Dress Form - mens

[Coder]

I'm in the midst of a skirt sewing project - welllll it's more of a skirt modification project. I'll post pictures when done, if it turns out.

But it occurred to me it would be easier - in fact might be necessary - for it to be done on a mannequin. Does anyone have one - do they work well? Are there alternatives?

[Happy-N-Skirts]

A lot depends on what kind of skirt you want. Most of my skirts are straight up and down, but not pencil. Most skirts fit the female proportions and form. I had a few skirts made that were mostly a cylinder with the waist bunched up with 1" elastic. I prefer stretch fabric to allow more freedom getting in and out of cars, stepping over rocks and logs, etc. I think mine have a slight taper, but not "A" line. If I am shopping for skirts I ask to show me "masculine" skirts and the sales associates seem to know just what I am talking about. I was in a store recently and two of the employees were glad to see me and asked how my wife is and how our last trip was. They both said they haven't seen me in quite awhile. One of them mentioned that she likes to help men and tells them things that I told her regarding what kinds of items I wear and why. She says it comforts her male customers and she is thankful to me and so are her other men customers. I had a couple of drawings and described what I wanted to the seamstress and she did a fine job.

I also like golf skorts which fit my proportions and I don't need to have any alterations. I remove the inner shorts as I like the freedom and comfort and am careful regarding modesty. My wife and I just returned from dinner and no one noticed my "alternative" clothing. I wore a camouflage straight skirt which looks very close to being shorts.

I hope this helps.

[Coder]

I’m asking about a physical prop to help sew skirts, often called a dress form or mannequin.

[beachlion]

The dress forms I know of are for the female body. I think the curvature and tighter fit ask for a female dress form. The curves are more complicated in the upper body so there is not much use for a form extending lower than the waist. For skirts you will use only a very small part of a form.

My experience is that you only need a pattern that covers the portion of the body from the waist to the hips. That is if you use darts to model the fabric. From the hip to the hem it is plain sailing. You can make any form you like. Only if the form of the skirt is wider than the cone form between the waist and hip you need to adjust the waist/hip portion. So in effect I don't see much use for a dress form if you make skirts.

[Coder]

My experience is that you only need a pattern that covers the portion of the body from the waist to the hips. That is if you use darts to model the fabric. From the hip to the hem it is plain sailing. You can make any form you like. Only if the form of the skirt is wider than the cone form between the waist and hip you need to adjust the waist/hip portion. So in effect I don't see much use for a dress form if you make skirts.

Good points - and this hadn’t occurred to me. My problem is with what I’m making, I need the skirt to be in 3D - essentially it needs to be as if it was being worn. I could make a waist bottom using this technique:

https://www.handimania.com/diy/your-own ... equin.html

I could also print my lower body on one of our 3D printers, but it would be impossible to scan by myself, and not pinnable. Although I could just measure myself every inch... and cover it with fabric.

[beachlion]

About 6 years ago I started making skirts. First I converted old jeans and copied a kilt I bought. After that I started to check the Internet and learned how to make a pattern voor a skirt.

I found out there are two basic types of skirts, circle skirts and fitted skirts. The first is a simple cone form, the second one has darts and follows the body to some extend.

For fitted skirts you have to start with a basic pattern from your body measurements. As soon as you have a suitable pattern that covers the body from waist to hip, you can make any form from that pattern. There are lots of tutorials on YouTube. Here is one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cz7Fx-RHXM

For circle skirts, here is a good starting point.
http://www.poppyrecords.co.uk/dressmaki ... tIntro.php

For learning more about sewing, I bought this book.
https://archive.org/details/completegui ... /page/n535

With making things, you will get experience. Don't be afraid to experiment. You can always make cleaning rags from your failures.

[Coder]

The thing is, I’m making a sort of artistic skirt (probably won’t be worn) and in order to construct it, the skirt needs to be constructed in 3D.

[crfriend]

Dress forms tend to be adjustable -- meaning that you can simply adjust the settings to wind up with a slab-sided female (a normal male). Since work for a uni, see if they have a fashion-design curriculum and ask if you can borrow one for a couple of nights (or audit the class to see if you'd like to take it).

[Coder]

Dress forms tend to be adjustable -- meaning that you can simply adjust the settings to wind up with a slab-sided female (a normal male). Since work for a uni, see if they have a fashion-design curriculum and ask if you can borrow one for a couple of nights (or audit the class to see if you'd like to take it).

Good idea! I might ask around next week.

[beachlion]

I worked almost 25 years for a shipyard. They knew perfectly well to form two-dimensional steel plates into three-dimensional ships without a dress form or similar. So a good pattern will do the trick.

After a few centuries of making clothes every possible problem in fitting has been ironed out so to speak. Even if you want to experiment with the form of a skirt, the form of the body should be your starting point. The minimal form of a skirt should hug the waist to hip area and leave enough room to walk. That walking should define the part between the hip and the hem. You can see this as a blank canvas and add to it. With this minimal pattern you can experiment as long as you don't shrink it.

When I started making skirts I also was thinking to make some sort of dress form but after every new skirt I tweaked the standard form where needed. For instance, I wore skirts on the hip like jeans. I found it better to have the waist band at my natural waist so I went from a waist size of 87 cm (34") to a waist size of 84 cm (33"). I also changed the waist to hip dimension.

[deserttinker]

Coder wrote:
> I'm in the midst of a skirt sewing project - welllll it's more of a skirt
> modification project. I'll post pictures when done, if it turns out.
>
> But it occurred to me it would be easier - in fact might be necessary - for
> it to be done on a mannequin. Does anyone have one - do they work well? Are
> there alternatives?
This https://patterns.bootstrapfashion.com/d ... lXpYIGIaf1 might be what you’re looking for, a bit more DIY than just buying a form, but would be “you sized” and proportioned.

[Coder]

This https://patterns.bootstrapfashion.com/d ... lXpYIGIaf1 might be what you’re looking for, a bit more DIY than just buying a form, but would be “you sized” and proportioned.

Interesting! It never occurred to me anyone made patterns for a "proper" form. I've already gone out and bought a roll of duct tape - likely going to make just my lower half so I can drape the skirt as I modify it. But... this option is intriguing - thanks!