Well after coming back from TMJ & having bought two new website names last month I thought it was time to really attempt to make a serious dress.
I have made 3 before but after seeing the wonderful work in Belgium I wanted to challenge myself. Well I made things way to difficult with plan A and had to give up after a couple of hours, the idea was to have a very bold structure over the shoulder going across the bust down the other side of the dress & around the bottom of the dress. Spent an hour making about half of the bold structure & I'm really pleased with the look & way the outer balloon turns & cascades around the inner balloon, If I was to try this again I'd double stuff the inner balloon to try & guarantee that it didn't pop.
The pictures, got to go for tea will continue & post pictures later

1, The first picture is at 10 am & ready to start, I did inflate the balloons the night before.
The idea being that they would be softer to work with.

2, This is what I'd sketched out as an idea, outline of what I wanted to attempt

3, The bold structure? I must try & get a better picture of this as I thought it was very striking & usable although possible a bit too prominent although the picture dosn't do it justice.

So after taking an hour with about half of the bold outline structure for the dress I then tried & failed to start weaving from underneath the arm. The weave was mean't to start small & get larger so having a nice flow to underneath & around the bust. I think someone with more experience with dresses may have been able to work this but I struggle so much that after another hour I gave up on plan A & had to make up a plan B.
The second picture is the weave underneath the arm, I was finding the two colours of balloons seemed to be moulding themselves together & as I tried to adjust the bubbles they were prone to popping. When I went onto plan B I inflated a lot of the balloons & then wiped over back to black this gave the balloons a lovely smooth feel to them & almost eliminated all the problems of them sticking together earlier.

The third picture is of the top of the dress for plan B with the back to black applied which helped with the weave but also the shiny look of the outfit.

The first picture is after giving up with plan A, it didn't fail.
I just found a way that it didn't work, always be positive

Finally got the bust for the dress on the manaquin about mid afternoon.

Pleased with the look of the top of the dress, infact it would make a nice top half of a two piece with the way the bottom turns out & upwards. It also looks slightly dominatrix? but that just may be the colour choice.
Will be trying a cross weave out of 260 for the bottom portion of the dress to contrast with the 160 weave at the top.

The second picture shows the top 3/4 rows left undone so that hopefully it will make it easier for my daughter to put on & model for me tomorrow, I'll then tie her into the dress.

So that's my exciting day that I've had attempting to make a dress
Although the day has been frustrating as I wasn't able to make the dress the way I saw in my mind, the end result I think looks nice & different from the other three dresses I've made previously.

Nice one Graham, now I can understand why the competition dresses can take 20 + hours!!!

Thanks for posting its interesting to see it progress with your comments too.

I'll just practice my hat weaving for the moment!!

danny 8-)

I am glad you have had such a fun day. The finished article looks very good, keep going and I expect to see you in the competition next year.
the mannequin is also good where did you get it, and how much, if i may be so bold

Graham, that lookds great, there is a magazine called bizarre that would love your latex dress...........or perhaps mandy can post it on that website you told us about

I think it cost £100/120 about 2 years ago, it adjusts at hips, waist & bust & swivals on the centre spindle which is great for when making the dress.
Just googled & can't see where I got it from so when I take the dress off tomorrow will have a look to see if there is a name badge or contact details.
It was a fairly standard one that was for sale in several places so should be fairly easy to find.

Graham! You have been busy!  I like first idea you had.  You should sleep on it.  Try it again.  Its interesting seeing the progressive photos.  Its turning out real nice too.

I think the dress is starting to look like you see in the wild west films very cowgirl or should that be bargirl

Very pleased with the way the 160's blend in with the diamond weave at the bottom.
I put two pinch twists where the 160's meet the 260's & this has made a nice smooth transition & has made the dress flow really nice (INHO) around the waist & hips.

Will finish it off tomorrow & hopefully add some accessories, perhaps a hat & handbag.

At a guess it's taken about 6/7 hours to get this far so you can see why some at TMJ took up to 30 hours.

These pictures are after we've added approx 36 260's to add on the lower part for the dress.

I was very tempted to make the outfit two piece as I really liked the way the top flared out around the waist & the skirt would have fitted lovely underneath but I resisted temptation & stuck with the original idea even though it was plan B

We have twisted 6 layers of the lower half, probably about another 12 to go.
I'm hoping to pull the dress in & then flare out very sharply at the bottom so that hopefully it will look curvacous :lol:

Looking good Graham, one day I will get around to having a go. In the mean time I look forward to seeing your finished creation

Quote from: "colin myles"the mannequin is also good where did you get it, and how much, if i may be so bold

I got a mannequin very similar from here //http://www.adjustoform.com/acatalog/AEArthur_Lady_Valet_1.html
110 squid including delivery.

I think the link that Twistina posted is where I got mine from, looks very similar.

Quote from: "Normski"Graham, that lookds great, there is a magazine called bizarre that would love your latex dress...........or perhaps mandy can post it on that website you told us about

what web site  :?:
Beautiful design Graham, ive been looking for a secondhand mannekin for months