Doris

This is Doris.
She stands in my tiny sewing room but has a very interesting history.

Doris was a fully fledged adult in 1964 when the college I work in opened. She therefore has a 1960s figure: 38, 26, 36 - real hourglass and sexy. Unfortunately that's not me!
I'm a real human being who eats too much and moves too little, so actual fitting of garments on her to match me is not much use. I have to pad out the waist with wadding to match my waist line. However, she serves a very useful purpose for draping, hanging out bias cut garments and marking hems.

She is bit battered (after all she is pushing 50) so when I "acquired" her I had some patching to do to make her respectable. Doris was fraying at the neck and shoulders so I patched these areas up with linen. Unfortunately some bad boys also got hold of her at some time during her life and drew "tattoos" on her - hence the T-shirt to make her decent.

She has some water damage on the front and squeaks when I turn her, but Doris is now part of of my sewing arsenal that I'd be sad to lose her. She is genuinely of the old school - solidly built, I can stick pins in her (unlike my last manikin) and best of all, she'll never lose her shape like the rest of us poor mortals.