Create your own DIY body form to tailor or create clothes to fit YOUR body using just duct tape, fill, a tee shirt and scissors!
I have a close friend who is an amazing seamstress. We were discussing the easiest way to tailor clothes specific to a body and she told me you could make a body form using just duct tape and construct your clothes right on your own body! Brilliant right?
DIY body form supplies:
- Cardboard or Poster Board
- Fill (I used an old pillow that happened to have feathers in it. This was very messy so I don’t suggest it!)
- Darice Duct Tape (I used about 1.5 roles of the coral and just a little bit of the floral. This will depend on your body though! At my widest I’m about 38″)
- Accent Roll of Duct Tape (optional)
- Old Tshirt
- Scissors
Put on your t shirt. I used a tee shirt that I did a DIY with that had some letters falling off so it was time to give it a new life.
Start by wrapping from the bottom up. I had my friend doing this for me it would be very hard to do alone! She did one strip fully around and then cut it off. Meaning each circle around was it’s own strip of tape.
As she worked her way up she stopped using the previous method at my waste. She created a V like shape that you should be able to see in these pictures across my chest. Each of these strips were their own piece of tape.
Once it is wrapped enough to hold it’s form (you should be able to tell if you shrug your shoulders and it moves with you), you will cut down the back. I squeezed my shoulders together as she cut and it left plenty of space for her to cut down the back without scratching my skin or ruining my bra.
I trimmed the sleeves off and taped the back together using accent tape. You don’t have to do this but I thought it was a fun touch!
Trace the base of your form on cardboard or thick poster board. Cut it out and tape it to the bottom of the form. We will fill from the top.
Tape the arm holes closed so the fill doesn’t come out.
Fill your form all the way with fill. Keep smashing the fill down because you want this form very firm. Once it is as firm as you’d like, tape the top closed.
We added little pieces of accent tape to the edges. This was partially to make it look more finished but also to add a little variation for fun! I can’t wait to start creating and fitting clothes using my own body!
I don’t think style has to be sacrificed for price! I love creating DIYs that don’t look homemade and look deceptively expensive. Practical and Pretty began because I said ‘I could make that!’ so often that I decided to finally do it, and document my process.
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