This is Doris.
She stands in my tiny sewing room but has a very interesting history.
Doris was a fully fledged adult in 1964 when the college I work in opened. She therefore has a 1960s figure: 38, 26, 36 - real hourglass and sexy. Unfortunately that's not me!
I'm a real human being who eats too much and moves too little, so actual fitting of garments on her to match me is not much use. I have to pad out the waist with wadding to match my waist line. However, she serves a very useful purpose for draping, hanging out bias cut garments and marking hems.
She is bit battered (after all she is pushing 50) so when I "acquired" her I had some patching to do to make her respectable. Doris was fraying at the neck and shoulders so I patched these areas up with linen. Unfortunately some bad boys also got hold of her at some time during her life and drew "tattoos" on her - hence the T-shirt to make her decent.
She has some water damage on the front and squeaks when I turn her, but Doris is now part of of my sewing arsenal that I'd be sad to lose her. She is genuinely of the old school - solidly built, I can stick pins in her (unlike my last manikin) and best of all, she'll never lose her shape like the rest of us poor mortals.
Hi, I'm so pleased to have discovered your blog and that we both have a dressform called Doris! :)
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