[NFB-Blind-Crafters] DIY Dress Form Project
slery
slerythema at gmail.com
Sat Aug 15 04:32:11 UTC 2026
Hey RAmona,
You are on my list to talk with you about doing some sewing projects. I
would like to go over what those of us that attended the sewing chat
would like to do.
Cindy
On 8/13/2026 11:29 PM, Ramona Walhof via NFB-Blind-Crafters wrote:
> These duct tape forms made to fit one person are really a lot of fun
> to make. I onlyy got as far as hanging one on a hanger. I think the
> pvc pipe is a great idea, and it shouldn't be hard to find a weight
> for the base that would keep it more stable. It seems to me that I
> found a group that was working in pairs, so each pair made two, one
> for each. I never tried to make one for pants, but it would be nice to
> have. I bet you could start with an old pair of pajama pants, but
> after you get some experience trying half made garments on, you can
> just use the pattern. I made a lot of clothes for my kids while they
> were growing up, so I had to learn to be fast. Kids don't like to
> stand still.
> My mother taught me to cut patterns out of newspaper using a garment,
> and I think that is the first pattern I ever used. I made a lot of
> pleated and gathered skirts when I was in high school, and that
> really does not take a pattern.
> I could actually teach a class on thatif people want to make such a
> thing.
> Best,
> Ramona .
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *From:* NFB-Blind-Crafters <nfb-blind-crafters-bounces at nfbnet.org> on
> behalf of Kit Aronoff via NFB-Blind-Crafters
> <nfb-blind-crafters at nfbnet.org>
> *Sent:* Thursday, August 13, 2026 9:09 PM
> *To:* nfb-blind-crafters at nfbnet.org <nfb-blind-crafters at nfbnet.org>
> *Cc:* Kit Aronoff <kit.aronoff at gmail.com>
> *Subject:* [NFB-Blind-Crafters] DIY Dress Form Project
>
> Just wanted to share! My dad and I have been working on a project for
> a few days. I really needed a dress form as I’m learning to sew,
> because it makes it much easier to feel what I’m doing when putting
> pieces together. But especially for mock-ups of garments, being able
> to feel where it’s not fitting and run my hand along the form to feel
> for the tension points and such? Just… really helpful.
>
> However, I’m a plus-sized lady, and don’t really have the budget for a
> proper dress form. So I did some research and found various tutorials
> for making a dress form with duck tape. Since we’re a community of
> blind crafters, and some of you might be in need of such a thing, I
> wanted to share the whole process I used. Not sure if we’re allowed to
> add pictures with descriptions for anyone who who has vision to see
> the form. But we’ll see.
>
> I named the dress form Dorothy, because my dad and I made this
> together. We’ve been watching Ted Lasso and I thought it would be
> funny since the character is from Kansas.
>
> This really was a blast to put together! Highly recommend for
> something fun and useful. I thought it would be more complicated than
> it was. The hardest part, honestly, was doing the math to get the
> piece lengths together. The special tools you need are very minimal. I
> wrote the directions with as much detail as possible, so it’s a bit
> verbose. Which makes this look more intense than it is. The frame you
> can honestly do by yourself. The only part you need another person for
> is the duck tape form, since…you know, you’re being duck taped.
>
> Just a heads up: There’s some compression that happens. And you need
> to be prepared to be able to stand for at least an hour to two hours
> depending on how quickly you work. By the end I found the compression
> from all sides to be slightly uncomfortable. Definitely use the
> bathroom before doing this haha. And have scissors nearby in case of
> an emergency. And have some water your friend can give you, just in case.
>
> *Dorothy dress form Image Description*
>
> Dress form made of duck tape. It has two white PVC feet at the
> bottom. A loose white skirt hides the PVC stand underneath. Masking
> tape marks specific points on the body that is peeking out behind a
> patterned homemade blouse. The form is outside in front of a door of a
> house. With grass to the left and a “home” door mat on the right.
>
>
>
> BELOW IS INSTRUCTIONS FOR HOW THIS WAS MADE. There is no additional
> social commentary beyond this point. (Essentially if you don’t want to
> see how I made this, you can stop reading here!)
