Dress Form Mannequins to Fit Your Figure

Sewing your own clothes for creative pleasure or to save money? Or maybe you're taking on a little home-based couture for extra income? Either way, a good sewing dress form mannequin can be your best friend when it comes to getting the right fit and seeing how a garment will hang. What a welcome gift for the keen dressmaker or DIY fashionista!

The practical design features of the selected dress form mannequins shown here, super-adjustable for fine tailoring of fitted garments, can help you create flattering and trendy outfits for a hard-to-fit or plus size figure. Or perhaps you're looking for a child-sized sewing mannequin, a simple way to get around the challenges of trying to fit new clothing on little kids who can't bring themselves to stand still? You'll find that here, too.

There's a dressmaker's dummy to suit every sewing enthusiast. One of the most useful tools you can have in the sewing room, use of a dress form is the best way I've found to avoid costly mistakes when you're creating your very own designer wardrobe.

Photo: Pieces on dressmaker's dummy by maco *nix [CC-BY-SA-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons.

The Singer DF150 (small/medium) and DF151 (medium/large) models are absolutely my first choice for a dress form - I learned to sew using my grandmother's old style one, so these new ones are quite a dream by comparison!

Practical, affordable, adjustable - and it's from Singer, an American brand that sewing enthusiasts have trusted for generations (since it set up shop back in 1851, in fact). If you grew up with a Singer sewing machine, as I did, you know all about the quality of things made by that single-focus company and you'll immediately understand why this series is currently the most popular dress form for home sewing and dress making use.

One really handy feature on these Singer models is that they come with the swivel hem guide. We may not wear skirts and dresses as often as we used to do, these days, but when you need to try to turn a straight hem, a guide that's attached to your dress form can save you literally hours of time and frustration, and sometimes save an inexperienced dressmaker from botching a sewing project by cutting a crooked line when trying to shorten a skirt.

Statuesque ladies with a larger bone structure can really benefit from the flattering appearance of well-fitting custom-made clothing, so it makes good sense to invest a little bit in a proper full-figured dressmaker's dummy that is going to do the job it's intended to help you out with!

Don't even think about trying to "fudge" a Queen-sized dress form out of a Regular sized one, if you value your sanity - that's my tip. You'll always be "making do" instead of making it fabulous.

The same fitting challenge applies for small-boned gals and petites. You know what trouble you have to find clothing that fits in the stores, and what a joy it can be to find that perfectly fitting outfit. Similarly, your dressmaking will be much more of a pleasant experience (and the results more successful) when you start out with the right size and shape of mannequin to model your works-in-progress outfits while you're making them.

Dressmakers Mannequin Forms for Making Kids' Clothing

If you have ever tried to get a child to stand still to be fitted for a new outfit, you'll see how these forms could be handy! These forms are specifically sized for a boy or girl of various ages, made with a white jersey cover and standing on an attractive natural wood tripod base that reminds me of one of the elegant hallway free-standing coatracks.

Kids 3-4 Years Child Jersey Mannequin Dress Form - Boy or Girl - White with Natural Tripod Base

Kids 5-6 Years Child Jersey Mannequin Dress Form - Boy or Girl - White with Natural Tripod Base

Kids 7-8 Years Child Jersey Mannequin Dress Form - Boy or Girl - White with Natural Tripod Base

Making a custom dress form mannequin for yourself from duct tape has got to be one of the most creative uses for that multi-use grey tape I've ever seen. Now, I'm quite doubtful that I'll ever be doing this DIY project myself (especially as I've still got my good old reliable "Mabel" the dress form to try on clothing-in-progress for me), but have a look and you'll see why I can't resist sharing this video.

But to be totally serious for a minute here, if you anticipate a significant change in body shape in the near-ish future (say, pregnancy or surgery upcoming), maybe a duct tape dress form would be an idea, just to get you by when you're in between sizes but still need to whip up a few bits of wardrobe for a change in seasons. Challenging? Perhaps... but have a look and let me know in the comments, below, if you think you might try it.

If you're feeling crafty and cheap, try a DIY dress form from duct tape. You'll need a friend to help with this project...

DF150 or DF151 Models, Size and Color Choices

Singer's top-selling adjustable dress form models are covered with fabric that's backed in foam you can stick your pins right in as you baste together the pattern pieces and adjust for the perfect custom fit.

The waist, bust, and hip measurements are easily adjusted with a clever system of 12 dials so you can shape the mannequin to match your own body size and shape without fussing. Large is made to fit sizes 16 to 22-1/2, while the Medium fits 10 to 16, depending on how you adjust it.

All sizes of Singer Adjustable Dress Forms are available in two colors - red or gray - though supplies of a particular size/color combination may be limited in the weeks leading up to Christmas and then again towards Mother's Day, those times when everyone's out shopping for a nice gift for a crafty Mom.