On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being horrible and 10 being perfect, I give the product -- the dress form itself -- an 8.
I give FF customer service a 1. The reason for that is they simply do NOT do what they tell you they will do. In my experience, they promised me the moon so I would keep the dress form, but then they did the least they could do and just forgot about me.
When I received my FIRST dress form -- Marsha -- I spent days padding her and getting her to my satisfaction. Then FF called me and told me that Marsha looked like a MONSTER, and "how could I post those pictures?" and then told me that I could not sew and I could not measure. I am not exaggerating at all. I have an email I typed to my friend that day through a veil of tears. They asked if I wanted to return it. I said, "Yes!"
I got her all packed up and ready to return -- at MY expense -- and I got a call from Jill, the owner of FF. She was super sweet and offered to pad a new dress form for me according to all my measurements. She said they would do it exactly to my specifications, AND that they would INVOLVE me in every step so I could blog about it. I was REVIVED and EXUBERANT.
You can read the posts on that. See titles with "Dress Form" in the heading.
Jill requested pages and pages of measurements which I put together that very day for her. I took a video of myself wearing a muslin dress I shipped to her. I sent my underwear to her AFTER taking embarrassing pictures of myself front, sides and back to also send to her. I sent her a drawing of my shoulders. I sent a pair of slacks I had just made. I immediately went home from work and sewed a dress to send to her the same day.
So I sent all that off and I waited -- and I waited -- and I waited. Nothing. I started emailing. All I got was "Don't Worry" from somebody named Akira. Don't know who that is, and after asking several times who it was, still never got a reply. Don't know yet who it is. After two weeks and several emails, I finally got notice that they would get to it the 3rd week. They would send pictures, and they would involve me. NEVER HAPPENED. I have FIVE emails saying they will send pictures. I still don't have a single picture. All I got was several "Don't Worry" emails from Akira.
Well, just this week, the new dress form arrived. I had two friends here that day, and I made a video of us opening the box.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGMmCqUulQo
We took out the new dress form -- who I am calling LUCY -- and held her up. WOW! She looked so fabulous. High, perky boobs, totally flat belly, nice round butt cheeks and no sway back, no high hip and no round back! I told my friends I WISH I looked like that! There was one thing on this new dress form that was PERFECT, and that was the width of the shoulders. That is it! Everything else was wrong. I will show you BEFORE and AFTER pictures of Lucy. I just spent two hours trying to pad her to look like me, BUT when I zipped her zipper up it just kept on going. There was NO STOP at the top of the zipper on her jump suit. I couldn't believe it! So now, I can't take her outfit off, or I will never get it zipped back up again. This nightmare just doesn't want to end.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGMmCqUulQo
We took out the new dress form -- who I am calling LUCY -- and held her up. WOW! She looked so fabulous. High, perky boobs, totally flat belly, nice round butt cheeks and no sway back, no high hip and no round back! I told my friends I WISH I looked like that! There was one thing on this new dress form that was PERFECT, and that was the width of the shoulders. That is it! Everything else was wrong. I will show you BEFORE and AFTER pictures of Lucy. I just spent two hours trying to pad her to look like me, BUT when I zipped her zipper up it just kept on going. There was NO STOP at the top of the zipper on her jump suit. I couldn't believe it! So now, I can't take her outfit off, or I will never get it zipped back up again. This nightmare just doesn't want to end.
I told Jill I was 41" and sent measurements for that. That isn't just a LITTLE off!
Here is Lucy on the left as I received her.
Here is Lucy on the right after I padded her today, but BEFORE I could finish her because her zipper pull went flying off in the air.
This picture with me in it from yesterday shows Lucy as she came right out of the box. She looks amazing, but she sure doesn't look like me. I didn't have a flat stomach when I was a child, never mind now!
This is the front of Lucy NOW, after I padded her and moved her boobs down. MAJOR bust issue here! The dress form is a size 12 and her hard formed breasts are HIGH up. So when I move the bust pads down to where they need to be for my shape, the hard boobs inside still stick out. That is why the chest looks so retarded. I can't remove the jumpsuit now because the zipper pull is off of it, and I would not be able to zip it back up. I have emailed FF to see if I can buy another outfit, but no response. The fluff isn't right below her belly, but again, I can't get her suit off to fix it.
Here is the BACK of Lucy now with a very strange lump in her upper right thigh area. I didn't put it there -- they did. I have no idea how to remove it since I can't get her suit off. Cry, cry, cry!
Pardon all the strange spacing between the pics. Blogger isn't working with me today for some reason!
I really believe that this dress form company needs to get a line of dress forms that are shaped like people over 60. You can't use teenager dress forms and pad them to look like us. Maybe I should start my own company! I would say that if you have lumps and bumps and uneveness, that you will never be able to get this form exactly right. FF will tell you that you can. But you can't! They sure didn't get Lucy right when they padded her, and they are totally nonresponsive to my email requests now.
I would say the Duck Tape version is the only way to get your exact body shape. Back to Michelina! Here in this picture, we have removed all of her stuffing because we decided to try Fabulous Fit.
Hugs, Joy
SEND IT BACK. What a disappointment! And those things aren't cheap! I would just do that, demand a refund, and then consider all those shipping costs a lesson learned.
ReplyDeleteAnd by the way, I have linked your blog to my blog (as one that I read). Just FYI. I like to let people know when I'm tooting their horns! :)
Joy, here's another option. http://mytwindressforms.com/index.html
ReplyDeleteMy twindressform. I've been wanting to try it, but you need helpers. You can order just the book or DVD to check it out.
I am tooting your horn too! Great blog!
Thank you for postin your experience. The horrible experience you had is unexcusable. FF should realize it is a BUyER's market and they are biting the hand that feeds them---us 50 and 60-somethings with the money to spend on such items. I will not let such a poorly performing business as FF get my time or money.
ReplyDeleteFrom another Southern Gal.
I wish I would of done my research before my purchase! I bought a 14, received a 4. Only after not being able to fit the stupid thing, trying to sell on Ebay to recoup something! I find out what I listed as a 14 is indeed a 4! They are rude and hateful! Both Alice n Jill! Now I have to pay to return +$40 *$47 more for them to ship to me the size I should of received in the first plsce. This co gives NewYork a bad nsme!
ReplyDeleteHi, Joy. I found your review on Pattern Review and it led me here. I see that this was nearly four years ago that you were struggling with your Fabulous Fit dress form. Did you ever get it right? Stupid me, looking at reviews AFTER falling for advertising and ordering a dress form in the wrong size. I ordered a size 10, which is 1-2" smaller than me in the bust, hips, and waist, but realized that the dress form is too big for me in the upper chest and I can't pad her tummy and tush without making her too big overall for waist and hips. I spoke to Alice today and she is having them ship me a size 6 dress form with extra pads and I'm supposed to send the size 10 back when I receive the new one. Fingers crossed; I really want this to work out for me! Out of curiosity, did you purchase a Misses dress form or a Plus dress form? I know what you mean about lowering the bust point -- unless you are adding a lot to the bust line overall, you can't lower it by much without creating a weird upper boob lump at the original bust line!
ReplyDelete