Stash busting: Merchant and Mills Trapeze Dress

I do love a loose A-line style dress so when I saw versions of the Trapeze dress from Merchant and Mills popping up I was sold and wanted to make one of my own.  I've been holding onto this pattern for sometime and finally can check this off the sewing wish list.  I like the nineteen sixties vibe of this style.  

The pattern is a simple dress design with a few variations.  You can make it sleeveless, with short sleeves or three-quarter length sleeves that actually would be long sleeves on me.  I did want to have sleeves but after reading review I thought that I should try this pattern out in the sleeveless version.  

Even though it appears in the line drawing to be drafted with no sleeve cap gathering, just easing.  There are a few versions out there that appear to have the sleeves gathered into the sleeve cap.  It is not a look I want.  I was also worried about reports that the sleeve opening is tight and I thought if I went with the sleeveless version, alterations would not be so challenging.  

There are also options for the centre back design.  It can be made with a centre back seam or centre back button closures.  I opted for a seamless centre back so that I didn't mess with the circular prints on the fabric and cut my fabric on the fold for both the front and back pattern pieces.  

I am disappointed there is no pattern for pockets included here.  It would have been nice.  Of course, that didn't stop me from adding side pockets.  I borrowed the pocket pattern piece from The Assembly Line's Tulip dress pattern.  There is no marking for where the waist or bust lines on this pattern, so pocket placement was figured out after a fitting.  

I did struggle with turning over the facing.  I am not sure with what I did wrong.  In the end, I cut open the neckline, ironed a narrow allowance on the facing and dress and then wrong sides together I hand stitched the neckline closed.  I guess this wasn't such a simple design or I just needed a cup of coffee.  

As far as the fit, I think I would have been okay going down a size.  I didn't find the armhole opening to be too tight as others have described.  There is good coverage in that area where undergarments are well hidden.  

Sewing IS Political

This project is completely Canadian 🍁 made 💕 and tariff free.  

I don't know if you've been hibernating this winter and just emerged to the news that the convicted felon down south and his cohort have declared an economic war on Canada and other countries around the world.  Right now the convicted felon has a global steel and aluminum tariff and Canada and other countries have rightfully responded with tariffs on American goods.  That means if I go to the fabric store, many sewing and fibre art supplies are more expensive.  I don't know if it this was necessary since most Canadians are not touching, looking or buying American goods and add to that Canadians are not traveling down south like they did before.  But I digress.  

Thankfully, everything I need for this project did not originate from the United States and was already in the stash.  The fabric is a Japanese cotton that I picked up a few years ago at a Canadian fabric store, Marshall Fabrics.  The fabric scissors and sewing pattern are from a United Kingdom business, Merchant and Mills picked up via a Canadian fabric store, The Workroom.  There were no Coats and Clark threads that touched this fabric, all threads used were Gütermann threads.  And my sewing machines are all non-American machines.  

The Fabric

A swatch of this medium weight 100% cotton fabric was previously pretreated in the washing machine on the normal setting and the gold dots faded.  This time, I pretreated the fabric on the delicate cycle both with the washing machine and dryer.  It was followed with a steam iron pressing on the wrong side of the fabric.  Thankfully, it turned out beautifully.  I will have to take the same care when laundering the finished garment.  

Project details

Seams:  2.8--3.0 straight stitch

Seam finish:  Serged

Fabric:  2 metres

Pattern:  Trapeze dress by Merchant and Mills

Additional Tools & Supplies:  Cutting table, measuring tape, iron, ironing board, measuring gauge, pins, pin cushions, Merchant and Mills fabric scissors, Janome 4120 QDC sewing machine, walking foot, Janome AirThread 2000D serger, threads, thread clippers, seam ripper, wrist brace, back brace, tea, and many breaks between episodes of sewing.  

Stand Strong and Keep Sewing.