DIY - Decoupaged Dress Form

As I mentioned before, I'm cheap. So when I started looking for a dress form to use in my etsy store, I was shocked by the pricing. Of course, I scoured all the thrift stores around to see if I could find one there, because if I had my choice, I would definitely take a neat old one over a brand new one. But I had no luck. So, after about 5 minutes of internet research, I was able to figure out how to make my own! I made this almost a year ago, and she's still going strong!

What you'll need:
an old t-shirt
duct tape (i think i used 2 rolls)
scissors
a partner to help!
supplies to decoupage if you desire

Step 1: Find an old t-shirt that you don't care about. The shirt is going to be part of the dress form, so make sure you don't want to wear it again! (My shirt wasn't that long, so you may want to pick one that's a little longer). Put the shirt on, and have your partner start wrapping you in duct tape as body forming as possible. It probably won't be that comfortable, but it'll only be for a few minutes, and it's totally worth it!

Step 2: Continue to have your partner wrap you in duct tape until you've reached how you want your dress form to look. Repeat this at least 2 times, so you have 3 layers of duct tape on you.

robot, anyone?

Step 3: After you've gotten the duct tape arranged on you how you want it, have your partner cut completely up the back, as if they were cutting straight up your spine. Take the form off, cut off any excess t-shirt, and tape up the back slit, making it whole again.

Now comes the fun part!

Step 4: If you wish to leave your dress form in this state, then you're done! I didn't like the duct tape look too much, though, so I decided to decoupage mine! We had tons of old magazines and catalouges and I also used quite a few tags from old skeins of yarn, which helped to add a knitting touch to it!

Step 5: Let dry overnight, or until all the glue is dry, and enjoy your new, cheap, unique dress form!

after drying

doing some modeling

I know I'm not the first person by any means to post this, so if you've done this in the past, I'd love to see pictures! Or hear what you did differently!