Make: Sudley Dress by Megan Nielsen
The Megan Nielsen Sudley Curve dress was one of the first I sewed. Hot off the heels of my success sewing her Eucalypt pattern I felt up for a dress and ready to learn. It was a bit of a disaster if I am honest and it never saw the light of day on me. I enjoyed sewing the dress and thought I finised it up pretty well, but I was at a point in my sewing journey where the thought of fitting scared me and I was just making to the pattern.
When it comes to making this dress to the pattern, be warned #sewover40 team, it is short! I think I have good legs and am not afraid to flash a bit of over the knee action, but the standard length was inappropriate on me.. and the neck was too high , and so my dress. as beautiful as it was went to an op shop. As the summer has been nearing its end here in New Zealand I have been pondering my trans-seasonal wardrobe and thought I would revisit this as is a great style.
Megan Nielsen sudley curve dress
So I went about this make a bit differently..
Fit changes a plenty…
I dug out this gorgeous autumn-appropriate rayon from the back of my stash.. It is perfect for an autumnal Sudley Curve Dress don’t you think?
First things first I added 5 inches to the cut fabric for the skirt. I did chop 1 inch off of this when it came to hemming, but as I am only 5’5″ tall you can see just how short this was the first time around.
Second change I made was to deepen the neckline but half an inch just so it wasn’t choking up on my neckline.
As I was using the Sudley Curve pattern I didn’t need to do a full bust adjustment (yay!) but I did want to have a fiddle around with the lining to secure it all in place a little differently.
Bodice lining attachment to the arm seam
The pattern instructions will tell you to hand stitch the lining into the seam of the dress ariund the armsyc. I HATE hand stitching and prefer to use my machine for everything and I realised I could easily attach the lining to the serged edge of the armsyc. It has attached really neatly, machine stitched all the way!
Skirt Lining Hem
This sew was a bit on the impulsive side. I didn’t plan it and so when it came to the lining I was using what I had. This meant I was using a chocolate cotton voile for my lining. Not the slipperiest choice and I was conscioius that at some point I will wear this with tights and I didn’t want it to be all clingy. I very carefully hemmed the lining and the skirt together, making sure my folds allowed the lengths of the skirt to still hang properly. This was such a neat way to finish the dress off and I’m glad I made the choice to do this!
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The colors and fit are glorious! I havent made this pattern yet, but its on the list!!
that FABric. A.mazing!