How to make a mannequin with your own hands. Master class on making a mannequin
I am taylor. And in Russian my profession is called tailor. I love to sew. But, it just so happens - a shoemaker - without boots. I have never had a mannequin according to my figure at home. And here's a miracle - I stumbled on a site on the internet that tells how you can make a clone dummy with your own hands with a minimum of costs. Tomorrow I'll start...
Make your mannequin!
"Shoemaker without shoes!". This is the fate that awaits if you know how to sew, but there is no one to help with the fitting. With a non-standard back - the biggest complications. Your own double will help you solve the problem - a mannequin created in the image and likeness of your body.
The first experience in making a mannequin from adhesive tape was unsuccessful, but the shortcomings of the instructions offered by the Americans were clarified.
The second mannequin was made using improved technology and completed successfully. You can follow the well-known instructions, you can go my way, and even better - make your own, more progressive changes to the technology of making your own double and share with everyone.
Warning: Do not start making a mannequin in a stuffy or hot room, also be careful if the room is too cold. When winding, do not pull the tape, otherwise the person will become ill from suffocation and from impaired blood circulation. Tip for the "teapot": before you start wrapping yourself, take a glass of liquor, it relaxes.
What do you need: Adhesive tape 80-100 meters (packing in the photo). Wooden coat hanger. A cardboard tube from a fabric store (cloth is wound around it at the factory). T-shirt. Polyethylene or plastic bag. Safety pin. Scissors. Wire. Corrugated cardboard. Sintepon. Foam rubber. Marker. Plumb. Portnovsky meter. Stand for mannequin. And most importantly... handy partner.
Operating procedure:
What is it for? During the manufacture of the first mannequin, it turned out that the design has the ability to "slide" up. The action described above will fix the manikin shell while working.
Fix the shape of the chest: stick the tape crosswise under the bust, bringing the ends to the shoulders.
They didn’t make a cut on the pipe to the jumper of the hangers, this would have weakened the structure: our pipe turned out to be not so thick and strong. For the jumper, holes were made in the pipe, the jumper was inserted and re-attached to the hangers.
The bottom end of the plumb line should touch the extreme point of the back of the bottom (move the pipe in the right direction to match). Repeat the operation, moving the plumb line along the hip line, until you find the exact location for the hole. Circle the base of the pipe with a felt-tip pen on the bottom and cut it.
Set aside the resulting difference on the mannequin down from the mark of the seventh cervical vertebra (cut off the excess part of the pipe). Put the pipe on the leg of the chair. Your doppelgänger is ready!
Everything, as always, did not start with that. There was no idea to make a mannequin, but there was a need to reupholster a time-worn sliding tailor's mannequin. There was a thin plastic mold under the upholstery. And then I remembered for twenty years as an unfulfilled desire to make a Venetian mask. Everyone did not reach the mask, but the idea to try washable toilet paper sleeves as papier-mâché came about three years ago, and since then these sleeves have been accumulating. And then there is the search for new opportunities for photographing their work, and uninteresting purchased mannequins, and the cost of interesting ones ... In general, let's go. I’ll make a reservation right away, I have never dealt with papier-mâché or wire, therefore, most likely, I violated a bunch of rules for handling these materials. Therefore, I will write about those mistakes that I myself noticed - and you, when making your mannequin, will not repeat them.
I smeared the plastic molds of the front of the tailor's mannequin with hand cream and put a layer of pieces of A4 paper on the water.
I did the second layer of bushings like this: I disconnected the bushings along the “seam”, resulting in diamond-shaped sheets of cardboard, which I then tore into pieces (at that moment I still didn’t take my idea seriously, I was curious to know if the bushings were suitable for the role of mass for papier -mache, so I didn’t bother with small pieces and glued them in large strips.Later, my daughter repeated the experiment, making a mask, and it turned out that it was easy to glue small pieces and it was very easy to work out the details right away).
I prepared glue: for a glass of warm water - 1 tsp. glue for vinyl wallpaper (stirred until dissolved) and 4-5 tbsp. PVA glue.
These roll sleeves are very insidious and strive to dissolve right in my hands, so I tried them on the chosen place on the form, applied them and immediately smeared them with a brush with glue. The paper mass at this time is very plastic and easy to smooth. Glued in one layer with an overlap. The last layer is A4 paper.
