Chalk & Notch Marcel Dress

This has to be one of my favourite sewing projects ever! It’s a gorgeous Marcel Dress by Chalk & Notch Patterns and I think I truly made it my own and added my special Keira touch. This project has been months in the making! I joined the 2021 Collaboration Team in January and found my fabric at my local store in February.. for the July Collab! I don’t think I’ve ever been this prepared for something in my entire life!

I went to the fabric store to prepare for our February lockdown and to be honest, Marcel was the furthest thing from my mind. I was just trying to pick up a few fabrics and thread and so forth to keep me busy during lockdown plus I had some deadlines to meet and the thought of not having what I would need to meet those deadlines during lockdown was really scary. So while everyone was panic shopping at the supermarkets, I was panic shopping at the fabric store! As soon as my eyes caught these fabrics, I just knew instantly I had found my Marcel fabrics. This rarely happens! It was meant to be!

I usually shop the other way. Fabric first, pattern after. All my colorblock dreams came true when I saw these lovely rayon linen blends in the most gorgeous paint splatter prints! And the colours are just beautiful too! I’ve managed to locate them on Fabric.com for you guys and I highly recommend the Marcel Dress for this combo. Speaking of colourblocking, head over to the Chalk & Notch IG page where I’m sharing some cool colourblocking tips with this make!

Options

• Mini Dress
• Midi Dress
• Tank Top

The Marcel Dress & Tank Top Pattern is meant for wovens and is fitted through the high bust then loose everywhere else. It’s a really floaty and dreamy silhouette with 3 views. I went for the Midi length but I am only 5’4″ and I am not really a fan of midi lengths on my short legs. I am a maxi girl to the core! I lengthened tiers 2, 3, 4 and 5 by 1″ each for a total of 4″. And of course that meant I needed to lengthen the center panels by 4″ as well. It just grazes the floor which is my preferred maxi length. Such an easy alteration!

Sizing

• 0-30
• A/B cup or C/D cup

I made size 14 C/D and the fit is perfect. I only needed to take in the yoke on each side at the underarm by ¼” tapering to nothing at the bottom of the yoke. And this is only because these linen fabrics tend to grow just a smidgen. It’s my biggest pet peeve when working with linen and linen blends. I made a mock up of just the yoke piece before I cut my final fabric which I think is a very important step that shouldn’t be omitted. It will also help you to determine any changes to the strap placement.

I followed along with the sew along on the Chalk & Notch blog and Youtube channel and it was a smooth and seamless process. The Marcel was definitely an enjoyable sew and I particularly loved planning out my colourblocking and seeing it come together bit by bit! So satisfying! I actually did a quick and dirty line art sketch in Photoshop to plan my colour arrangement! I went for the black in the middle, and the pink and blue on the sides since those two were the same print; slightly different from the black print. Here’s the fun part.. I have enough fabric left to make the mini dress version! I don’t know when I’ll get to it but that fabric has definitely been reserved for Marcel makes only. Maybe I’ll have enough to scrap bust the tank as well! Is it crazy to have all three styles from the same fabric?

As a short girl, I felt a bit swallowed by the amount of fabric especially since I made a full length maxi and my fabric is kind of thick and heavy, surely not as drapey as rayon on it’s own. I decided to add a belt to cinch the waist and control the weight of the fabric so the straps and yoke don’t get stretched out. Luckily I already had the perfect belt in my me made wardrobe! It’s the free Gemma Tie Belt pattern by Forget Me Not Patterns that I made with my April Dress. I cannot get over how much these two are a perfect match! I think it really amped up my Marcel dress and what are the odds it was just the right colour?

If you want to grab the Marcel pattern, It’s on sale right now for 20% off until July 9th 2021. There’s also a girl’s version called the Mini Marcel which is also on sale. Use Code: marcel20 to get your Marcel! Here’s something funny I just noticed.. my Marcel will make the most glorious gender reveal dress! How did I not notice this? Mind blown!

Toodle-loo

Keira