Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I am satisfied that I purchased this particular dressform. Must say I spent a great deal of time researching and reading everyone's reviews of all the dressforms. Firstly, I know this is not the form for a professional seamstress. It is just for me and I will not be making constant adjustments to this. I will review this form with pros and cons and hope that I remember all my thoughts at the time I put this together. If you don't want to read the entire review I will state that I DO recommend the form. PROS: *I think it is pretty sturdy given that it could be top heavy. It is not heavy and can be moved around quite easily. Just remember to pick it up by the pole. *The form does rotate 360. Someone wrote that it did not, but it does. Very nice feature. *The stand is metal - no plastic. Happy about that. *The body can be removed from the pole if you need to store it in a small area. Easily done. The stand legs can slide up to a straight up and down position for storage also. *The color is not unpleasant. After adding a bra to the form, I added a shapewear garment I had. Covered up all the spaces that opened up after adjustments. I see on Amazon that you can buy a body suit of some sort to cover the form after you have added all your padding. If you don't like looking at the undressed form,put a blouse on it. *My adjustment dials were not difficult to move. I followed the directions that stated to loosen up each section from the bottom up to release all the different sections before making final adjustments. They are plastic but I felt sturdy enough. *The off centered pole is worth the extra cost. Very handy with pants. *Assembly was minimal. *Hem marker is a nice feature. *I believe there are 2 areas where you can make the form taller. Being short, I only needed to raise it a little bit. *I ordered through Amazon and as a Prime Member my dressform was sitting on my doorstep practically before I placed my order. CONS: *Some of the directions are absolutely miserable and misleading. Although the bust, waist & hip adjustments are easy to figure out, there should be more detailed instructions on how to adjust. Do you adjust evenly all the way around or do you make larger adjustments maybe in the front than the back. I am still playing with this part. I just feel Dritz could have explained in detail more than they did. Instructions are minimal. * This is my biggest complaint: The back/waist adjustment instructions are either wrong or they do not exist. I have been on all forums asking for help on how to make the length of the torso longer. Instructions (picture only - no words) show a knob to turn for this adjustment, but as far as I can see it is wrong. The knob only makes the whole form taller. I finally decided that I would just lay the form on its back and then I started to just pull the top section away from the bottom section a little bit at a time evenly spaced. Apparently, this is the way you lengthen the waist. No where in the instructions does it tell you to do this. Also, you need to be careful when you do this because there are metal clips that keep the top & bottom sections together and you want to make sure you don't go too far and pull them beyond the clips. FYI, the length can be made longer only about 1 1/2" - 2". This is not mentioned anywhere. I needed the small size form but I am only 5'2". Never thought that I was long waisted,but I needed to lengthen the torso to the max. So in this area I thought the form was skimpy. Afterall, this is not the petite form. I WOULD LIKE TO THANK EVERYONE WHO RESPONDED TO MY QUESTION AND I HOPE MY INFORMATION HERE WILL HELP YOU. * I did not find the dimensions on the dials even worth looking at. I could not read them. I used my tape measure for all adjustments. Don't rely on the #'s on the dials. * I didn't really like the neck adjustment. Mine cannot be fine tuned. It seems to adjust to only 2 sizes: opened or closed. Maybe I just haven't figured that out yet. My form needs the top of the neck to be pressed down to move and I thought it was quite difficult and I was afraid I would break it. Not of a major concern to me on this measurement. * I know dressforms of this calibre are the same, but it could be padded a little more for pinning purposes. The pins need to go in at an angle. You will not be able to just stick the pin straight in. * My major CON on this product is DRITZ. When I received the form (beginning of Feb.) and had the question on how to lengthen the waist, I emailed their customer support email address with my question. I received an email stating that my email was received and someone would respond in 2 weeks. Well, it is a month later and I have not heard from them. Not a very good way to run a business. So know up front that the company is not going to come to your aid if you have questions. Better to ask on Amazon's forum. These people are the best. I would still recommend this dressform but know that it is not for professionals. It is strictly for the home sewist and the price reflects that. I also would not pay more than what I paid through Amazon ($158). I am happy with the purchase now that I have the length issue solved. I purchased this form because I lost weight and want to alter my clothes to fit. After I have used the form for a while, I will come back and update if I think my review needs to be revised. I will end on a humorous note: I did not name my form as so many women have, but I did stand back and really notice that I am damn short!!!! I knew I was, but to actually see it for myself was an eye opener.