Merchant and Mills Ellis Dress

As you might have guessed, these pictures were taken a while ago! Often when I make things as a fabric review for Minerva Crafts, there is a gap between me taking the photos and me being able to publish the post. I don’t mind though and am enjoying being reminded of frolicking round a frosty field in the early morning sun in my frosty princess dress (it’s icy blue and glittery so that’s what I’ve been calling it!)

Anyway, I think the Ellis dress might be my new favourite pattern. I LOVE patterns with facings instead of bias finishes, I LOVE the keyhole back – no zips or buttonholes! I LOVE the absolutely giant pockets and I LOVE the four darts at the neckline.

I hadn’t even noticed this pattern until Noni @isewyousee made a few in Autumn of last year. She made a few different versions in different fabrics in quick succession and I absolutely fell in love with them. The shape, the style, the little details – I knew I had to have it. It is not very often that I buy a pattern full-price, I have so many ready and waiting to be sewn up that I usually add a pattern that I like to my wishlist and let myself think on it. Sometimes I go off the pattern and was clearly only loving it because of Instagram FOMO. Other times I love the pattern for a while and next time that pattern company has a sale I snap it up. This pattern, I bought full price – VERY UNUSUAL for me!

It did not disappoint, I was sent this metallic linen from Minerva Crafts knowing I was going to use it to make this dress. I didn’t realise how wide the fabric was and I was a bit short on fabric so this dress is quite a bit shorter than the pattern intended (and shorter than Noni’s versions that I loved) BUT I did compare the pattern pieces to my Metamorphic dresses and made sure that if I was going to shorten it I wanted it to be a length I loved. I shortened it to the same as my Metamorphic dresses and I love it.

I fully intend to make more versions – I’ve got a denim one in my head and I expect to be using those huge pocket pieces on other patterns whenever I can! More info and the full blog post can be found here on the Minerva Crafts Blog.