probably to finish each item. I'm hoping to finish at least the undergown and kirtle by Christmas 2019! We'll see, though!