Vintage dressmaker forms are a collector’s item. And the form is even more desirable if the word “Paris” is stamped on it.
If you are the DIY type, you can turn a brand new dress form into one with an aged patina to make it look like it came from a Parisian atelier. Here are the steps.
These instructions below came from The Polka Dot Closet, a blog with lots ideas for Romantic Decorating solutions and detailed DIY tutorials.
Start with a new or used that you can find at places like Mannequin Madness.com. You might also want to do this on a miniature size dress form.
This dress form is covered with a thin t shirt material that is sprayed with walnut ink
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Then I sprayed the base with black paint, brushed on some white school glue, and painted over it with white paint, giving it a nice aged crackle finish
Now the fun part…Adding Graphics!
I printed graphics from Graphics Fairy and made some graphics of my own. I used the Blender pen method for transfer. Graphics Fairy has a wonderful post of 12 different transfer methods and the blender pen tutorial is included in the list
I practiced by putting her name “BELLE” (As in “Belle of the ball”) on the bottom of the back
Then added more Graphics to the front ………
Then I was DONE!
If you like this idea, but don’t have the time or talent to create this, Carol at the Polka Dot Closet will be happy to do it for you. She can be reached at:thepolkadotcloset@live.com. Tell her that Mannequin Madness referred you.
Given that a vintage Wolf dress form can cost $400 and up, even if you are lucky enough to find one, you will find Carol’s rates very affordable.
Here are other samples of Carol’s work of transforming a new table top dress form into something romantic and vintage inspired.
