I have received two requests recently for information on how to make a dress form using paper mache. Dress forms are very expensive, but they make life much easier for someone who sews her own clothes. I came up with sort of an answer – but it’s just a guess. Is there anyone out there who has actually tried to make their own dress form? Did you use paper mache, or did you come up with another solution? If you think you have a better solution, your comments will be much appreciated.
OK, here’s the email I sent to the first person who asked about paper mache dress forms:
The only thing I can think of would be to use a swimsuit that fits really well, but isn’t stretchy. You could stuff it with something soft (newspaper is fairly stiff so it would make little bumps all over it). I use a lot of cellulose insulation in my paper mache projects, and it’s soft enough to completely fill the swimsuit. If you stuffed it in tight enough it should maintain it’s shape, as well.
Cellulose insulation is used in attics and walls during remodeling, and is made out of recycled paper ground up into really small bits. It also has an antifungal agent, perhaps borax, to keep it from getting moldy. The ground up paper is a little dusty, which isn’t good for the lungs, but I use it in small quantities in my DIY instant paper mache and other projects around the house.
For a project the size of yours, where you might need most of a package, a face mask would be absolutely essential to keep the dust out of your lungs. A package is kind of big, perhaps 18″ x 24″, and fluffs up to 40 square feet when it’s used as insulation. Home Depot charges $12.65 for the bag. You would probably want to squash it in pretty tight, but one bag would still be plenty.
However, old rags would work just as well, or anything that doesn’t cause your dress form to have weird bumps where they don’t belong. You can paper mache over fabric. Just two or three layers would make a nice smooth, hard surface that would be easy to pin into.
You’d also need to sew something across the neck and arms to keep the stuffing from getting out.
I honestly don’t know if this would work or not. If you have an old swimsuit that you don’t use any more could give it a try, I suppose.
Thanks for giving my brain a little puzzle to work on! And good luck.
Jonni
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http://www.threadsmagazine.com/item/3659/clone-yourself-a-fitting-assistant
found this tute earlier … would you use this as a mold and put the paper mache on the inside? because adding too much on the outside might mess up the exact shape and measurements? and how would the paper mache react with the duct tape ?
You’re right – my initial idea would probably make a form that was too big. My dad actually called me this afternoon to point that out, and as usual, he was right.
I followed your link and found that they also give instructions for making a paper mache dress form, using the paper pulp method. It looked like a very workable idea, although I would probably use paper strips instead, simply because they dry faster and you have less opportunity for mold to set in. But the thickness of the pulp would be a big advantage in making the form stiff. If you try the paper pulp idea, you might want to use the cellulose insulation that I mentioned in my original post, because it contains anti-fungal stuff – then you could use flour and water paste, which is much less expensive than wallpaper paste.
All in all, I think the threadsmagazine.com folks appear to know what they’re doing, and I obviously don’t…
Interesting idea, but how bout some smaller (just for decorative purposes) size dress forms. Like slightly larger than a Barbie or Bratz doll size?
I love love love your work and would like to see some of your brilliant ideas for a small dress form.
Hi Rain. Your tiny paper mache dress forms would be a basic female torso – a very popular subject for sculptors. I think one reason they’re so popular is that you leave out the difficult bits – the head, hands and legs – but you still have a very recognizable human form.
I will keep this idea in mind – you may soon see a tutorial on modeling a female figure with paper mache on this site!
Thank you all for ideas what about chicken wire as a base? What is paperpulp?
I am not comfortable being wrapped in plaster and have nobody to help with duct tape ?? any ideas? what could I wrap chicken wire with?
Since I’m not an expert in making dress forms (I can’t sew) I suggest that any questions about this process should be asked at http://www.threadsmagazine.com/item/3659/clone-yourself-a-fitting-assistant
These folks seem to know what they’re doing, and have very nice instructions, with photos. Thanks to our reader “anonymous” for giving us that link.
I am going to trie and make your birds.
