Altered Dress Form Tutorial Using Vintage Papers From CD #3

Hi Everyone,

Today I have some great samples and a tutorial for you on how I altered a dress form using Mod Podge with papers that will be on our new CD #3 Creating With Vintage Typography. This is the first time I’ve ever done anything like this – so if I can do it, I bet you can! 

In fact it was so easy and fun I decided to add a skirt and printed papers from the CD on fabric and simply ironed six pieces of 8.5” x 11” freezer paper to an old white cotton sheet and trimmed them to feed through my printer.  Warning - I talk too much so this is long but I wanted to give as much info as possible. Post question here and I will leave answers.

 I only use no-name ink from the Ink Farm for my printer as ‘real’ ink is expensive. My printer is a Canon ix6520 I bought for about $149.00 and it will print 12 x 12 pages but I didn’t have freezer paper that big so I just printed 8.5 x 11” sections of the pages. You can also shrink or crop any of the 12 x 12” pages using a photo editing program. If you don’t have one, you can download Paint.net or Gimp for Mac users for free from Cnet. 

These are the 2 sewing theme papers and the tickets and floral images I used from CD 3. I printed 4 pages of pattern paper #1 and two of the #2 to Mod Podge on my dress form. 

I saw some altered dress forms on Pintrest and was pumped to make one so I made sure we would have sewing pattern paper, sheet music, script and text papers I could pick from on CD # 3. Then I spotted the pretty dress forms that Carol from the Polkadot Closet Blog made when she used our CD #1 to make-over this little suitcase and a shelf and I ordered from her supplier Barr Display (see links on the left side of her blog). 

This style is hollow at the back but has a bottom so it will stand up and a hole so you can add a stand. You can also find dress forms in every style on Ebay.  *NOTE: If you plan to sell anything you create with our CD's you need to contact us for a commercial license and give credit to us and the CD you used.

Supplies: 6 sheets of printed paper from CD #3, Krylon Matte Spray to seal inket paper (ink is permanent with laser printers), scrap paper or a sheet to work on, scissors, a brush, a wet cloth or wipes, a ruler to tear paper against or measure with.You will need 6 sheets of freezer paper if you make a fabric skirt, or buy a roll and cut sheets 8.5 x 11". I LOVED the freezer paper and will use it again!

 Here are some helpful lessons I learned doing this project.  You can decoupage paper printed on an ink jet printer onto all sorts of surfaces  - but some inks may bleed and the solution is to spray your paper (once it's completely dry from printing) with Krylon Matte Spray to seal it.  Carol didn't have ink bleeding paper problems but Vicki did previously, so I didn't take a chance. It was cold in my garage when I used the Krylon Spray so I ran my sponge brush over the spots my spray went on bubbly and it smoothed out great.  I did 2 light coats.

Figure out ahead where you want to place certain designs and tear or cut your paper ahead so it's ready but leave a couple of sheets for 'unexpected results'.  I had to shrink this photo as it kept going sideways but can you see some of spots where my paper didn't meet perfectly? 

I used my hands to free tear and the counter edge to tear my paper straight.  Just be sure to tear in the right direction so you don't get a white edge.  I also let my fingers get sticky and tore my paper in a couple of spots. Later, I simply used scissors to cut little patches and make repairs.  I just cut around the large colored dress forms and glued them on.

I also used small scissors to make little cuts where my paper curved so it would lay flatter. I also found it helpful to brush a coat of Mod Podge over my paper so I could use my fingers to smooth out air bubbles and wrinkles. If it was a flat surface a brayer would work great. I cut the strip of floral tickets to add a round the neck and added a rose spray to the chest.

 Here is the finished form before I added the skirt.  My awesome hubby scored me an old lamp from the church thirft store for $6.00 and it matches great.  I didn't do any inking after and I like the way mine looks but you may want to use a sponge or brush to add inking.

To make the skirt I printed 6 different sheets from CD 3 on white cotton sheeting that was ironed to freezer paper for stability (shiney side down).  The ink dried fast and I just peeled off the paper.  My sweet mom sewed the 6 sheets together for me, added a piece of old lace and gathered the fabric using a running stitch. I used Ranger brown ink to stain a little wood finial and hot glued it in the hole. The necklaces were made by shrinking down images on the floral tags sheet.

I printed the ruler paper on fabric and glued it to a piece of ribbon and glued that to my gathered skirt. I added a couple of velcro tabs at the back to hold my skirt on so it can come on or off.

 Okay, now look at this super cute sewing journal that Marilyn created using the same sewing paper for her background.  The children are from a catalog paper on the CD that Cindy made B&W so you can print it on different pastel papers to suit your project or color and cut out the kids as Marilyn did. See details here on Marilyn's blog.

Then Cindy came to work today and with a bunch of white sheeting and printed 12 x 12" pages to make pillows.  She used the glossy photo setting and the colors turned out bang on perfect!  I used matte photo printing and I thought my fabric for the skirt printed a bit dull. I need to play with this new printer more. Look at the flowers she cut out of cardstockand printed with the texty floral paper and how cool they look cut out and curled up a bit.

 Melissa Bove offered to make a sample and sent me this stunning box she did as a faux book cover! She also used our 'Love You Mother' stamp set and this would make a great gift for a mom.

 I love this lampshade that Vicki made by punching 1" circles from some of the ad paper and layering it starting from the bottom. You can see more details here on Vic's blog.  These samples will be on the CD

Please tell me what you think of this tutorial and be honest. Too much, what did I leave out?

We should have our new CD 3, Creating With Vintage Typography back from the printer in about 2 weeks (but add a few days as my manufacture is super busy).  We will send the winner of our Giveaway a link to access the CD on Monday and any free medium stamp set.

If you haven't entered out current Giveaway it's right HERE.  

Also, please don't be shy - come post any sample you have created with any of our products at our 2nd Linky Party starting this Monday, May 5th and it runs for a week. A random.org winner will be chosen from all the entries to win a $50.00 Crafty Secrets Gift Certificate. 

 Sandy Redburn

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