>
>
> *Materials*:
>
> * Duck tape (I used 2 full rolls for the entire project)
> * PVC piping 1" diameter for the frame (although we're still working
> out frame kinks so I'll make an update when we've worked that
> out.) We used four 5' long PVC pipes that we then cut down.
> * PVC cutter
> * PVC glue, although we used gorilla hot glue... It's not the best.
> Just what we had.
> * Cardboard
> * Joint pieces, 2 elbows, 10 T shaped pieces
> * T-shirt you don't mind destroying (it needs to be however long you
> want the form. I used a skirt and a t-shirt because I wanted my
> buttocks accurate)
> * Scissors
> * 1 Friend (you can't do this alone)
>
> *Process*:
>
> /Bust Form/
>
> 1. I started by having my friend duck tape important sections first.
> The under bust, bust, waist, upper and lower hip.
> 2. We did a harness like strap. Coming diagonally to the middle of my
> bust over my shoulders, and down the back. That secured the top
> tape strips.
> 3. Vertical lines were made to connect the waist to lower-hip strips.
> There were 4 of these. Two at the front and two at the back.
> 4. From there, continued to fill out. Starting with the bust, we did
> the front chest. Then the back. All horizontal strips.
> 5. Then the waist (and belly). Like the bust, you want to be careful
> not to squish. Especially for plus-sized folks. Just to avoid
> inaccuracy.
> 6. The lower back, then buttocks.
> 7. Once that's done, you will have a duck tape tunic. So sleeves are
> next. We did two vertical strips. Now, I went to just above my
> elbow because most of what I wear is 3/4 sleeves and I wanted the
> entire upper bicep. But you can do whatever.
> 8. After the vertical, then start using horizontal circles. At the
> shoulder, you want to be careful. More specifically at the
> shoulder join. Make sure it's really reinforced.
> 9. Layer two was all up and down strips to add strength. Just, all over.
> 10. Feel around for any exposed fabric. Cover those bits up with tape.
> 11. When finished, cut straight up the center back. Once out, seal the
> back up with duck tape. Make sure not to overlap the edges. This
> part was fiddly.
> 12. Hang your bust up on a coat hanger. I put her on a curtain rod.
>
> /Frame/
>
> Just a warning, the dress form will be top heavy. The frame we built
> isn't totally stable at the bottom. So I'll fill out this section when
> I've found a stable frame. At the moment it has a rectangle shape in
> there, with two cross-bars to maintain its structure. So if anyone
> wants to replicate the frame we built, just note you’ll want to add
> more weight to the bottom. We’re actually about to zip tie some roller
> things that came with this rolling Christmas tree stand I got.
>
>
> Description:
>
>
> Four pieces of PVC are connected to T shaped pieces. This makes the
> two legs, with the remaining 3rd side of the T piece pointed skyward.
>
> 3” pipe stands vertically from there with another T shaped piece. This
> time the 3rd opening will face inward of the frame (on both sides,
> each side mirrors each other).
>
> A pipe that’s just under the smallest section of the bust (either the
> waist or shoulders most likely) connects the two facing 3rd T openers.
> This gives stability to the feet.
>
> There’s a pipe that goes up to where a second cross pole will sit. You
> want that to hit a few inches above the bottom of the form.
>
> A third crossbar is connected using two elbow pieces around the
> shoulders.
>
>
> Measurements:
>
>
> 1. Measure the height of your shoulders first. You need to know how
> high off the ground this thing will be. (56” for me)
> 2. Measure the distance from shoulders to about 2” above where the
> bust itself ends. (25” for me)
> 3. The T pieces connecting we used had the bit that inserts into the
> pipe, then the outer metal sitting between the two pipes. The
> metal piece in between for us was 1”. But you need to measure
> whatever you’re using. There are 2 pairs of T shapes that will add
> height. So for us, there was 4” of height coming from those pieces
> in total.
> 4. Subtract the 4” from the total height you want the dress form to
> be off the ground. We needed 56” off the ground. So that brought
> it down to 52". That’s how much PVC pipe length in total you’ll
> need. But don’t start cutting yet. Just keep these numbers in mind.
