There is one inevitable question that we all ask ourselves when we are learning to sew.
And that is, do you need a mannequin dressmakers form to actually sew?
Well, no, you don't need one. But yes, you will want one.
And in this video, let me talk to you about why you would want one,
why it does with what you use it for and the
different types of mannequin choices there are.
So you can make the best choice for you to get
your best use out of your mannequin.
Welcome back, my sewing friends. We are talking dress mannequins today.
Yes. If you are just new.
Welcome my name's Evelyn Wood and I'm the creator of VintageSewingSchool.com
And here on this channel,
we talk about everything.
garment sewing skills,
to really help you get better and make better garments.
So if you haven't already do hit the subscribe button down
below let's YouTube,
know that you want to see all my future videos,
but as I said,
today's about the dress mannequin.
So the really,
really common question I get all of the time is do
you need a mannequin to sew?
The simple answer is no,
absolutely not getting started sewing.
You do not need a mannequin to get started because let's
be honest when you start sewing,
you're just learning to use your sewing machine.
You're just learning common construction,
how to read patterns,
how to put them all together.
You're doing all of that stuff.
When you get to the stage where you're starting to kind
of go to all that groundwork.
I wouldn't say,
you know, down pat,
but you getting there and you're starting to look at fitting
your garments and getting a better fit.
That is when a mannequin is when you probably want to
start putting that into your sewing routine at about this stage.
And well,
yes, there are so many to choose from.
Here's the thing,
a mannequin is just a tool of sewing.
It is an aid it's to help you in your sewing
process, not what you use to fit your garments.
Oh, because I can tell you,
Dolly here is not going to lift her arms and tell
me if it's too tight or not.
Right? So no matter how a replica of your body,
your mannequin is,
it's never going to be exactly it.
And it's never going to do things like lift your arms
or move around to tell you how it fits.
So you're always going to end up putting it on yourself
to actually fit your garments.
So you kind of just use your mannequin as a tool,
as an aid.
And it is a very,
very useful tool.
Might I add that you will want to add into your
routine as I talked about.
So now we have the basics covered.
Let's talk about what kind of mannequin you need.
This is a big one.
I know.
So really what you're looking for,
there are a few things you're looking for in a Medicam
one is you want it pinnable.
So you want to be able to P and N step
through and be able to just basically pin into your mannequin
of some kind.
You want to be able to swivel because you really want
to be able to turn her and move her around,
and then you'll want her to be as close to your
body shape as possible.
And well,
this is the part when really isn't it,
the kind of mannequin you want will be one that is,
has all those things is smaller than your body.
So you can pat it out to be as close to
your body as possible.
And no,
you do not need expensive padding equipment,
some special type of things.
Definitely not.
You can use materials that you can thrift and find you
just need some padding to be able to pet her up.
And there's all sorts of ways that you can,
you know, where to put all that.
I've just created a course in vintage sewing school on basically
the step-by-step.
How of,
you know,
how to do this,
where to put the padding,
the tools to use the photo guide had makeup cover.
All of that stuff is in vintage sewing school.
So if you are interested in that,
that is all there for you already.
And there's a link down below.
I'd love to have you in class.
So the basic idea is you need a form that is
smaller than you and you pat it up to your size.
And now the other question is what other types of forms
that you can choose from to then start padding up and
get there?
Well, there are a lot of options.
So you're in luck,
starting from the top.
I mean,
professional dressmaking mannequin,
of course it ticks all the boxes.
That's what it's made for.
That would be great,
but they're super expensive and you don't need anything like that.
You have then your adjustable address making forms.
So you've probably quite familiar with these.
These are,
you see in like panels of a body and they expand
out and they can even go up and expand in all
different ways.
These are great because they're really accessible.
You can find them secondhand even,
and almost everyone will have access to one of these and
they come in different sizes.
So you can,
you know,
mold it to kind of use it as a base shape.
And as long as you pad over the entire thing,
it is wonderful.
You do not want one of those with all the holes
in it, because it will,
it's impossible to fit with all those holes.
So as long as you plan on covering it entirely,
then those are great.
Then you have other things like this,
this one here,
mine is just a shop,
display mannequin.
So it kind of looks like it.
She is padded up to my size,
of course,
but it fits the boxes.
It's pinnable,
it's, swipeable,
it's not quite really long enough.
So I've extended mine in the painting it up to a
mannequin. As I like to call it in my size.
I've extended her hips as well there and petted her up
to my size then works fine.
These are really inexpensive.
Again, you can find them in lots of different sizes to
get your starting place.
And then you pad it up from there.
Remember you want it smaller than your body.
Then there are other more DIY methods of creating a sort
of dress form that you could start with.
Dare I say it,
the duct tape method.
I'm not going to recommend that you do that.
I wouldn't,
you could do something like a paper Mashay or something like
that to basically make a mold of your body.
If I was going to do something,
it would be more like that.
So you can create a mold of your body in some
kind of way,
and then put it,
you have to find your own dress,
stand, et cetera,
and put it on there.
You could also use that as your starting point.
And then there are also the sort of custom DIY covers
that you can sew yourself and stuff with pillow stuffing.
And it's kind of gives you your,
your size.
Again. You need to find a stand and everything to put
it on,
but those are also a great option to get a starting
place to then pat it up to your size after there.
So any of these really are great choices for you to
start with,
to get your starting point of a mannequin for you to
sculpt and mold your own me mannequin.
As, as I say to your body shape,
as best you can around that,
then you have a really great tool to use in your
sewing. You can put garments on it.
You can like take a step back and look at it
and see what's going on.
What you can fit something on yourself and you put it
on your body.
You might see at the back,
you need to pin it in around your seams or take
something off.
You can then take that off and put it on your
mannequin to do the actual painting from what you've eyeballed on
yourself, because let's face it.
It's a lot easier to do this on a mannequin than
it is yourself.
So you can use your mannequin in those ways as a
tool for everything.
Except if you are trying to drape,
if you are draping on the dress like dress form,
then of course it needs to be exactly your body shape
because you're creating the pattern as you go along.
If you use any commercial patterns,
this is called flat pattern making.
So it does not need to be exactly exactly your body
shape, just as close as possible.
You're always try it on yourself to know for sure if
it fits or not.
Remember you are the creator here.
And these are just tools for us to help aid our
sewing and our government making process.
Now, the big question,
should you have a MI mannequin ham?
What'd you call her?
I love to hear it.
Please put your comments down below what's.
What is your mannequin's name?
Mine are all called Dolly.
All of them always is Dolly.
I know I should individualize them,
but they're all Dolly.
I can't wait to hear yours.
And I hope that you can eventually when you're at the
right stage,
bring in a mannequin to your own dressmaking to really help
aid you in that fitting.
And so next time,
my sewing friends, happy sewing, bye.