I agree with geminiwench, particularly about the gumminess of the adhesive surface of duct tape. Duck tape, the original strong, waterproof tape, isn't a lot better. This is a link to a fuller version of the original article in Threads Magazine, where the author offers a little bit of gab about some alternate materials for making a body double: paper tape, a poured foam form, a molded papier-mâché form, and of course the duct tape form.
BOTH articles (the one geminiwench linked to is just about making a duct tape fitting form) have links at the bottom of the page to other methods, named above, so you can explore those. The "right" method is the one which works best for you. You can put a pinnable cover (which you'll have to make) over your completed dress form/body double so that you can pin into something which won't seem like armor, but you'll need to reduce the circumference of the basic form a little bit to compensate for the added volume of the cover and/or any padding you put on between it and the duct tape or paper or papier-mâché form itself. The reduction is taken when your real, live assistant cuts the personally-shaped form base off your body. Usually your helper will make the cuts on the center-front and the center-back but if you feel you want a generous amount of firm but penetrable padding, cut the side and shoulder "seams," too. Trim carefully.
David Coffin says to keep your hand between the layers of paper tape or duct tape when cutting the form from the subject [you], but I think that's to put both you and your human assistant at risk of injury, the human assistant particularly. Somewhere else it's recommended that you use a piece (or multiple pieces, one per cut) of cardboard like poster board---NOT foam core board!---or panels of a large cereal box between the tee-shirt and your skin and tape the protective cardboard to the inside of the tee-shirt, not to you unless you're using a medical tape which won't harm your skin. Corrugated or double-corrugated cardboard or paperboard is too bulky, so you don't want that.
About that hip flare.... There is some "craft foam" used to give shape and body to handbags and some tote bags. It can be found with the interfacings at JoAnn Fabrics and Crafts. Whether this would work for you, I've no idea, but thought I'd throw the idea out there. It looks as if you could sit on it without injuring yourself, but whether that would cause immediate compression of the foam, I don't know although I doubt the compression would be immediate. The stuff seems sturdy.
This is a link to a fuller version of the original article in Threads Magazine, where the author offers a little bit of gab about some alternate materials for making a body double: paper tape, a poured foam form, a molded papier-mâché form, and of course the duct tape form.
https://www.threadsmagazine.com/2008/10/24/clone-yourself-a-dress-form
BOTH articles (the one geminiwench linked to is just about making a duct tape fitting form) have links at the bottom of the page to other methods, named above, so you can explore those. The "right" method is the one which works best for you.
You can put a pinnable cover (which you'll have to make) over your completed dress form/body double so that you can pin into something which won't seem like armor, but you'll need to reduce the circumference of the basic form a little bit to compensate for the added volume of the cover and/or any padding you put on between it and the duct tape or paper or papier-mâché form itself.
The reduction is taken when your real, live assistant cuts the personally-shaped form base off your body. Usually your helper will make the cuts on the center-front and the center-back but if you feel you want a generous amount of firm but penetrable padding, cut the side and shoulder "seams," too. Trim carefully.
David Coffin says to keep your hand between the layers of paper tape or duct tape when cutting the form from the subject [you], but I think that's to put both you and your human assistant at risk of injury, the human assistant particularly. Somewhere else it's recommended that you use a piece (or multiple pieces, one per cut) of cardboard like poster board---NOT foam core board!---or panels of a large cereal box between the tee-shirt and your skin and tape the protective cardboard to the inside of the tee-shirt, not to you unless you're using a medical tape which won't harm your skin. Corrugated or double-corrugated cardboard or paperboard is too bulky, so you don't want that.
About that hip flare.... There is some "craft foam" used to give shape and body to handbags and some tote bags. It can be found with the interfacings at JoAnn Fabrics and Crafts. Whether this would work for you, I've no idea, but thought I'd throw the idea out there. It looks as if you could sit on it without injuring yourself, but whether that would cause immediate compression of the foam, I don't know although I doubt the compression would be immediate. The stuff seems sturdy.
Good success to you!
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