I was very excited today to find that my Uniquely You dress form had arrived in the mail. Here we are together, in our double-chinned wet hair glory:
In comparing her Medium Large Size 11 Cover to myself, I did discover that in spite of the fact that I have nursed 2 babies, my chest is higher than hers. And she has very Madonna cone-like breasts, which I don't believe are really found in nature. They also gape underneath, which mine do not. Of course I am also wearing a supportive bra and she is hanging in the wind.
Her rib cage is 4 inches bigger than mine, but my butt is 7 inches bigger than hers. Mainly because some of us are built as per Sir Mix-a-lot and some of us (of the foam variety) are not. My waist is smaller, but we are roughly the same body length. Consequently, she should be able to be altered accordingly. It might involve surgery (many costumers have had to give their dress forms mastectomies to get the breasts in the right spots - particularly when using a corset) and I believe the tool of choice is the turkey slicer.
Its like we're twins! Or not.
Also, I was beyond excited to discover that Simplicity had come out with this pattern:
I have been working on the QE1 costume and the Queen Mary I costumes, both of which I am making using Margo Anderson's patterns. However, Margo's Tudor pattern is delayed in printing, and its getting down to the wire for me in terms of getting the other outfits made.
I would prefer (of course) to be historically accurate. However, it really only has to LOOK historically accurate in terms of matching the portrait. Thus, I could use these Simplicity patterns.
I have been making the Chick's out of the Tudor Tailor book, mainly because their default size is her size. However, drafting those patterns up and down on the 1-inch grid squares would likely cause the Chick and I to lose our minds, so that is out of the question. I could buy the Tudor Tailor patterns, but with shipping from the UK they are around $50. And not for all the sizes I need.
My other option was the Reconstructing History patterns. Which come all sizes to one envelope, and are $30 + shipping. Once again, in an effort to conserve time, rather than having to trace all the pieces over and over again as to changes in sizing, I would rather go to Joann's during their 5 for $5.00 Simplicity pattern sales and buy one pattern per Queen and be done with it. I think the Simplicity pattern should be able to be modified to make them appear more historically accurate.
I am using Margo's underpinnings patterns for the farthingales, chemises, and partletts. I am also using Margo's comfort gown pattern for Katherine Parr's red gown.
I do want to buy her Tudor patterns when they come out, as I would like to have a historically accurate Tudor outfit that fits my Sir Mix-a-lot booty, and I have had nothing but success so far with her patterns. At this point, though, Simplicity looks to be winning, merely in terms of timing and cost.
Finally, we need to get a name for my Foamy Double. All of my mannequins/dress forms have always had names. Initially this was for convenience when I was doing the Highland Festival circuit. If someone fell over we could say, "Oh, Susan fell over." or "Angus is getting ready to take a header." Other than "The mannequin wearing the wedding dress and corset has tipped over."
My prior mannequins were: Susan (plus size), Tiffany (petite and tiny and often referred to as "Tiffany, that bitch"), Matilda (currently residing in the basement with me), Angus (the actual man-nequin), Lillian 1 & 2 (child size), David (toddler size) and the large plastic plus size mannequin whom I believe was named Felicity.
Current suggestions for names are: Joan (The Chick), Sabrina (Princess A), Beatrice (G's idea, although my Grandmother was named Beatrice). I could be partial to Bea (a la Bea Arthur), Rose, Dorothy, Sophia or Blanche, all excellent "Golden Girls" references. Any ideas? Votes? I'm leaning right now towards Blanche or Sophia. Just because I want to periodically look at people and say, "Picture this. Sicily, 1942."
As for the picture session with The Unnamed Foamy Thing and I, G was terribly helpful. There were several, "Oh that's a good picture!" to "We're just going to delete that one right now," to "I think this is the best we are going to get," to "Oh no, you've got the Crazy Eye happening here, Mom."
It was loads of fun. I highly recommend letting your 14-year-old take pictures of you. Especially when they are correct about the Crazy Eye.
That's all. Hopefully more updates tomorrow, and be sure to let me know your vote for new Mannequin name.
