Cover it Dummy!

A few weeks ago, a friend off-loaded bunch of dummies on me from the attic of her museum. Score! These were not items from their collections, but rather old junk dummies that had once been used to display historic clothing.

They had spent a loooong time in the attic, and they were officially disgusting with dust and attic "gross." The two 1970s Acme dummies on the right reacted well to a good vacuuming and a light sponging, but the one on the left...

Well, that one is from the first two decades of the 20th century, without a doubt. It is paper mache (so no sponging), with a terrific turned wooden base. It appears to once have been covered by a knit black fabric, but no more. Dust is caked up on it. In short, it is really gross.

But nevertheless, it is a gem in disguise. Since it is from an era when corsets were still worn, it is a much better way to display my corsets than those straight figures of the modern dummies.

So, filled with envy for the magnificent dummies that Lace Embrace uses to display their corsets (at right), I set about covering this one to make it usable.


I started by draping acid-free batting over it (I am a museum nerd after all), snipping it to shape, stitching it down. White satin was draped over it next, cutting a (too big) hole for the neck and adding darts to fit it properly at the waist. All of this require a lot of pinning a smoothing a re-pinning.

From there I began hand stitching up the sides with a large needle (to avoid loosing it inside). Once I reached the armpit, the question of "what the hell do with armscye" became obvious.

This required some artful pleating around in a circle. I was thinking of doing it something like an upholstered chair arm or gathered pillow, though it came out a little more uneven than intended. I will cover the center with a button, and it should look a little more finished.

I still have to stitch down the darts along the bust and back and figure out what on earth to do about my gaping neck hole, but my attention had wandered again, and I haven't touched it in two weeks.

This week I am frantically getting ready for my next UnderWhere? lecture at work; this time it will feature fashions of the 1880s. It runs this weekend (March 27th and 28th), and I still have to finish a petticoat. This weekend I've already enlarged the bodice (I had a giant 4" gap where it wouldn't close over my bossom--that was a first for my sad little chest), made a new chemise with matching drawers, and made collar and cuffs out of fine white lawn (fabulous fabric from Farmhouse Fabrics, by the way. I recommend it). I also bought new high button shoes and net mits to compliment the outfit. Hopefully someone will be available to take pictures this weekend (and lace up my corset because ther is no way I cat get tight enough on my own).