Ahhh,,,,the Mersis Dress from Pattern Fantastique..... This dress was not made for my body but eventually I think I got it to work. It all started with my seeing it online on a tall, lithe 30 something. Her fabric I recognized to be a Lady McElroy print that I had been pining for but is now out of print. She looked stunning. The sleeves, the slit on her tall body, the casual sandals, I wanted to make this dress so badly. My journey began. I think this took me longer to finish than any thing I can remember in a long, long time. It is now done and I am glad it is!
Pattern:
I found the pattern itself extremely frustrating. I printed it off at home on a 2 month old printer and with a new laptop. I've had no issues printing other patterns and docs. This pattern has little blocks with half triangles to indicate the placement of the pages. That was fine but there was no page one or any other page that would match up with the pattern piece needed on the first sheet. Being the first sheet with those silly blocks, the page could have gone in any corner but it didn't even come close to matching it's neighbor pages. I did have a first page and it was a logo page with a tiny section of pattern piece that did not match up to anything anywhere on any of the pages. So frustrating. Luckily the flow of the design let me draft my own continuation of the abutting pieces, with crossed fingers for sure. Buyer beware. Other reviewers did not mention this issue.
Look at the outline of this shift type dress. It is the exact opposite of my shape. Throw in my diminutive height and we have a recipe for challenge.
The pattern gives the following ease for sizes 6 to 26:
Bust: 5 7/8 inches
Waist: 13 3/4 inches !!!
Hips: 2 3/8 inches
Loosest where I am slimmest, tightest where I am broadest. And I thought this would work..............who am I fooling?
This is the exact opposite of how the Lord made me but I proceeded. I made a muslin which revealed much, too much volume, too low front v neck, way too long dress and maybe sleeves, I made the smallest size, 6 and did major adjustments some of which I increased as I went along. This design is one tricky little momma to adjust! I usually get away with using a pattern company's smallest size and a bit more petite adjustment. That did not suffice. I still loved the potential of the dress, my gorgeous Lady McElroy fabric and those amazing sleeves.
Fabric:
The fabric is a Lady McElroy cotton lawn called "Pansy". I used Fusi Knit tricot fusible interfacing to stabilize EVERY seam on this garment. In making it again I recommend interfacing the center front seam with the same lightweight fusible if you are using a lightweight, floaty fabric. This pattern would also be great in a lightweight linen as the structure would really emphasize the sleeves, its best asset.
I also fused the two inch hem with the Fusi Knit. There are a couple of reasons this dress is so tricky besides the fit issues. To achieve that beautiful hang of the sleeves and the shape of the dress control is had by GUSSETS. That is not unusual but we are talking a four part gusset here. It is made of very unusual shapes, one shaped like an apostrophe, no exaggeration, and the other like a weird triangle. There are two for each side front and 2 for each side back, 4 in all. They are bias and curvy. the front apostrophe one, IMO, serves as a princess seam for the bust. If you need bust alteration, this pattern may not be for you. The curve of the apostrophe could be enlarged along with the dress bodice to accommodate, just thinking out loud here. Care has to be taken not to put these pieces together backwards. The directions warn of a lot of ease to get them to fit. I eased my heart out then realized it did not look right at all. I rechecked my notches, not all of which printed, and realized this was in backwards. Once that was resolved, the gusset pieces fit in exactly, with no big easing.
When I cut out the pattern I raised the length 2 inches on the lengthen/shorten line. Then I cut off 4 more inches from the bottom hemline. I raised the CF slit 3 3/4 inches. After the gussets were in I raised the hem another 3 inches for a total of 9 inches of length removed. I made sure I did not remove length across the gussets.
Above you can see what I thought was the trickiest pat of making the dress. You need to connect the neckline facing to the two inch wide seam allowances at center front. You have a 1/4 inch seam to do so and some confusing dots to match up. It worked if I ignored the dots. The illustrations are small and have the overlocking stitches which makes for an unclear view of what you need to do. Many reviewers complained of this step and I agree. Why a traditional vneck facing could not have worked here, I don't know.
This is the most brilliant part of the construction. The hem is also 2 inches. Rather than make you figure out how to miter a perfect corner, the pattern comes precut with the corner cut off in the perfect spot at the perfect angle and all you have to do is stitch a 1/4 inch seam and voila! a perfect miter, no fussing whatsoever! Why can't all patterns do that?
Now for the glorious sleeves. You run three rows of basting in the flat at thesleeve hem. You then pull up and quarter the sleeves, spreading the gathers evenly . After you have pulled and basted your gathering threads you press them hard on those gathers only, as you see above. I know, not the usual. Then you trim them to 1/8th inch from the basting. Now you will bind them with your bias strip, sewing to the inside first, wrapping around to the topside and then topstitching. Your sleeve is all still in the flat when you do all of this. Your sleeve is then sewn together from hem to cuff and pressed. I pressed to the side and hand stitched down the SA at the cuff. It gave a lumpy finish there but was easier than sewing in the round. I really like the sleeve gathering finish in the end.
What I Like:
* The design is elegant, unique, and gorgeous.
* The sleeves are exquisite, both in effect and detail.
* The cut, along with the curved 4 piece gussets was interesting and quite challenging.
* I wanted a sewing challenge and got it.
* The fabric was gorgeous, worth every penny and a delight to work with.
What I did to make it work for me:
* Drafted a new neckline facing
* Drafted/raised the center front neckline 1 1/2 inches.
* Raised the back neckline 1 1/2 inches
*Took 2 inches out at lengthen shorten line
* Raised hem 8 inches.
* Went from 12 to 11 inches on cuff bias strip
* Reinforced all seam allowances with fusible knit tricot.
* Added 2 fisheye darts, each one inch wide, to back bodice
Next time I would:
* Acknowledge fit issues of sloping shoulders and slight rounded back.
* Add tucks or darts to front bodice as well as back bodice
* Shape the side seam
* Make the cuff strip shorter
* Use topstitching thread or two threads in one needle for topstitching
* Interfacing, knit, in hem
* Cut underarm area higher up
A few final thoughts: I dreamed about this dress for quite some time. In my dream it would go together so easily as well as look amazing. Sometimes our projects don't quite work out that way. I had a dear friend/mentor who was so gifted and he told me one day, "you wouldn't believe what I throw out and how much just isn't that good. " Now I found that hard to believe because he was just an incredible portrait artist which he loved doing. That love came out in his work. But he taught me to never feel bad about the mistakes, to just persevere and move on and that the great things will come. Anyway, after trying on the initial muslin, I was disappointed. I decided to continue. It happened that night I watched the summer Ralph Lauren runway show on youtube. It was utterly fabulous and so my dream wardrobe. He had dress after floaty dress with loads of volume wafting thru the sea air and so many of these dreamy garments had his big leather signature belts at the waistlines and it looked fabulous. When my bag of a dream dress disappointed me, I ran upstairs and grabbed my wide leather belt, a la Ralph. It made the difference. My friend Si would be proud I persevered but I also thank Ralph for giving me the idea to belt my dress and make it work. Happy Sewing!........Bunny
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