Norma Jean

My Uniquely You dress dummy. We named her Norma Jean beause of her... endowments.

I got the bright idea from another costumer's website thinking that it would be cool to be able to fit period garnments over the proper underpinnings strapped to a squishy dummy that was me-shaped. Unfortunately, I got a dummy that was far too large, and I underestimated the density of the foam. What follows is a chronicle of our adventures.

Fitting the sheath

This project involved help from SG in porportion to Norma Jean's massive foam breasts. Several hours of swearing, pinning, stitching and walking around the house in the most fashionless garnment known to man, we had an approximation of my shape. The only trouble was the fact that I ordered a dummy based on my largest measurement: my hips. The dummy with 40 inches at the widest point on the bottom had a 50 inch chest, and the sheath I ordered was way too small. This resulted in six inches of exposed foam at the bottom of the dummy. The cat is pleased with this, but he is the only one. I think if I do this again, I will order a dummy that is too small and pad out the sheath. That way, it will have the necessary squish to strap it into stays.

Sins & Virtues Masquerade Ball

The event is finally over. The stand-up collar I ended up using a piece of creased cardboard covered with silk with a silk-covered plastic cable tie reinforcing it at the center. The feathers are hot-glued on, and the seam at the neck and the glue mess are covered with a pleated band of the silk.


The idea behind this whole costume is pride. Hopefully the massive amounts of peacock feathers get the point across.

The Destruction of an Enemy

I finally destroyed the old red anglaise. I cannibalized it for parts to make a cartridge pleated overskirt for my red Elizabethan. I must say, cartridge pleating was a lot easier than it looked once SG showed me how to do it. It really does provide a lot of volume. Also, it's the only way to get 8 yards of fabric pleated to a 30 inch waist band.

The overskirt in the photo is 4 yards of what was formerly the greatest tragedy of my 18th century portfolio. I guess this means I now have to add a renaissance section to the website.