How To: Dress Form... so that's what it's called...

At my shop I had a little dilemma... too many necklaces and not enough cool places to display them. That problem was solved with this idea to get a "dress form" that is the fake bodice thing that looks like the silhouette of a woman... well, a fake woman... a real woman would never have that narrow of a stomach and that wide of a chest.

So, that leads me to my second problem. Those things cost HUNDREDS of dollars! Really. Vintage Dress Forms are very expensive and even a new one at Hobby Lobby was out of my range.

So I thought to myself... I could make one of those... easy... but how...well, with chicken wire and burlap of course!

I started with a tall spindle that was recovered from a house remodel (free :) ) Then, I screwed it to the bottom of two wooden discs from Hobby Lobby. I measured it to find center and drilled holes from the back side and then used 3 inch screws to secure it.

Next, I took chicken wire and cut a piece that was about 35 inches long. Then, starting at the bottom, I folded it around and twisted the wire onto itself to secure it. That created the bottom of the skirt. Moving up about where a waist would get skinnier I overlapped the wire more to make it skinnier and twisted the wire to secure it. To create the bust, I found the spot where the two ends meet and secured them, by leaving a space for... cleavage... can I say that here... :) I did. Now, push and pull the chicken wire to create your preferred shape. You can use other pieces of wire to hold the form. Next, place your form over the tall spindle and secure it with screws.

Now, you need to create the upper chest and neck. Take a second piece of chicken wire that is 1/4 the size of the other and shape it like so.... then attach it to the bigger form by twisting the metal ends.

Then, cover your whole creation with badding. Use hot glue where you can to secure it.

Now, cover the badding with any fabric of choice. This is a "sewing-free" option. All I did was glue burlap onto the badding in strips starting from the bottom and working my way to the top.

Then, I added a little disc to the top of the neck that I painted blue, added bulky necklaces and a cute ribbon belt to give it a feminine touch.

So, here it is: my ten dollar dress form.