Dress Forms and Sewing Mannequins
This category gathers our guides on dress forms and sewing mannequins, the forms on which garments are built, fitted and pressed. The guides were written for home and professional sewists, fashion designers and students, and cover the whole journey: from taking measurements, through choosing the type of form, to setting up an adjustable form correctly and working on it day to day.
Before choosing a form, read the guide How to Take Body Measurements for Sewing, because every decision after it depends on the measurements. Next comes the guide How to Choose a Dress Form, which compares an adjustable form, a fixed-size form and a form with hips. If you have already bought an adjustable form, you'll find a setup guide here, and if you're starting fashion studies, you'll find a list of what you need for the first year.
The forms are in the Dress Forms and Sewing Mannequins category, divided into women's dress forms and men's. Each product page details the size range, the type of stand and whether the form is pinnable. Schools and studios ordering several forms get a quote by quantity, and you can see the forms in our showroom at Kfar Giladi 15 in Tel Aviv.
A Dress Form for Students: What You Need for the First Year of Fashion School
Which dress form suits first-year students, which tools you need around it, how to mark style lines with tape before draping, and the difference between working at home and in the studio.
Adjustable Dress Form: How to Set It Correctly and Its Real Size Range
How to adjust an adjustable dress form step by step: which measurements to take, in what order to turn the dials, what to do about the gaps between sections, how to pad it and what the size range really means.
How to Choose a Dress Form: Adjustable, Fixed-Size or With Hips
A practical guide to choosing a dress form: the difference between fixed-size, adjustable and forms with hips, how to measure and choose a size, and what to check before buying.
Frequently asked questions
What comes first: buying a dress form or taking measurements?
Take measurements first. Bust, waist and hip circumference, and sometimes also back length and shoulder width, determine which dress form and which size suit you. Only once the measurements are written down do you compare them with the dress forms' measurements.
Can you pin into any dress form?
Not every form. Dress forms covered in fabric with a pinnable body are suitable for pinning, while plastic or fiberglass display mannequins are not. Every product page on the site states whether the form is pinnable.
Is a dress form also suitable for store display?
You can display clothes on it, for example in a studio or a designer's boutique, but it was built for sewing work, not for display. For shop windows and permanent in-store displays, display mannequins are a better fit.
Can I see dress forms before buying?
Yes. The dress form showroom is at Kfar Giladi 15 in Tel Aviv, open Sunday–Thursday from 08:30 to 17:00 and on Fridays from 09:00 to 12:00.