> 5. Subtract the measurement from step 2 (bottom of the bust to the
> shoulders) and subtract it from the measurement in step one (how
> height you want the shoulders to be from the ground). For me
> that’s 31”. For my pieces, again, there was a single 1” section of
> metal adding height between the bottom of the form and the
> shoulders. So subtract that. For me this was 30”.
> 6. So, now take the number from step 4, where you calculated the
> total length of vertical pipe. For me that number was 52. Now
> subtract the calculation from the previous step (30” for me) from
> the number in step four. 52”-30"=22”.
> 7. Now, you need to account for the 3” of pipe that sticks up from
> the bottom. 21”-3”=18”.
> 8. What you have are that you need two lengths of pipe that are 18”
> (for my form), another two pipe pieces that are 30”.
> 9. You’ll need 3 pipes that are equal to the distance of the smallest
> point of the interior dress form. (Diameter, not the circumference).
> 10. Two 3” pieces of pipe.
>
>
> TL;DR Measurements you need:
>
> A. Shoulders to ground.
> B. 2” above bottom of form to shoulders.
> C. Distance between the smallest point of the form (diameter)
> D. Metal bit between the two pieces that go into the pipes. (Probably
> about 1”), multiply this by 3.
> E. Just be aware of the 3” height added by the stand stabilizer.
>
> Using that, here is the quick version of how to figure out how much
> pipe you need:
>
> 3” for the stand stabilizer
> A-B = pipe length for shoulders to the middle bar.
> A-3”-D-(above number)=total pipe from middle bar, to stabilizer.
> 4 pieces of about 20” for the feet of the stand.
> 4 bars equal to measurement C.
>
>
>
> Putting the frame together:
>
> 1. Make two long pieces for the feet of the frame, using a T joint.
> Do this again for the second foot. Use the PVC glue to hold it
> together.
> 2. 3” pipe pieces go into the T joint, facing skyward.
> 3. One of the cross bars attaches to the T joints. This is what
> provides stability.
> 4. Bottom shaft on each side, on top put another T joint.
> 5. Middle bar goes here.
> 6. The top shaft gets added.
> 7. Elbow joints at the top.
> 8. Final cross bar goes in.
> 9. Add weight to the bottom. You can use sand bags. We’re
> experimenting with adding metal wheel things that I pulled from a
> rolling Christmas tree stand.
>
>
> /Finishing Up/
>
> 1. Once you have the frame done, you want to plug up the arm holes
> and the bottom. I made duck tape circles. So you lay the duck tape
> sticky side up in strips on a surface. Then overlay it with sticky
> side down so you basically. make duck tape fabric. Then cut it to
> size and duck tape the seams to the arm holes.
> 2. The bottom I made a cardboard oval that matched my lower hip area,
> cut out notches for the frame poles, and stuck it into the bottom.
> Trimmed to shape. Then duck taped that in place.
> 3. Stuff it. Mine needed a little under 5lbs of poly fiber.
> 4. Seal up the neck the same way you did the arms.
>
> /Optional/
>
> /
> /
>
> I wanted to be able to pin pieces of fabric to the thing. So I used a
> blouse that was meant to be form-fitting, and had princess seams, then
> put that over the body. It worked great because it was already sewn to
> hug my body anyway.
>
> The shirt is the Harrison Shirt from Cashmerette, if anyone is
> interested. This was my practice one so it has some oddities in the
> collar and cuffs. I think the photo accidentally has one sleeve rolled
> up and one down haha But IRL they match fine.
>
> Image Description: Dress form made of duck tape. It has two white PVC
> feet at the bottom. A loose white skirt hides the PVC stand
> underneath. Masking tape marks specific points on the body that is
> peeking out behind a patterned homemade blouse. The form is outside in
> front of a door of a house. With grass to the left and a “home” door
> mat on the right.
>
>
> IMG_0083.jpeg
>
>
>
> Kit Aronoff
> kit.aronoff at gmail.com
>
>
>
>
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