So glad that the tracing has arrived safely Vezelay, I shall look forward to seeing what fabrics you choose and watching your progress,  By the way it was a pleasure to be able to help you out.

Sewingj and So Chic, Thank you for the info about the coat hangers I will go and have a look next time I am in John Lewis.

Vezelay the envelope is on its way to you.  Now you mention that you like the fabric that the original was made in.  At the end of the instructions for making this is a bit about the stockist details, but I would think it doubtful that after all this time that the exact fabric would still be around but you never know.  You could always go looking at the website.

Claire the thicker string of weights that I used on my dress form I purchased through Merrick and Day, I did a quick calculation first on measuring up the various lengths I needed for all the seams and princess shoulder seams the shoulders as well and this is a really weighty string, but for me it is important to be able to feel this through other fabric when fitting or draping.  It is really easy to sew on as the lengths of lead in the string are really short.  It takes time, but once in place it is there for ever unless you remove it.

Good luck with sorting your form out - I am sure doing this will repay you many times over and what a difference you will find as well.

Vezelay I should have added that this pattern supplement  was folded up very small measures 20x14cm so could have easily got caught up in something else.  The front cover of the supplement is edged in a slate blue colour and has pictures of 6 items from the magazine - just thought I would mention it - so think how the paper patterns we buy i.e. Vogue/McCalls etc. and the way the instruction sheet is folded - this supplement is just like that and that sort of size.  The later supplements seemed to be much bigger - more or less magazine size.

Hi Clare, that is why I posted about some of the things I had done on my Double to make my life a bit easier.  I also made a bit of a neck on mine with the aid of my husband and using my own neck and this was made out of some semi rigid plastic that I had stored away, and it is now covered in some grey gaffer tape  and attached to the Double.  I also have around the neck a piece of gilt chain from an old necklace and this has been done the right length to show where a jewel neckline would be.  To pad out the original old dress stand I used ordinary wadding, a mixture of all sorts really, and just wrapped this round and  it is held in place with some old stockingette covers that came originally on those old wire dress forms from back in the 60's and then to make sure my Double wouldn't move I pushed more wadding in to the bust area via the armholes and she really is quite solid.

With regards to the Men's thermal vests from M&S that I have used, these have all seen better days.  Some are as they were bought i.e. with the neckline in tact which my husband used, and then I borrowed for myself to wear and found them oh so comfy, came down over my rear but I didn't like the highish Tee-shirt type neck, so I removed the neckband on mine and cut the neckline down a little and reused the original neckband but made it much narrower and I have a scooped neckline and thus this does not now show around the neck when I am wearing sweaters.  I also wear my vests like a Tee-shirt under open shirts. (I always found that female thermal vests were too skimpy and on my size struggled to even cover my waist - with my adaptation at the neck I am warm and cosy there are no draughts around my middle).
I have noticed that my husbands vests are showing wear and tear around his neck at the moment, so it looks as though we will have to go and get some more which I will bag the tatty ones  ready to be used if necessary only I am hoping and trying to lose weight.

I had spent months upon months trying to perfect a decent fitting shoulder princess line top last year and my thinking was with the toile, that I know that was a comfortable fit, so if I stuffed this toile on Matilda tightly  any future toiles for other tops would be right for me - I can pin the toile in exactly to fit and then it should fit me - that is the theory anyway and only trial and error will tell if I have this right - so I wait to see what happens in 2020!!!!  I don't have a waist I have an egg shaped abdomen, so I have no waist fitting at all - in fact I want to try and disguise this abdomen and the way my knit fabric is draping at the moment I am quite pleased with it - also by draping this floral fabric on Matilda it has shown me I need to be careful about positioning the fabric over the bust - I do not want two huge sprays of roses poking out at me!!!  I am also trying to do a cowl type neckline and this is an experiment.

I shall look forward to seeing how you get on, and I do hope that some of my ideas will actually work for you - good luck.

I have been using this method for sewing darts since the 1960's era, it does make for such a smooth dart point.  The important thing to remember is to pull up the bobbin thread and then thread the needle from behind coming towards you and you then pull through enough thread (guess) for whatever you want to sew, knot this on to your spool thread and pull this up back to the reel and wind on (don't forget to have the foot lever in the up position for this).  You then start stitching the dart at the point end, so the needle is right on the very edge and thus you will get the neatest dart sewn of all.  The only draw back with this method, you need to keep on rethreading the needle with the bobbin thread for each dart or seam that you sew.  Try it out and see for yourself.

When I was at school way back in the 50's we were originally taught to knot the ends off when sewing seams and darts, and then as we progressed up through the school we threaded the ends into a needle and sewed them off which was better, but still left a bit of a bulge at the dart end.

I found this tip for sewing the darts with the bobbin thread in a book I had out of the library at the time called Short Cuts to Sewing Skills by Thelma Lane and this must have been late 60's early 70's as I moved house in 1972, and was disappointed that I had to return the book to the library.

Oh well done on finding a Bernina - aren't they the most beautiful machines they purr!!!!  Now you just have to enjoy your Bernina sewing experience - you will never look back, they are just power houses.workhorses.