I repeated the process on the plastic form of the back.
My mistakes: it was necessary to first fasten the halves in front with paper tape (as I did later with the halves of the back), then it would be easier to connect the finished papier-mâché forms. But the mannequin became much slimmer at the waist, I pulled it off during assembly :)
And the second mistake: the rolls are thick enough, so it makes sense to glue two layers, but without overlaps - it will be easier later when leveling with putty.
My model dried up in about a day, did not deform at all. It came off the mold very easily. Turned out thin and very durable. The fact that it is crooked is the result of my sloppy work, I checked the possibilities of the material and did not really care about accuracy.
But since everything worked out, I decided to continue making a vintage-style mannequin. I imagined what he might look like if I met him living in some flea market.
Now it's the turn of the connection. Immediately the question arose of decorating the neck, or rather its stump. Some kind of knob was needed ... and then luckily, my eyes caught on a glass jar with Chinese tea. The shape and size fit perfectly! It remains only to put the lid of the jar on liquid nails (Installation moment).
And I simply fastened the parts of the mannequin with a thin wire, since my papier-mâché was pierced with a thin awl. That's what I did. As I already wrote above, I pulled the waist, fastening the parts with an overlap.
Primed in two layers with acrylic wall paint (universal, washable from Leroy Merlin), with a layer of universal building acrylic primer (also from Leroy).
As far as I know, it was necessary to process with Levkas for papier-mâché, but I didn’t have it, and there were some remnants of materials after the repair. Just in case, I applied a layer of PVA, I was afraid that my mannequin would get wet from wet putty. Dried well.
Then I leveled the entire structure with the usual construction acrylic putty. I leveled without fanaticism, because my mannequin is planned to be vintage and a certain number of irregularities should not spoil it (I will say right away that in some places it turned out even too even, it was necessary to leave more roughness).
The depressions on the chest (places for attaching plastic forms) were smeared with a layer of one and a half to two centimeters - and nothing, the papier-mâché did not get wet. I dried it for a day, processed it a little with coarse sandpaper, primed it with building acrylic primer.
It turned out such a stump. He looked pitiful and clearly asked for something below the waist.
But I didn’t intend to drag the bottom of the tailor’s mannequin, and it was no longer interesting to repeat the whole epic with pasting the bottom of papier-mâché, so I decided to make a “skirt” out of something.
At first the idea of a wire basket came to mind, but I did not find anything suitable. So I had to make this basket.
It took: two coils of wire (one hard - 2 mm, the second soft - 1 mm) from Leroy Merlin, wire cutters, round nose pliers, pliers and a lampshade for a floor lamp (also from Leroy, there is quite a large selection of lampshades for 120-130 r).
The lampshade was stripped off and received two wire rings (one with a mount for the ceiling).
I think that it would be possible to do without a lampshade at all and make these rings myself, but, firstly, I did not have a wire, the strength of which I would be sure, and secondly, a mount for the ceiling, resting against the table, fixed the desired height of the “skirt” for me, which simplified further assembly.
I drew the desired shape on a piece of paper, leaving more space for the buttocks. The rings are slightly bent. I fixed the shape with three stretch marks from the bottom and began to collect my basket.
First, I connected the rings in vertical stripes (I tried on, marked the selected attachment point with a marker, bit off a piece of wire a little longer than necessary with wire cutters, bent it, keeping the shape of the skirt in my head, bent the ends with pliers and fixed the attachment point with a thin wire). I got a frame with 14 vertical wires.
I arbitrarily twisted the decor with round-nose pliers - I bent the wire in spirals arbitrarily and sometimes connected 2-3 elements with soft wire
Then, in an artistic mess, I assembled all the elements, attaching them to the frame and, sometimes, connecting them with soft wire. It turned out such a lampshade basket.
My mistake: I had to use a softer copper wire or use brute force, because my hands did not like this stage of work at all. True, I tried to attract male power; she bent well, but, alas, she did not catch the direction of the bends.
The shape suited me perfectly, but with vintage it turned out a little bad. Therefore, I brushed the entire structure with texture paste with a brush. It dried overnight and gave my basket a rather miserable look, but additionally fixed the components.
