Three years ago I bought a display form from a local boutique that was going out of business. I named it ‘Adelaide‘ after the boutique.
Adelaide-the-mannequin had a cracked support post and base, and was permanently pitched backward (she frequently fell over). She also needed various bits of padding to mimic my ridiculously variable girth.
She worked, but just barely.
So this year I gave up and sent Adelaide I off to a thrift store where someone else will bring her back to usefulness.
I bought (on deep sale) a Dritz Twin-Fit dressmaker form. Dressed in a tailored shirt ($3.49 from Goodwill years ago) with minimal padding, Adelaide II can mimic whatever shape I happen to be that month. She’s pinnable, so I can drape bead strands and fabric with precision.
I have a lot of jewelry and costume projects that require a 3D form for design, creation, and documentation.
Here’s one: I’ve been looking for something like this Bamboo Traders’ orange cotton jacket. It had to be semi-fitted and *obnoxiously* orange.
It also had to be affordable. $6.99 was good. Bonus: it has pockets!
Dear readers, it’s going to be a fireball of a tailcoat. I have matching cotton prints and batiks for skirt and applique, plus thread & orange glass seed beads left over from this scarf necklace project.
Why a tailcoat? As you can see from the denim version above, they’re awesomely swishy. They can go on top of street clothes or costume pieces.
Why this tailcoat?
I blame the Hugo Awards this year. And Trump.
I love the color orange and want to reclaim it from this idiot. 
Some lovely jewelry and outfits at the (virtual) 2020 Hugo Awards ceremony led to an online discussion of SFF-inspired outfits counting as ‘related works’: similar to cosplay but worn by their author/artist.
Honestly, I’m not likely to attend a WorldCon now, much less be nominated for any Hugo category.
But the discussion reminded me of a detail from my Moro space opera books. One lead character comes from a human offshoot species so innately toxic to ordinary humans that the former must go masked, gloved, and dressed in vivid orange to warn of their presence when visiting.
The civilization in question decided to take what was intended to be a demeaning safety regulation and turn it into gorgeous couture.
When the Camalians step out among regular humans, *everybody* knows it.
So I thought a brilliant papaya-orange tailcoat glinting with beads would be a fun ‘related work’.