I mentioned in my year end summary that I really wanted to learn to sew in 2010. I started thinking about what I want to accomplish at the onset of this sewing adventure. I’m one of those people that needs to visualize before I create. That process lead me to the idea of dress form. So why not make little paper dress forms to get me started? Baby steps here.

I made two different dress forms. One is from a public domain image of a 1893 dress from. The other is a more contemporary dress form with an exaggerated waist line. Think Barbie. I’ve also included a basic stand for your dress forms. I think it’s a good way of getting a feel for the shape of the end product – and of course, a speedier way for making sure all your Barbies are dressed up for the nights you want to play foxy bingo, watch a film or relax with friends, sat on the desk or in the cabinet, dressed in all their splendour as they model your creations.

(Just an FYI: I had to adjust one slit of the stand after cutting because the digital files have a hard time with such a thin line.)

I cut both the dress forms and stands to be around 4″ tall. I cut the forms out of double sided patterned paper that’s not thin but also not thick. The stand is cut out of heavier cardstock and you might want to glue two together if you are making larger forms or adding lots of crap.

Here’s the print and cut:

Here are the files all zipped in eps, png, svg, and dxf.

Dress Forms.zip

After cutting the forms, I broke out the fabric scraps, ribbons, and lace. I had fun playing dress up with them. It reminded me of playing with paper dolls. I’m not that good at it any more. I guess dress up takes practice, too. I think my first sewing project will be an apron similar to the one I made here in the center.

As an added bonus, your finished dress forms can be used for cat bowling, shown below:

Strike!