It turned out to be very inconvenient to remove the paste burrs with sandpaper, and the nozzle on the drill instantly peeled off the paste completely. I was about to be sad, but just in time I remembered the corsette. And she did not disappoint! The paste was polished in just minutes. The sharp ends of the wire were smoothed out and the whole structure turned out to be very smooth and pleasant to the touch. Brass bristles also colored the paste, giving the wire the desired vintage flair.
Then I connected the torso with the basket. I drilled several paired holes around the waist and tied it with a thin wire. The design turned out to be stable, but just in case, I also walked with liquid nails along the inner contour of the connection.
Decoupage skills would not interfere here, but this, alas, is not mine. I painted the mannequin with two-component paint "Antique Silver" (American Accents) and it began to evoke thoughts of jousting and Joan of Arc.
That is, the mannequin was already quite associated with the flea market, but not at all with my knitted scarves, which I was going to photograph on it.
I decided to add curls to the decor. I drew the contours of monograms on sheets of paper, put the sheets into files, smeared the files with hand cream (just in case, so that it would stick less). I prepared a mass for painting: 1 x 1 texture paste and wood putty (I have elastic FOR WOOD). I added water to the consistency of very thick sour cream and, using a pastry bag, squeezed the paste onto the file.
They dried overnight and very easily separated from the file. It turned out to be something between rubber and plastic (if I still get around to making a mask someday, it will simply be an indispensable material for decoration). I glued the monograms on the PVA, at the junction of the torso with the basket I made a smooth transition to the wire. My Joan of Arc began to resemble a strange cream cake :)
In some places she caused scratches, scuffs and chips on the monogram (nail, emery, knife). I painted my stucco.
My mistake: it was necessary to glue the monograms before the general painting, then I would not have to mess around with a thin brush later. The militancy in my mannequin had diminished, but the knitted scarf was still not associated with his neck.
I did not have time to get upset - my daughter came and took over the leadership of the process. She collected almost all the paints that were found in the house (including building, decorative, paints / contours for fabric and for glass), and for four hands we arbitrarily smeared and smacked with half-dry brushes and sponges for an hour. And here's what happened in the end.
If I were a decoupage artist, I would make the effect of old paper, if I knew how to weave from wire, I would make openwork weaving, but, in general, I liked the result. And most importantly - it was very interesting!
With a run, she wove another small mannequin in the Provence style.
Every seamstress, experienced or, sooner or later realizes the need for a mannequin - for endless fitting and fitting of their creations. The easiest way to find and buy a finished model of the human body, for example, after the store is closed. But this is not always possible, and the prices even for used mannequins bite, not to mention new ones. How to be? You can, of course, use family members for the above purposes, or you can make a mannequin with your own hands using a simple master class. The advantage of this option, in addition to unconditional profitability, is that you can easily make a personal mannequin according to your figure, the figures of loved ones and even regular customers - the only question is patience and a place to store finished products. Having learned about the simplicity of this procedure, many needlewomen will immediately ask themselves a lot of questions about how to sew a mannequin with their own hands. We offer several ideas.
How to make a mannequin from tape with your own hands?
We will need:
- unnecessary t-shirt;
- food film;
- a lot of metallized adhesive tape from a building supermarket, at least 100 m;
- 2 cylinders with building foam;
- scissors;
- assistant - you can't do it alone.
Progress:
Of course, this method requires effort and a lot of time, but the result is worth it.
How to make a mannequin for sewing children's clothes?
Such a mannequin is extremely simple to manufacture and is suitable, for example, as a model for sewing outerwear. Due to the design features, in order to make a mannequin close to the real size of the child, you can take clothes a few values smaller than the current size.
Any novice seamstress sooner or later feels a great need for a tailor's mannequin. With its help, the process of cutting products is greatly simplified. However, such a device is quite expensive, so not every master can purchase it. There is a way out of this situation - try to make mannequins with your own hands. What is needed for this and how to cope with the task, we will tell in our article.
Preparatory stage
Before starting work, decide on the size of the mannequin. If most of the manufactured items belong to the children's category, then it is better to focus on small options. To create such a texture of the human body, the participation of a child of the appropriate age will be necessary.
