Nanny Kimbo has been off work for 9 days and was back at it today. It's the Summer Holidays anyway so all of the days slowly blur into one!!
Recently, Big has shown an interest in sewing and costume making. As you may already know, Nanny Kimbo is quite the costumier but was very keen to encourage Big to start making her own costumes.
Before the Littles went away, Big and I set out to make a dress form that she could use. I figured it would be fun to make one and it would kill an hour or so whilst Little napped!
We gathered out materials and set to work!
Materials:
Duct tape
Cling film
Stuffing (we used newspaper because we had it to hand. I would recommend you use poly batting)
I have seen many examples of custom dress forms so I knew vaguely what to do. I had to make sure we didn't spend too long on the making process as I didn't want big to get scared or claustrophobic.
Firstly, I wrapped her in cling film. I didn't want to use a vest or t-shirt as I didn't want to risk damaging it. I made sure I could fit two fingers under the film at all times so that it wasn't too tight.
I wrapped three layers around her torso and then made a V shape from her chest and over her shoulders.
Next, I covered the cling film with duct tape in a similar fashion. I ensured that the tape ONLY touched the cling film and not her skin.
I didn't want to get too close to her neck with the duct tape so I made a square neckline instead of a V neck.
Once we had layered up the tape, I carefully cut the template off, making sure to keep my fingers in front of the scissors to avoid nicking her skin. I cut up the middle at the back and across the shoulders.
Big was highly amused by this whole process and could hardly stop giggling throughout!
Next we taped the template back together and covered the hole at the bottom.
I then tasked Big with making super tight scrunched newspaper balls. She thoroughly enjoyed this task!
As big scrunched, I stuffed! I made sure the news paper was packed nice and tightly to make a sturdy form.
Once the form was filled, I sealed the neck hole and arm holes with more duct tape.
Big then asked if we could make arms too, so we did!
Once the arms were attached, we made a stand from a rolled up, duct taped newspaper and a cardboard box and we dressed the dress form in a close fitting vest.
All that we needed to do before using the dress form was to name it. Big decided to call it Little Big!
Big then spent the rest of the day creating her own fashion. She really enjoyed herself!
Unfortunately, Little Big didn't last much longer than a few days as it wasn't constructed with extended use in mind.
Today I decided I would take my own dress form into work and let her have a play around with that. Big was overjoyed and set to work right away!
Whilst big was working away on the big dress form, I made her a pin cushion to wear around her wrist. I used thick foam cut into a square and wrapped in felt. I glued it all together with UHU glue for speed and attached it to her wrist with a safety pin.
I have told Big that as long as she treats the dress form with care, she can use it for the rest of the Summer.
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