I’m really excited about my new dress form. It arrived early this week and I set it up immediately. It’s from The Shop Company. I wanted one that was fairly size specific and closest to my measurements, so I chose one of the pinnable professional forms. They also have some great dress forms that aren’t as heavy duty, but would serve well as a model for hand knits. I’ve wanted a dress form for a long time to shoot pics of finished shawls or in-progress sweaters because sometimes that’s much easier than trying to take pics of myself with a tripod and timer, or waiting for a time when Matt and I are both available, Z is otherwise occupied, and the light is also good.pensacola

I love the slightly industrial look of it. It’s hanging out in my living room right now, and I think I will just keep it there, changing out the hand knits once in awhile. This one has removable magnetic shoulders, so it’s easy to slip the garments over the top. I’m excited to use it to visualize sweaters-in-progress because I can pin the pieces directly into the form.pensacola-2

Right now it’s modeling what I’ve done so far on the Pensacola Sweater, the project I’m working on for the Orkney to Omaha historical knitting project. I’m really loving this sweater so far. I don’t think I’ll be writing up this pattern, but I will try to provide enough notes on Ravelry by the time I finish, that someone could replicate what I’m doing, or customize it to their measurements. If you want to check out the Pensacola Sweater original pattern for yourself, you can check out the link from knitbyahenshop (sorry, I don’t know your first name!). She commented on my last post with a link to all of the patterns in that booklet. Thank you!

pensacola-3

This is customized for an actress in the film Tell Them of Us. She has 33-25-41 measurements, which are a bit smaller than the form on the bust and waist, but this still provides a good approximation of how it might look on her. This form arrived just in time for this project! The yarn is Blacker Classic Lleyn Wool. It’s a DK tweed yarn with some BFL. The color is slate. It’s a wee bit scratchy, but shows off the texture of the stitches so well, and I think it will look lovely on the redheaded actress that will be wearing it. pensacola-4

This is a bit of a tangent, but I was surprised by some sizing information on these dress forms vs. those of many clothing labels. When I chose the dress form size, I picked the form that fit most of my measurements, but I considered the bust to be most important out of these for accurate sweater knitting. Granted, I am still about 15 baby-related pounds away from this being totally accurate for my body, but this provides some extra incentive to get going. I learned some interesting things about vanity sizing with this form. Pre-baby, I could wear many things in a size 4 or 6 with these measurements (35 full bust-27 waist-37 hips). I thought of myself as about a size 4 or 6 since those fit most of the times in stores. I was a little shocked that these measurements were an 8 on the dress forms, but I know my waist was never smaller than a 27 and I wanted an accurate bust measurement for sure. Just out of curiosity, I tried some of my old sizes on the form. They all fit perfectly, even a size 2 dress from Banana Republic. Talk about some vanity sizing! This is more evidence that it’s best to just forget about the label and go with what fits. I’ve definitely been guilty of being hung up on sizes before.

I’m really excited to try to figure out the sleeve and neck area on this sweater next! More progress shots will come soon.

 

%d bloggers like this: