In the previous post I’ve started to share how to make a tailoring dummy doll which fits to me exactly and which I can use to sew cloth for myself. Now it’s time to continue…
Last time we stopped at cutting the obtained cast and started preparing for the filling the foam into the cast.
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test of the foam. Such a cute test
Now we put a lot of Vaseline at the inner surface of the cast. Amount of Vaseline is important, we need to put really a lot! Do not forget to put it in the cutting line. Then close back the cast and fix it with plastic foil and the tape. In principle you can start to fill the foam.
Since I wanted to have a leg to let my dummy doll standing we had to find way to fix it. We decided to put the leg inside the foam. And here was a small problem. For the filling we would need to turn the cast upside down and at the same time keep straight position. To achieve this, I stood straight next to the wall touching the wall with buttocks and then we approximately measured the distance between wall and my shoulders by putting a book of suitable thickness. Afterwards, we put the cast next the wall and use the same book to keep it straight. Check the horizontal position of the bottom edge of the cast my water-line. Fix it to the wall using plastic foil (we actually used book shelve as a wall).
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Well packed. The cloth above is to protect the neck edge
Position is correct and everything is well fixed
Step 7: filling. And now fill the cast. We did it in 4 steps. First the small amount of foam, then we put a leg for the dummy in the middle and fix it vertically. The leg has a cross to add more stability and be sure that wooden stick won’t move out after some time. Originally we planed to put the cross at the shoulder level, but later decided to move it to the hips level for two reasons. First is weight balance, better to have hips heavier than shoulders. Dummy doll will stand more stable. Second is a danger of moving stick by expansion of the foam. It is better to have a small narrow edge of the stick in the beginning of the filling and then it will be better fixed for later.
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First portion of the foam. It expands and dries very fast. Be quick!
Now fix the leg strictly vertical
We had some bad surprise – was not enough foam. I estimated quite well how much we need, and bought 2,5 kg of the foam, but there was only 2,2 kg in the bottles which can be effectively used. Unfortunately, it was not enough. We used another foam, not 2-phase liquid foam but a spray for door isolation. It is also PU foam, but filling large volume with this spray is not very comfortable, dries very long and sometimes there are relatively big holes. However, for last 5 cm is was fine.
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Nearly done, but foam is over…
Another foam, not 2 phase but spray for door isolation. Not that comfortable as liquid but still works
Step 8: opening the cast. After drying the foam you can open the cast and finally get your dummy. And here serious problems came. The foam was stuck to the cast and we could not remove it without breaking. After an hour of trying we decided to break it. The foam stuck under arms and a bit on the side close to the cutting line. Obviously, there was not enough Vaseline, however we put it everywhere. I think the reason is too thin layer of Vaseline. During expanding the foam is getting very hot and Vaseline melts and could get out of the surface or soaked by the foam due to its porous structure. So the layer of the Vaseline should be really very thick. When the foam stuck there is no way to remove the cast. So we used file to remove the stuck gauze from the dummy. And here is dummy doll!
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Out of the cast… Here you can see stuck areas, there are several of them. We used a file to remove it
nice foot to support the dummy
Step 9: now it’s time to make a foot. This part was done by my boyfriend completely, I would not be able to cut so nicely wood and put it together. The foot looks very nice and it’s very stable.
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Dummy is nearly ready!
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Now put a wadding fabric around to make it soft and smooth
last step – decoration fabric
And now it’s time for wadding fabric. I had very thin and loose fabric, it does not give to much padding but also does not add too much extra volume. It’s very easy to wrap your dummy in this fabric, it stretches well and keeps the stretched form. Moreover, it sticks to the foam.
Step 11: Decorate it. The final step is to put decorative fabric. I had some jersey fabric which I used for this purpose. I think the biflex fabric would be even better. The dummy doll is ready!
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Mission completed
It’s time to use it!