Meet Matilda - My New Helper

 Matilda is on the right - that's The Queen on the left:

The Queen looks a bit lumpy, eh?   OK, she's a LOT lumpy!   At least she was free, notwithstanding the hours spent removing the lingering smell of cigarettes.  And the $$ spent on the Fabulous Fit foam, trying (in vain) to get her to match me.   Sadly, in spite of the 37 nuts & bolts adjusters inside, there were structural issues that made her utterly impossible to ever get a really good match for me - torso too short, shoulders too wide, bust too....something....    So she's really been more of a glorified garment holder than a fitting buddy.

Yesterday, while taking a break from paperwork, I somehow found my fingers browsing "sewing" on craigslist (how does that happen?) and there was a dress form - cheap! - and close!   I called the seller and it sounded like she was worth looking at.

And she was.   In fact, she was worth bringing home.  (along with a couple of other goodies, but we won't discuss them....still cheap!)

I think that, with a little bit of careful measuring, I can make her look about as close to me as a dress form can be!   Here's why:

 She is constructed entirely of foam!   Squishy, moldable foam.  And a canvas covering, zipped up the back, that ideally is seamed to make an exact match of the body.  Hopefully I'll be able to utilize the covering that came with her, and I figure that with some help from the  Fabulous Fit foam and some research in making a well-fitting moulage I should end up with something that will actually help me in fitting - what a nice concept, eh?

 A search for "Faithfully Yours Dress Form" brought up this newspaper ad from 1967:

Even better, check out the other goodies in the Singer ad!:

Matilda has to be nearly 50 years old, and still happy to serve!   Considering I paid $20 for her, she even held her value fairly well.  :)

I've been reading the blog posts that a few of you have made recently on dress forms; I'll definitely be checking them out more thoroughly as I play with Matilda, and hopefully end up with a helpful sewing twin!

Any hints, suggestions, links, etc. in this venture will be more appreciated :)  Have you ever seen or used a dress form like this before?   I would SO love to have my Mom's old dress form - a network of interlocking metal mesh that was infinitely adjustable, and held itself in place with a covering.   I've never seen another one like it.  If and until I have several hundred unclaimed smackeroos to spend on one of the fancy name brand forms, I'm hoping that Matilda will serve me well :)

Oh yes...The Frosting Report:  I did, indeed, make Pocket #2, and I'm happy to report that it went very smoothly.  Practice pays off!  The project is moving right along, and really will be my next post. :)