Sunday 16 February 2014

Gather Mortmain Dress

Just after Christmas, I picked up some pretty rose print cotton at a bargain price in the John Lewis sale. I had a plan of the dress I was going to make and it was all going to be great, then as I was working on other projects I fell out of love with the original idea for the dress. For some unknown reason I started to get oddly stressed about what to make with the material, but then I saw the Mortmain dress, which has recently been released by Gather, and my problems were solved! It's a shape that I knew I'd love, and the name is taken from the book I Capture the Castle, which was definitely a good sign as far as I was concerned. A couple of weeks later and the result is just what I hoped for...


Sorry for the random shadows, but hey, shadows mean that the sun is out which is definitely a good thing compared with how the weather has been lately!

Anyway, back to the dress...the first thing to say is that the packaging is really pretty (it also arrived the day after I'd ordered it which is nice when you want to get sewing!), the pattern is printed on slightly thicker paper than lots of patterns and the instruction booklet that comes with it has lots of really clear instructions and plenty of diagrams to help you along the way. The pattern is classified as being for ambitious beginners, which I'd say is just right - there are more details than in an average beginner pattern but the instruction book will hold your hand and guide you through them all so there's nothing to be scared of. 


The dress has a fitted bodice, separate waistband and box pleated skirt, and can either be sleeveless or the option which I made with 3/4 sleeves with cuffs. The main instructions for the cuff have you make an elastic loop to fasten onto a button, but there's also a tip in the instruction book which suggests using ribbon ties instead which sounded fun to me, so that's what I did...


This option probably wouldn't be to everyone's tastes, and it does make the dress very girly, but I love it! Oh, and excuse the stray bit of thread that I clearly didn't manage to remove before taking the photos. On the plus side, this photo does show the waistband nice and clearly for you - it gets a bit lost in this print but I think it gives the dress a good shape.

The Mortmain fastens with an exposed zip up the back - this was the only bit of the dress that I wasn't 100% sold on at the outset because I'm often not sure about how exposed zips look in general but I decided to give it a go and I'm glad that I did because it means I've done something a bit different for this dress. I think it helped as well that I found an olive green zip to use which goes with the leaves on the material. 


As for sizing and fit - I cut a straight size 14 and added an inch to the bodice (which is a standard adjustment for me as I'm on the taller side of average) but that was the only change I needed to make. 

Everything came together really nicely, apart from the moment when I almost managed to ruin things by somehow ripping the neckline part way through sewing up the bodice. Aaaargh! Don't ask me how I managed that because I really couldn't tell you what happened. Much to my relief, the rip was tiny so I just sewed the neck facing with a very slightly bigger seam allowance and disaster was averted - phew!


Overall, as you can probably tell, I'm really happy with my Mortmain dress. The general shape is similar to some of the other dresses I have made, but there are extra details to keep things interesting - the fastened cuffs are cute and I think the waistband is flattering. The pattern was great to work with so I'm looking forward to seeing what Gather come up with in the future and for now there are other Mortmain dresses emerging in my head - I think it would work well with some colour blocking and I've already spotted a fun print which would make a great sleeveless version for summer. Now let's just hope that this break from the rain will continue so I can wear my dress again soon!

16 comments:

  1. Well done on averting the neckline disaster, It's horrible when things like that happen. Good save though- you'd never know. I like the waist band detail and the pleats in the skirt they give your dress a lovely shape.

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    1. Thank you! Yes, it was a close thing with the neckline - my heart sank when I heard the rip but thankfully it was only tiny so not too much of a crisis in the end!

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  2. Gorgeous!! I think the print works really well and I love the ribbon ties - the exposed zip keeps it from being too girly. Looking forward to seeing some more versions!

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    1. Glad you like it! Yes, I thought the exposed zip kept it just the right side of girly too. More versions will be in the pipeline soon!

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  3. Wow, you did a great job! The dress looks amazing and I looooove the ribbons on the cuffs!! I haven't heard about this pattern yet, so you are really tempting me to get the pattern as well! I also have never inserted an exposed zipper, but seeing yours - you convinced to give it a try as well! Actually I have a very similar fabric in my stash :) It has the same colors and only the roses are a smaller.

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    1. I'd definitely recommend the pattern - I'm really pleased with the dress. It's a great shape (or I think so anyway!) and there are some nice details to work on. The exposed zipper was easier than I thought it might be, I'm sure it wouldn't cause you any trouble!

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  4. This looks lovely Ruth! I love the cuff details and the exposed zip - really nice touches :)

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    1. Thank you! I was pleased with the little details - they make this a bit different from some of the other dresses I've made.

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  5. Great dress. Beautiful work. :)

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  6. I like the ribbon detail too - looks lovely :)

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  7. I'm just about to sew my first Mortmain and stumbled across your blog. This dress is amazing.I'm undecided about sleeve length, but you have sold me on ribbon ties. A great make, well done x

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    1. Thank you, and thanks for stopping by! The ribbons are a really pretty option, they're not great if you try to put a cardi on over them but that's a minor problem!

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    2. I finally made a Mortmain with ribbon ties and I just wanted to stop by and say thank you again for sharing your make, I paid close attention to what you had done when putting the ribbon in last night. Thank you!

      Here's the link x
      http://jaquesrhymeswithcakes.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/last-night-i-made-friends-with-my.html

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    3. I'll pop over to your blog and take a look now!

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