A custom-made mannequin is an important assistant for home sewing workers: it facilitates the process of trying on, and is indispensable for modeling or ironing parts with complex cuts. To create a mannequin at home, you will need an attentive assistant and materials at hand, usually available on the farm.
In order to make a mannequin with a high quality of workmanship, convenience and durability, you will have to arm yourself with patience and create a comfortable environment in the room: it should not be too hot or cold in it, it is necessary to avoid drafts.
Materials for work
A more complex but accurate method of making a mannequin at home involves the use of cling film or ordinary cellophane bags, adhesive tape, medical plaster bandages, paraffin wax, foam, wooden or metal clothes hanger, batting. Before starting work, it is necessary to take control measurements of the girth of the chest, waist and hips - the accuracy of the manufacture of the dummy will directly depend on these parameters.
Preparatory stage
To make a mannequin, you need to undress to your underwear so that the assistant can quite tightly, but without squeezing, wrap the body with cling film. After that, small pieces of adhesive tape are glued on top of the film, following the contours of the figure as closely as possible. It is most convenient to start work, moving from the line of the hips to the neck, which provides freedom of breathing and good health of the person wrapped in film.
Making a mannequin uniform
After the preparatory work is completed, you can start creating a plaster cast. For these purposes, pharmaceutical plaster bandages are well suited: strips soaked in water are applied, crossing them, on the back and thrown over the chest. Gradually cover the entire torso up to the waist with plaster casts and move to the hips. It may take three or more layers of plaster to keep the mannequin in good shape.
Depending on the thickness of the layer, some time is required for the gypsum to harden. As it hardens, marks are applied to the surface of the future dummy on the shoulders and sides, which are necessary in the future for accurate alignment of parts. With a sharp knife, the plaster of Paris is carefully cut along the lateral and shoulder lines and the mold is cut into two parts.
The inner surface of the dummy is coated with melted paraffin and filled with polyurethane foam: in the future, the paraffin layer will make it easy to separate the foam cast from the plaster base. Layer-by-layer foam is filled in both halves of the mannequin, waiting for the necessary time for each layer to harden. A clothes hanger is put into the structure, both halves of the form are connected and they are fastened with tape.
The final stage of mannequin manufacturing
After the foam is completely dry, the plaster mold is removed, the surface of the workpiece is leveled with sandpaper and the control marks are checked for coincidence. To make the dummy smooth and smooth out irregularities, you can apply a layer of gypsum putty on it and then grind it with the finest emery paper.
If the control measurements do not coincide with the original, then all errors are corrected by grinding or gluing thin layers of fabric. The final stage is wrapping the blank with batting or padding polyester and installing the mannequin on the stand.
As a stand, you can use a shovel handle installed on a regular cross. To give the hand-made mannequin a more aesthetic appearance, over the batting, it can be neatly wrapped with elastic knitwear of beautiful colors.
