The Mortmain Bike Dress

Last weekend I decided it was high time to try a new dress pattern (my wardrobe is overflowing with Simplicity 2444's!). Step forward the Mortmain Dress by indie pattern company Gather. The dress is described as being for the ambitious beginner. It features a 'fitted bodice and waistband, box pleated skirt and exposed zip'. You can opt for sleeveless or 3/4 sleeves with a cuff and button fastening. This really had the potential to be a dream dress especially after seeing gorgeous versions from Mary @ Idle Fancy and Ruth @ Nightingale and Dolittle plus the variety on the Pinterest board.

The illustrations on the booklet are so pretty and instructions so clear that sewing the dress together was easy as - nothing too complicated here! The pattern itself is on lovely thick paper which doesn't rip at first touch like tissue can. I graded up from an 18 by adding a couple of inches to the waist (so I knew my toile would fit - I'd rather pinch out excess fabric than try to add) and I managed to get the whole dress cut from 2.7m of fabric which included me adding 2.5" to the skirt length and cutting 3/4 length sleeves. 

I made up my first toile in calico and soon found that I needed to shorten the darts (both sets) by 1" and add a couple of darts on my back - I think I must have a narrow back as this is a common pattern alteration for me. I liked the look of the box pleats but (as suggested in the instruction booklet) I decided to construct with inverted pleats instead. The main problem I had was with the sleeves. I'd taken the time to properly construct the cuff and cute button holder but found that they were so tight I probably wouldn't be able to move my arms up and down much. I've never tried altering a sleeve pattern before so used another sleeve pattern which I knew fitted and will come back to regrading the sleeves another time. So toile number 2 was much more successful and was nearly a perfect fit - close enough to make a couple of adjustments on the pattern itself and feel ready to cut my fabric. I sometimes feel like I'm wasting time by making toiles but I'm so glad I did. I retraced the pattern and added my alterations to it and now know that it's custom to me perfectly. 

Onto the fabric!! This bike print fabric by Robert Kaufman has been sitting in my stash since last September! I bought it from B&J Fabrics in New York on holiday last year. Man alive I LOVED that shop. Samples (maybe half a metre) of each fabric is hung on trouser hangers so you can just flick through each one. You take you fabric to a counter where they cut it for you, we hung out on the sofa looking at pattern magazines while we waited. The friendly assistant actually cut me more than I'd asked for as he knew I was making a dress and commented that 'I sounded like I was from out of town and wouldn't be able to pop back' - how right he was! I've actually got about a metre left of this fabric which has gone back into the stash. 

As I said the construction is really straight forward with nothing too tricky. Alterations made: 

• Lengthened it by 2.5" (partly so I could play with the length and have a deep hem)
• Shortened the darts by 1"
• Fully lined with a cream cotton poplin
• Constructed inverted pleats
• Used a concealed zip instead of the feature exposed zip (maybe I'll try this next time but I'm all about concealed zips at the moment)
• Used a different plain sleeve pattern

I also got to properly use my new overlocker a Janome 9200D which is an early birthday present (partly due to the fact that it got delivered when I was at home and had 'Janome Overlocker' printed on the outside of the box...). It's AMAZING! I finished all my seams with it and can't wait to properly sew a dress with it next time. It's really going to speed up my sewing and gives the inside such a neat finish. 

Anyhow, here are some more photos of the dress - extra points if you can spy my much loved rabbit slippers (hooray for cooler weather and slippers). I'm already trying to decide which fabric to use for my next Mortmain dress - maybe black with a leopard print waistband? Add a cute collar? I urge you to buy this pattern and give this dress a whirl! 

  And finally another cute photo of Holmes and Watson because EVERYBODY loves kittens right?!?