Do-it-yourself standard mannequins are easier to make, but it also requires the participation of one assistant. The height of the structure depends on the height of the seamstress. On sale, there are mainly devices of average size, with a height of 146 to 179 centimeters.
Plaster mannequin: materials for making
Before you think about how to make a mannequin with your own hands, you need to decide for what purposes a person is being created. If it is needed for tailoring clothes for an individual client, then such a device should repeat all the subtleties and features of his figure. In such cases, it is better to give preference to gypsum products.
If the design should only figuratively repeat the curves of the human body, you can make it from ordinary adhesive tape and food foil. To imagine what both processes look like, we will consider both ways of making do-it-yourself mannequins.
Making a model of a certain person: necessary materials
It will take a lot of effort and patience to create an accurate model of the figure of a person, but the result will justify all these sacrifices. The following materials and devices will be used during the work:
- roll of cling film;
- Scotch;
- gypsum mixture;
- polyurethane foam (about 2 cylinders);
- sandpaper;
- paraffin;
- putty;
- medical bandages;
- coat hanger;
- synthetic winterizer or batting.
A laser level is useful for drawing lines of the chest, waist and hips on the layout. But if such a device is not available, you can make a tailor's mannequin without it.
We create the base of the mannequin
If all the necessary materials are purchased and you have enough free time, then you can get to work. To begin with, the assistant (whose layout will be created) should change into clothes that you don’t mind getting dirty.
- The human body must be carefully covered with cling film. In this case, it is very important not to squeeze the figure and not to tighten the polyethylene too much. If the film was not at hand, you can wrap the figure in large packages, cut lengthwise.
- Fix the edges of the film on the figure with adhesive tape.
- Further, the entire body covered with rolled material must be pasted over with adhesive tape. This must be done as carefully as possible so that the material does not squeeze all the natural bulges of the figure. It is more convenient to use small tapes of adhesive tape, no more than 20 cm long. You need to stick them on the body with a slight overlap. Small and textured bulges are best pasted over in pieces of 5 cm.
At this preparatory stage of creating a tailor's mannequin is over. Here you can relax a little and start kneading the gypsum mixture. Next, the following steps are performed:
- Medical or cut gauze should be moistened in the prepared solution and begin to apply stripes to the figure. First of all, the tapes are superimposed, starting from the back, over the shoulder and under the chest.
- In the area of the shoulder blades, the material is placed crosswise. This is necessary so that wet bandages do not slip on a slippery base.
- Gradually, plaster overlays cover the entire surface of the body up to the hips. In order for the form for the mannequin to be strong enough, you need to apply at least three layers of bandage. A larger amount will be physically difficult to withstand.
On this, the manufacture of a mold for creating mannequins with your own hands can be considered finished.
It remains only to wait until the gypsum mortar hardens. At this time, it is worth doing as few movements as possible so that the frame does not deform.
How to make a mannequin at home: filling the form
After the solution hardens enough, the resulting form must be removed from the person. Before that, you need to draw control stripes on the surface, which will serve as a guide when folding the two parts.
Starting from the armpit, the plaster cast is cut on both sides. This is done with a sharp knife so as not to injure the person inside.
At this stage, it is no longer difficult to guess how to make a mannequin with your own hands, because the form for filling with foam is already ready. Next, you need to do the following:
- To smooth out all the irregularities of the plaster cast, its inner surface must be smeared with putty.
- After the mixture hardens, a layer of paraffin is applied on top. For these purposes, a pair of ordinary candles is suitable.
- Now the empty space of the first and second halves is filled with mounting foam. This is best done in layers. So the composition will harden much faster.
- In one of the forms you need to lay a coat hanger. It will give the layout additional strength.
- At the end, the last layer of foam is applied to one of the halves, after which both parts are pressed tightly against each other. For reliability, it is better to fasten them tightly with tape and leave until the foam dries completely.
After the composition has hardened, the adhesive tape is cut off, and the plaster molds can be easily removed from the finished mold.
Finishing work
So we figured out how to make a mannequin of a person that will accurately display all the features of his figure as accurately as possible. However, the frozen foam mold will be difficult to use as a working material, so now you need to start finishing.
If paraffin remains on the walls of the layout, it must be removed. This is best done with a sharp knife.
