SINGING sensation Ellie Goulding has never been one to shy away from a daring outfit choice in the past.

So when the chart-topping popstar teamed up with London-based designer Carl Robertshaw, who grew up in Grappenhall, he knew it was going to be a tall order to create a show-stopping dress for her performance on the Royal Variety Show.

But after a month of careful meticulous design, the 42-year-old's hard work clearly paid off with the impressive 600 square foot garment inevitably stealing the show and hitting the headlines of national newspaper pages in the UK.

After seeing the dress for the first time on stage, the former Lymm High School student said he had one word to describe it - 'wow'.

He added: "We were all very proud and thinking that this is going to be something special. We couldn't wait to see the reaction."

Carl, who studied graphic design at Central St Martin’s School of Art and Design, worked closely with creative director Dan Shipton and video artist Frieder Weiss to make sure Ellie's dress was the talk of the show.

Using a sewing machine that was a present for his 21st birthday from his mum, Jo Robertshaw, and auntie, Judith Wheaton, Carl and his team spent countless hours putting the masterpiece together.

But, despite planning for every detail, nerves are inevitable when waiting for show time.

He said: "Having done this for nearly 20 years anything can happen but you do everything to the best of your ability. It’s carefully planned so that we get everything right on the night.

"External factors we can’t control, but those factors within our control are meticulously planned down to the last detail."

Ellie Goulding is not the first famous face the former Priestley College student has worked with and has worked on even bigger scale projects during his career.

A quick look at his CV shows an impressive list of jobs which includes working on the Olympics opening and closing ceremony and Take That's Progress Tour and Circus World Tour.

Speaking about his love of design, Carl said his trusty sketchbook is never far from his side for the moments when inspiration strikes.

"I always say my first language is drawing and my second language is English," joked Carl.

Visit carlrobertshaw.com.

Ellie Goulding's dress in numbers

600 The amount of fabric used in square feet to create the dress

33 The circumference in metres

11 The diameter of the dress in metres

6.5 The length of each panel of the dress in metres

5 The number of days the dress took to construct

4 The number of puppeteers hidden under the material

3 The number of people it took to construct the show-stopping garment