Hate, Hate, Hate

I HATE spending money on clothes - always have.
I HATE having clothes that don't fit properly
and
I HATE never finding the material/fabric and textures that I want to wear

Besides clothes are so ridiculously expensive I just can't get over the markup.
Even when I was young and in a scholarship pageant (yes--I had to try to come up with the money to go to college), I wore a homemade dress.

So, Jovan (my son's gfriend) wanted to help me make a dress form - and we did - so I could make my own clothes.

Here's how we did it using an old shirt and duct tape.

First I picked out an old shirt.

Then we started duct taping it.

I think I'm saying, "Hey watch where you're putting that duct tape."
After one layer was finished
We put on a second layer of duct tape, using white duct tape so we could see where we'd already put the tape. I was getting tired standing for so long (maybe because it was 11:30 p.m. or maybe because I'm just getting old) but it was worth it. We ran out of white duct tape but thought we had enough layers already so
then we cut off the duct taped shirt
Then we stuffed the shirt with newspaperand sealed the bottom with paper and tape. We used black duct tape to seal up the top portion so the paper wouldn't fall out. Then I made my own pattern off of one of my favorite dresses.
And started sewing
I had to adjust the shoulder seams and take it in on the sides, but it is a whole lot easier to get a good fit when you use a dress form that is made to your body.
And, I'm not model but here's how it came out (and I even had enough material to make a scarf)
I also tried using the scarf as a belt and a cummerbund for another look