Merchant & Mills Factory Dress
A smart and easy to make statement dress, inspired by generations of industrious women with things to do in style. Features bust darts, front skirt tucks, a straight collar and dropped shirt sleeves with rolled cuff finish.
Suitable fabrics include linen, cotton drill, lightweight denim, fine wool and corduroy. Be sure to check out the Robert Kaufman yarn dyed cotton / linen blend.
Depending on fabric width and pattern size, you will need up to 2 3/4 yards of fabric (2.5 metres) and lightweight interfacing for collar and facing. For this pattern, with its easy fit, Merchant & Mills recommends using the bust measurement for sizing.
A comment from one of Fabric Spark's talented customers (she made the lovely wool loden version pictured here) - "Loved this Factory Dress pattern! Sewing it required very little effort - quite easy, in fact and I would consider it an easy to intermediate sewing level. The Instructions are clear and the pattern tissue has a great feel. i stand 5'6" tall with a 39" bust, 32" waist and 41" hip and used a size 12. Fits great and I had no pattern adjustments. I used a 100% wool."
NOTE - Merchant & Mills patterns are made in the UK where dress sizes are different than in North America. Please use the measurements below and on the envelope or go to their size chart before you cut your pattern.
| UK Size | 8 | 10 | 12 | 14 | 16 | 18 |
| North America Size |
4 | 6 | 8 | 10 | 12 | 14 |
| Bust | 32 | 34 | 36 | 38 | 40 | 42 |
| Waist | 26 | 27 | 29 | 31 | 33 | 35 |
| Hips | 35 | 37 | 39 | 41 | 43 | 45 |
A word from Merchant & Mills
"Our patterns are developed by Carolyn Denham over several months and go through many tweaks and changes before being deemed fit for your consumption. After approving the final cut, the pattern is then graded before production begins. You will find very few fastenings and no unnecessary difficulty when working from our patterns which start life with an idea and a domestic sewing machine. In our experience, the classic, simple designs that Carolyn favours, place emphasis on the cut and silhouette whilst intentionally avoiding detailing and fastenings which can make even the best dress look homemade."