Velvet Co-ord - Cropped Cardigan and Strappy Midi Dress | Westcote

Two pieces, one length of velvet

Westcote is a velvet co-ord: a cropped cardigan and a strappy midi dress, cut from the same velvet and sold as one. The pile is short and dense, so the colour sits almost black in the flat of the cloth and lifts to a soft wine bloom wherever the light runs along a fold. That is the whole argument. No print, no trim, nothing to fasten but six small buttons.

The cardigan is what makes the set work. It stops at the natural waist, so it covers the shoulders and then gets out of the way, and the line of the dress carries on underneath without a break. Button it up over the straps for an evening in December, or leave it open and let the neckline show. Worn apart, the dress goes under a coat and the cardigan sits over a shirt on a Tuesday.

Fit

• Two pieces sold together, in the same colour: a cropped cardigan and a strappy midi dress
• The cardigan is cut short and ends at the natural waist, roughly 37 cm from shoulder to hem, measured off the maker's own photographs
• The dress sits close across the bust, then falls in one line and opens gently into a soft A-line
• Midi length: on the maker's model the hem lands well below the calf, a good way clear of the floor
• Six sizes, UK 8 to 20, in the maker's own conversion
• Roomy at the bottom of the size run and close at the top: the dress measures about 8 cm more than the body it is sized for at UK 8 and UK 10, and close to nothing from UK 16 up, so read the dress bust before you choose
• Knitted velvet, so there is some give in it
• Full measurements sit next to the size selector

Details

• Cardigan: plain round neck bound in the same velvet, with a narrow self-fabric placket running from the neck to the hem
• Six small round buttons in the colour of the cloth, nothing metal and nothing to catch
• Long plain sleeves with a flat cuff, no rib, no collar and no pockets
• Dress: wide, shallow scoop neckline bound in the same velvet, with fine self-fabric straps set well out on the shoulder
• No waist seam: the dress falls in one unbroken piece from the bust to the hem
• Continuous hem, no slit and no vent, and no fastening of any kind visible at the front or the side
• No pockets on either piece, no belt and nothing to tie
• Short dense velvet pile, plain throughout, with no rib and no cord
• The maker gives the composition as polyester and shows no sewn fabric label, and nothing in the specification mentions a lining
• Colours: Barolo and Black
• Machine wash cold on a gentle cycle, hang to dry, do not tumble dry; press on the reverse with a cool iron if it needs it

Westcote sits with the rest of our dresses at Harlbury.