Review: Female Adjustable Dressmakers Tailors Dummy Mannequin
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Adjustable mannequins might seem scary and a little confusing but they are actually really easy to use and can help when making your own clothes and costumes.
Mannequins are extremely helpful as they represent the body and shape you are working towards, this can help people who struggle to piece together parts of the pattern in the 2D format. I always find a mannequin more helpful as I can visualise the final outcome much easier on an actual form.
Adjustable mannequins are few and far between but it doesn’t always mean there isn’t any worth buying on the market. On my hunt for the best adjustable mannequins, I came across the Celine Deluxe Dressmakers Dummy and I was blown away.
My Review
The Female Adjustable Dressmakers Dummy was very similar to the Tailormade at Hobbycraft mannequin in terms of style, stand and overall look.
Starting with the positives, the body of the dress form was actually very sturdy and well-built. The main body was made from plastic covered in thin foam and finally covered in nylon fabric. The nylon top was soft to the touch and easy to work with.
This mannequin is made of an 8-part adjustable system controlling the bust, waist and hips along with the neck, torso and height. The body form has 9 smaller cogs on the sides and centre back and 2 larger dials on the centre front.
While the smaller cogs on the back and sides are easy to use and adjust the larger dials on the front are a little harder.
This may be because these are more accessible and more likely to move when working, however, I found them harder to work around as they were large, bulky and took up a lot of the pinning room I would require.
The dials on the centre front require you to push in the white part and turn to make adjustments, this required me to hold the body with one hand and use the other to turn the dial.
Meanwhile, a feature I found useful was the adjustable neck which was easy to use by turning the button on the top of the mannequin to open it. There was also the added patch of soft padding at the front of the neck that was perfect for storing pins.
Another great feature of the dressmaker’s dummy is the ability to lengthen the torso at the waist area and retract again. This is perfect for those with longer bodies or just to give a more realistic measurement of your body form.
The mannequin is built to stand on an adjustable height stand made up of a 4-point leg system. The base of the stand is made using 4 legs that connect using a barrel-like anchor to hold everything in place.
The main part of the stand is made from metal whereas the 4 legs are made from a flimsy plastic material which cheapens the mannequin and also creates some stability issues.
I found the stability an issue on my carpet but it may work better on flatter surfaces such as hardwood flooring or vinyl. You can always use weights on the legs to help create a more stable base.
I found the added hemming tool useful and a nice addition to the mannequin. It was already attached to the stand upon putting the dress form together and was easy to use. There were also some number markers on the bottom half of the stand which were useful to use over and over again to create an accurate hem.
The stand unfortunately was a little on the cheap side and unfortunately, let down the overall rating for the mannequin. The larger dials on the front of the mannequin were also something that I think could have been done better as they used up a lot of the workable space on the front of the dummy.
Though if you are looking at getting an adjustable mannequin and don’t want to spend a fortune on one this is a great budget-friendly option. Though personally, I would prefer to pay up a little more to get one without the dials on the front.
