"Betty" ~ the Vintage Dress Form...

Is currently undergoing a DIY redo in my living room while I'm drinking coffee and watching Netflix, with a paintbrush in my hand...

Do you remember "Betty" ? 

The 'Betty" vintage dress form that I drug home this Spring in this blog post:

 "Vintage, antique & Vintage... "

Well, the 'vintage' blue material on her never matched anything in my home. Much less the "The Purple Passion Set..."  in the room where she'll someday reside, so she's being transformed~!

First, I cut all of the vintage blue fabric off of her, to get down to the bones...
She is a 'pressed paper' adjustable, vintage form, so it was a bit tedious stripping her down and cutting around all of the buttons on her that are used to adjust her. It took me hours ~ no sense lying. But, it was worth it~!

Once the vintage blue material was off, I knew if I decoupaged her, she would pass for a wood manequin from a distance ~ an illusion is what I am creating...

I printed off a bunch of old, french perfume labels to add some bling to her... It was a 'sticky mess' Mod Podg'ing them all on her neck ~ I initially intended to do the whole form in vintage french labels, but it was taking me hours to cut them all out and once the neck of the form was done, I was fearful she would look 'too busy' if I done that on the whole form... 

Then, I got a really great idea and started digging through some of 'Julia Burket's old papers.  

(Julia is the lady that owned the house before me that left all the old, Russian, journals in here from the early 1900's...)

And, I found an old, composition notebook that the mice ate a corner off of. It was her notes book from when she went to cosmetology school in 1942. It was the perfect, light weight paper to decoupage with. So, I used the cosmetology notebook to finish Betty!

I added a few of the french perfume labels to the bottom, to tie it all together...

(Yes, the Mod Podge is still wet in the pic... I have no patience...)

Then, I used some acrylic paint to shade around the 'bling' on the skirt, to give it a deep, rich, look...

I wrote the story on her right hip of how she lost her blue, vintage, clothes and came to be decoupaged. And, the story about using the old, 1942, cosmetology notes on her bodice ~

 And, Mod Podged over it to seal it...

(How do you like my help there on the right, on his back watching the progress...)

And then, she got 'Antiqued,' to make her look old...

Once she was completely dry, I sealed her again to add even another layer of depth, with some 'Instant Age Varnish' and soon, she'll get a new skirt. A skirt with a big bustle of course. I think she needs a big bum...

Of course it will be 'Lace Crazy'~!

I'll update soon, on the re'do of "Betty..." 

So, check back to see her full transformation~!

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