Hee, this post I made to another list a few months back is still pretty much
word-for-word applicable:
------------------
I have a Uniquely You dress form, and overall I'm happy with it. But... I
had to do a lot of work on it to get it to that point. Though I ordered the
size that I should have according to their info, it was way too large; I
really wish I'd ordered the next small size.
Far more frustrating, though, was the fact that the bust was several inches
too low. In order to fix this, I peeled the two halves apart, hollowed out
the upper chest, then glued them back together with the upper chest
compacted so that the bust was raised. Also, I kicked the thing several
times, which helped. Then of course the bottom front was about 4 inches
shorter than the bottom back, so I had to do yet more carving. Then I took
a long look at the included cover, sneered, duct taped myself, made a
pattern from the duct tape, and sewed my own cover. Since the form was
still too big, I wound up having to lace the cover shut, as zippers were too
paltry a closure.
It's quite a good match, now, except that the lacing is a bit bulkier than
I'd like, and the waist is an inch too high. Also, it's no longer
particularly corsetable, since I had to compress it so much to get it into a
cover that fit me; it's already nearly as squished as it'll get. (By the
same token, I can't use it to mark the hem on self-supporting gowns, as the
front line would be off.) It's still useful for a lot of clothing, though,
and I'm reasonably happy with it, but I would not do it again for at least
another 5 years or so, and if I ever do, I'll do many things differently.
For starters, I'd get one a size or two smaller--far easier to pad it up
than vice versa.
Which explains why what I'd get if I were in the market and had ~$400+ to
blow is one of these:
http://www.fabulousfit.com/ which comes with a system of pads that adjust it
to your size. Though they use a knit cover for it, you could just as easily
make a custom-fitted cover of the same type you'd use on the Uniquely You.
Make the cover easy to remove/switch out, and you can adjust the form to
various shapes: corseted, self-supported, modern, etc, and maybe even male.
Oooo, and though I'm way to cheap to ever spring for one, I'd love to have
one of the ones with bendable arms...
-E House
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