Viewer Discretion is Advised

The reason for the disclaimer is that I'm finally ready to show what I got for my birthday (back in July...so much for promptness).  I hinted at it a few times, but I only wanted to unveil it when it was ready.

So, without further ado, I present to you the newest member of my family:

She's a foam body form made by a company called Uniquely You.  I bought it online and the way it works is that you tailor the canvas cover it comes with to fit you EXACTLY (more on that in a minute).  Once that's done, you wrestle the canvas cover over the foam form (emphasis on the "wrestle"... I actually have blisters on my knuckles from body slamming this thing into submission this afternoon).

I'm obviously a little shorter than the norm, because you can see the strip of foam poking out the bottom there.  Oh well.

And can I just take a moment to marvel at just how curvy I am?  I hate photos of myself (I am truly the least photogenic person on the planet) so standing next to this thing is the best sense I've gotten of my body's proportions ever.  I have got me some junk in the trunk.  Who knew?

Right, so you're dying to ask me if this thing works.  Well, so far, I would have to give you a resounding YES.  Oh, it gave me some trouble: it was hellish to get the stupid cover right.  You can see a whole whack of loose threads poking out there, right?  After the fourth fifth third hour of altering, I got lazy and stopped trimming the ends.  And holy cow, when the instructions say that the cover has to be SKIN TIGHT, they don't kid.  I could barely breathe in it.  The current incarnation you see above is actually the second version.  I spent a whole day altering the first time around only to discover that it didn't match my measurements when I got it all assembled.  My reaction when I discovered that is best kept under wraps.  It was not pretty, folks.

But, this weekend I had a bit of a burst of productivity and started to de-stash my fabric/sewing project collection.  (I know, crazy!)  I have been finding it difficult to get motivated re: sewing, lately.  Which is really dumb because it just sits on the edge of my desk all the time - it's not like I need to assemble it every time or anything.  Once that sewing machine gets set up, I find it much easier to just keep going.  Sigh.

So anyway, once I got this baby set up and measured it again (this time it was spot on, yay!), I took out a few projects that I started last fall (they've been sitting in the drawer languishing for a year OH FOR SHAME!).  One is a pair of pants and the other is a button-down shirt.  The laziness vis-à-vis the shirt, I can forgive, I guess.  (Have you ever figured out how to alter darts on the back of a shirt when you're the one it's being fitted on and you're alone trying to fit it?  Yeah, me neither.  Yoga will only get you so far: it can't help you grow eyes on the back of your head.  Hence why I needed the dress form.)  The laziness re: the pants is kind of ridiculous.  I mean, a whole 12 months they've been collecting dust?  Sheesh.  But the shirt got fitted this afternoon and holy crap, it was so EASY!  I actually foresee myself making more of them (which I never thought I'd "hear" myself say).  Dresses are going to be a breeze (I wish I could accurately convey the excitement I feel at being able to write that... but I can't, so you'll just have to use your imaginations, ok?).

Mwahahahahaha, I am now a sewing force to be reckoned with!

Or whatever.