Since it is difficult to create a smooth surface with mounting foam, the figure must be sanded with fine-grained sandpaper. In this case, you can not press hard. It is enough to remove large bumps.
Now you need to make a sewing mannequin. No matter how beautiful the white and smooth layout looks, it is rather inconvenient in work, since it is impossible to stick needles into it. To eliminate this drawback, you need to use a thin synthetic winterizer or batting. They need to paste over the entire surface of the figure.
The mannequin is now ready to use. The cost of materials for its manufacture is approximately 1000 rubles, which is 5 times less than the price of the finished model.
Materials for making a papier-mâché mannequin
If you are not ready to spend a lot of time using the previous method, then you can make simpler do-it-yourself mannequins. Of course, in this case it will not be possible to convey the smallest bends of a human figure, but it is quite possible to work with this option.
For work you will need:
- 4 rolls of tape;
- unnecessary t-shirt;
- scissors;
- synthetic winterizer or foam rubber.
In the process of work, an assistant will also be required, since it will be very difficult to do the work on your own.
The process of making a layout
The start of creating a layout in this option is similar to the previous method. Wrap cling film over an old t-shirt and secure with tape. Layer by layer, you need to carefully cover the entire surface of the film and use up a full 4 skeins of adhesive tape. In the chest area, you need to use short pieces of adhesive tape.
When the cocoon of adhesive tape is fully formed, you need to mark the middle of the back. It is marked on the cervical vertebrae. For this purpose, it is more convenient to use a plumb line. You also immediately need to apply transverse lines that will indicate how to properly glue the base for the mannequin.
On the drawn line you need to cut the resulting shape. The bottom edge of the layout is aligned with scissors. The resulting form should stand on its own on the table. The layout is ready. Now you can start filling and finishing it.
Final steps
Before making a mannequin out of papier-mâché, we considered the option with foam filling. In this case, it should not be used, since the adhesive tape sheath is inferior in strength to gypsum. This is a lightweight option, and for its stuffing it is better to use foam rubber or synthetic filler.
Let's consider the next steps:
- The cut on the back must be glued. After that, the layout must be covered again with several layers of adhesive tape.
- The bottom of the figure should be installed on thick cardboard and circled along the contour. This will make the bottom of the mannequin, which can be glued after it is filled.
- Inside the shell, you need to carefully tamp the selected filler. Now the holes in the arms, neck and hips can be sealed.
To smooth the surface of the figure, the papier-mâché technique is used. To do this, roll paper must be moistened with water, and when it gets wet, replace the water with PVA glue. In this state, the paper must be placed on the mannequin. When all polyethylene is covered, the product is left to dry for 48 hours.
Making a stand for a mannequin
When the model of a person is ready, it's time to think about how to make a stand for a mannequin. First you need to make a cross from wooden blocks. To do this, a hole is cut in each bar half the thickness of the second bar. This will allow you to evenly fasten 2 elements.
Next, a horizontal stick is attached to them, on which the height of the layout will depend. It can be screwed to the cruciform base using self-tapping screws. Metal or wooden corners can also be used here. The type of fastener is not particularly important, the main thing is that the stand is stable enough.
The layout itself is put on the free edge of the stick. In the case of mounting foam, you do not need to make special holes, and in cardboard it is necessary to foresee one in advance.
Conclusion
We looked at two ways to make mannequins. One is simpler, the other is laborious, but allows you to create a durable layout. In any case, both options can significantly reduce the cost of acquiring a model of the human body.
The indisputable advantage of making a mold for cutting clothes on your own is that you can repeat the curves of the figure of any person with maximum accuracy. The dimensions of the wooden mannequin (which can be purchased at the store) are standard, which makes tailoring with a large number of fittings. For this reason, it is sometimes more expedient to make a mannequin yourself.
Hello dear readers!
Today is a post for needlewomen. Namely, how I made my mannequin. I'll tell you what it took, how it all happened, and my sad, but now EXPERIENCED conclusions. Don't repeat my mistakes)
I made a mannequin from videos and articles. I didn't want to bother with plaster, foam, etc. My goal was - FAST, SIMPLE and INEXPENSIVE to make a mannequin for your figure, to make it convenient to make changes when sewing, to model and invent different styles and learn to work with fabric.
Here's the video that I felt most suited my purpose: And yet - simple and understandable.
