High on the Trapeze

I have always looked at Merchant and Mills patterns longingly, never sure if they would end up looking like a gorgeous garment from All Saints or a sack on me. I decided to take the plunge and bought the Trapeze pattern and I'm hooked! It is indeed a sack on me, but it is a gorgeous one!

The dress comes in with three choices; sleeveless, cap sleeves or long sleeves. It was extremely quick to sew and was only made from four pieces. I made the dress in a size 8, which took a metre and a half (exactly what Merchant and Mills recommended). The only alteration I made was to shorten the dress by about 4 inches. I used a 100% wool fabric which I bought last weekend from The Knit and Stitch Show. I then cut my facings from a scrap of Liberty Queue for the zoo that I had left from a previous project. I was worried that the lining was just too different from the dark wool but I like the contrast. The wool I choose was very soft so I only used the facings. However if you had a wool which wasn't you may need to line the whole dress/the top.

There are absolutely no darts in this dress and so it is not fitted at all, it does however have an absolutely beautiful shape which I think makes the dress quite dramatic!

The dress was very simple to make, until it came to attaching the facings to the arm holes, which was very fiddly. It's worth noting that the back of the dress is not cut on the fold, so if you have a pattern there will be a element of pattern matching there. I was quite pleased with how mine turned out as I often mess up here!

All in all, I am really pleased with the dress! I'm already considering making another with capped sleeves! I also currently ogling the Factory dress and the Camber dress by Merchant and Mills. Has anyone had any success with these patterns?