My mother, who passed away 10 years ago, had a dressform made from papier mache in the 1930s-1940s. If memory serves, there was some kind of fine armature – perhaps a hardware cloth? – embedded in the pulp, which made it very strong (lasted 50+ years!) – and was covered with a stretchy knit fabric, that seemed well tacked to the form.The fabric allowed her to pin pieces of pattern, fabric, etc to the form. I remember her saying that she wore something like a long undershirt, and the form was molded to her standing body, from neckline to mid-hip. She said that it took hours to do, and was very hot and uncomfortable. My mother was a master seamstress, and used this form all her life, but I wonder if anyone these days would have the patience to put up with this long process!
Now that you mention it, I seem to recall seeing an article many years ago about this subject. I believe the wire used was of a type that you could easily form over a body. The wire was probably done in two sections, a front and a back, so the form could be removed. I’m getting kind of old, so my memory of this may be faulty. I even seem to remember little hinges on the sides, so maybe what I’m thinking of was a temporary form, or a wire material that was sold to folks who wanted to make their own forms.
As my dad and other visitors have mentioned, the paper mache would have to be applied to the inside of the form to keep it from getting too big, with perhaps one layer on the outside over the wire. I did an online search over at Blick Art Supply, and found “Amaco Wireform Mesh”. The Gallery Mesh would probably work really well for dress forms, as long as you have someone to help you form it. It’s expandable, like the wire mesh I think I remember from that article. It looks like you get three 16′ x 20′ sheets of the mesh for less than $8, so the completed dress form would be very inexpensive, compared to the custom-made type. It might be an interesting theme for a small craft party – get together with other people who sew and you could all help each other form the mesh.
There is an article in Threads, I think, on how to do this. But it’s basically wrapping the person who the dressform is for (you need someone to do this for yourself) in a brown paper tape. I think the paper tape is somehow dampened as this is being done so it will mold to the body shape. I’m pretty sure this is repeated a couple of times and then carefully cut apart on each side, removed, and then taped back together.
I have a quick question…off the dressform topic….I want to make a curved sculpture to hang on the wall. I’ve built a form already and am ready to put on the paper mache, but my end result isn’t the end. I want to then cover this with some hand dyed and quilted fabric. I’m wondering if the flour paste recipe will eventually rot? I know I have to let it dry thoroughly, and I was thinking of then covering it in just watered down white glue to seal it, but is that enough?
Thanks!
Oh, and I adore your little bluebirds. Really cute!
Hi Mandi. There should be no problem with rot if the sculpture does not get wet. I have paper mache items that I made years ago. Fungi cannot live without water, and it’s fungi of one sort or another that causes paper and paste to rot.
Good luck with your project. It sounds interesting!
is there a swimwear that is not stretchable? all of them are. where can I find one for may material here
hey!
i think my sculpture just developed mold out of nowhere… it seems to be only in the little rock-solid balls of white glue… i had mixed flour, glue and water as a paste. really, a dash of glue. i’ve spent 2 months working on this. and so much money. i don’t know what to do. it was supposed to be given away next week. someone is waiting for it. is there ANYTHING i can do other than throwing it away??? i am so confused, why is it molding on the outside??? when i cut those little lumps off, there is no mold underneath. i thought when sculptures mold it happens from the inside. please help! any advise is so greatly appreciated!
Hi Barbie. This sounds very strange. Is your sculpture dry all the way through? If so, and if the mold is only on the outside (what brand of glue did you use, by the way?) then you should be able to kill it by mixing up a weak solution of chlorine bleach and water, and lightly dampening a sponge with the solution. Dab the sponge on the moldy areas to kill it (or just shave off the mold, if that would be easier), dry thoroughly and fast (put it outside in the sun or in front of a fan) and then, when completely, absolutely dry you can seal it with acrylic varnish or polyurethane. If the mold can’t get in, there should be no further problems.
I don’t know where you live, but here in our area we’ve had way more rain and humidity than I’ve ever remembered. I’m being especially careful to dry my sculptures quickly, and then seal them up so they won’t get damp again just sitting in the air. If that happened, the mold would sit on the outside of the sculpture, like it does on bathroom walls when the ventilation system isn’t working correctly.
Good luck – please let us know how it turns out.