Recently, I bought an antique dress form on ‘Marktplaats’. It took me a month to pick it up as it was literally across the country, but by the start of October I managed to get it home. It did take a few hours in public transport with the unexpected train replacing bus service in the middle, but we got there in the end. I really love it, it’s got such a nice shape! However, as the dress form is quite old, not all of the fabric has survived the century or so it has been in existence. Therefore, I decided to make her a new cover.
All the seamlines were drawn out on tissue paper while making sure the grainlines made some sense. Then those seven pattern pieces (neck, upper front, lower front, center back, side back and lower back) were transferred onto some cotton that has been in the hoard for a little bit. I made sure to put in the seamlines and sewed the cover together. It fit pretty decently first time around, which did surprise me a little. I did have to take in a number of the seams, but nothing was horrendously off. The only bit that was quite difficult was the center front at the armhole area, which wasn’t too strange because it had two darts in it and getting those to work wasn’t trivial.
The new cover is a lot lighter in colour than the original, but I think it worked pretty well. I’m quite proud that I managed to get the seam lines to work and the cover to fit quite nicely. While I’m not even close to her measurements – that waist is seriously tiny – she does fit my clothes somehow. So now I have an Edwardian lady in my living room hanging out with her pet dragon.
Not sure how, but my entire Edwardian outfit seems to fit her!