So.
What we needed to create a mannequin:
How we made the mannequin
1. Creating a cocoon - the basis of a mannequin
My husband wrapped me in a film, from neck to hips. And then tape.
Here was the first sadness. The construction tape is thick, and because my “details” are rather miniature, many lines have smoothed out, especially SHE - the chest. It turned out to be a flat board)))
I think next time we will try with regular tape.
If there is an empty space in the bra, then stuff something there, otherwise the bra will shrink under the tape, and you will get a distortion, as happened with us. This is the second failure.
And further. It is better not to tighten the winding, because while we were wrapping the top, all my internal contents descended into the stomach, and in the mannequin it turned out to be too large, I had to cut it.
Wrapped in several layers, cut along the spine in a zigzag (without cutting the T-shirts!), Removed, glued the cut. All this took 40 minutes. I cut the belly of the mannequin from the navel down and overlapped the edges to reduce the volume, and still the mannequin turned out to be wider at the waist than me. Here is such a beauty:
As soon as we glued it together, I saw how CURVED I was! One shoulder is developed more than the other, the clavicles are skewed, all stooped, although I tried to stand very evenly during the wrapping. Now I seriously took up my posture, I do special simple exercises, I conduct an experiment, I am preparing an article)
2. Filling the mannequin
As a backbone, a long tube from a roll paper from a photo salon was inserted into the mannequin (you can ask for it there). And they began to cram "Woman".
At first I used old rags (collected from relatives), but this turned out to be a mistake, because the hard fabrics did not fill the voids well, and they had to be cut. And it was necessary to stuff the mannequin very tightly.
In general, I began to use newspapers - a super solution! They went in very tight and didn't fall out. But the chest was still crammed with rags, and when our mannequin fell “on the chest” once, it finally crumpled and now you can’t immediately tell where his back is
I tried to keep the tube in the center. It took a lot of newspapers - 80 pieces (8-sheet).
3. Neck and bottom for mannequin
The rest of the skein of adhesive tape was inserted into the neck (it fit perfectly in diameter), pieces of paper were inserted into the slots. The husband screwed the skein to the tube with screws.
He made the bottom out of plywood (he sawed it out somehow with a jigsaw. In general, a man's work. Of course, it was possible to make cardboard, but with plywood it is more reliable and stronger.
4. We sew a cover for a mannequin with our own hands
I just put the "Woman" on the fabric, circled around the perimeter, made two such details, sewed on a typewriter with a knitted seam everywhere except the bottom and pulled it over the mannequin. It turned out that the cover fits the mannequin perfectly, and even on the bottom it pulls itself together under the plywood. I left it like that.
5. We install a stand for a mannequin with our own hands
I entrusted this to my husband. He used a shovel handle and plywood. Adjusted for my height. It looked like this:
Later, when the mannequin fell more than once, the husband reinforced it with additional planks. Now she doesn't fall
Ready! Happiness of creativity! Ease of fitting!
So, has the goal been achieved?
conclusions
Achieved:
- Inexpensive. Yes. The cost price was 675 rubles. (350 rubles - adhesive tape, 25 rubles - film, 200 rubles - fabric, 100 rubles - a shovel handle). Buying a store for me would cost 2000r. because You can't buy a mannequin in our city.
- Quickly. Yes, if I had contacted with polyurethane foam and alabaster, it would have been 5 times longer.
- Just. Yes, everything turned out to be within our power.
- Sample opportunity. Yes. As a hanger, a mannequin is very convenient to use. It is convenient to model, invent, study how fabrics behave.
Not achieved:
- Possibility to make changes while sewing. No. Because the mannequin turned out to be "MY" only in the shoulders, back and length, and the chest, waist and stomach turned out to be far from the original, anyway I measure the skirts on myself, and sew the shoulder items loose. I have not worked with darts on the chest and back yet.
So some things worked out, some things didn't. But in any case, it has become MUCH more convenient and easier to sew, model, CREATE! And also dress up a mannequin and look from the side whether things are combined with each other or not. It's like a doll from childhood, only BIG!)
Here is such a childish delight in me. I think I’ll sew like this for now, and when I start to master shoulder products with tucks, I’ll see if it doesn’t work at all, then we’ll make a new mannequin.
