Meet Phyllis!

I got a naked woman in the mail last week. I looked everywhere for just the perfect one. I think it would be really cool if someone would invent a mannequin/dressform thing that is adjustable with inflatable rings around it or something. This posing suit thing is really challenging, because the suits have to fit absolutely snuggly without pulling things out of whack...the only thing ickier looking than a baggy posing suit is one that is too small. I have taken measurements of my clients (I have two now!), but without a perfect model to try things on, it's hit or miss right now. I'm just not good enough at figuring out how much lycra and elastic will stretch appropriately.

So we bought a naked woman. Her name is Phyllis. (Interestingly enough, Phyllis was also the name given to my evil twin during my wild and wooly party days. Phyllis made a lot of questionable choices, back in the day. )Here she is modeling the first suit I made for Maja. It fits Phyllis nicely, but Maja is a little longer in the torso, so I need to figure out how to pad Phyllis a little--or I could cut her in half and slide a bit of something between the two halves...

I have seen the how-to's for making a dressmakers dummy out of duct tape and an old t-shirt, but I don't see myself asking each new client to stand around being bound in duct tape--there is a level of trust required for that sort of thing that seems like it should be lacking in a new relationship.

meanwhile, I have been fighting with my Designer SE...what a pain in the neck. I appreciate the options, I really do, but fer crying out loud...it's so fussy! I am trying to make samples of some embroidery for my brother to put on shirts, and I just can't seem to get a nice, small font to work. I think I understand the technical difficulties, but I just can't seem to overcome them. Well, we have a whole weekend with very little to do, so maybe something will work out so that I can have better success!