Megan Nielsen Darling Ranges Dress and Blouse

This is a very lovely dress, and comfortable to wear. The instructions are easy to understand and it is not a complicated pattern, so  confident beginner should be able to manage it. I previously made Megan’s Olive dress which again was lovely and a very similar design to this. The Olive dress I made in my usual size 12 and is was too big so I decided to make a toile for the Darling dress (thank goodness) as a size 8 fitted me so perfectly,it’s only necessary to make the toile for top and sleeves . Love these dresses with pockets. The only thing I would change is the tie belt insertion I would prefer to insert this into the side seams and make the belt much longer. The fabric I used was Liberty Tana lawn which suited this style.

Such a pretty pattern, and one that has been on my sewing 'list' for a long long time.

I love the shirt-dress (view A), but this pattern also gives you the options of making a dartless blouse and a simple tunic style dress.

It was quite easy to make thanks to good instructions and lots of additional notes and tips included. I love this elbow length sleeve which is gathered at the cuff with elastic.

The neckline edge is finished using some bias tape cut from the fabric, and I really liked how this was attached to the button placket edge using a really clever and neat technique when sewing it to the neckline.

The pockets sat too low for me (I'm 5'2"), so I raised their placement height by an inch.

My measurements are 35-29-39 and I cut a size 8. The size range on this pattern is a US 0-20.

I have read other reviews mentioning that the ties at the back of the dress are too short. I quite liked the short length as I think they are intentionally only meant to tie in a double knot. If you prefer your ties to be longer so that you can tie into a bow then I suggest that you cut your ties double the length,

The only problem that I had with it was that the button/button hole placements marked on the skirt pattern. The lowest marking sits much too low and when you have turned up the hem the required 2.5" it sits right at the bottom of the skirt close to the hem. In future I would skip this button hole marking completely.

This dress was made with fabric gifted to me by Minerva.com in exchange for a blog post, so if you would like to read my full review then you can click here!

Happy sewing!

Kathy x

I love shirt dresses and they are always on constant rotation in my wardrobe. I've seen so many fabulous versions of the Darling Ranges dress I just had to give it a try! It's not a challenging pattern, so I think it could be a good project for a beginner sewist.

Prior to making this view A version of the dress I made a wearable toile of view C. I made a size 4, but wasn't very happy with the fit - there was some gaping at the neckline and for some reason it was tight across the bust. I made a quick toile of the bodice before I made view A in the same size and the fit was perfect! After chatting with a few other sewists it seems the fit of the dress can be a bit problematic, so I would recommend making a muslin - particularly if you are about to cut into some special fabric.

I decided to use some very beautiful Rifle Paper Co quilting cotton for my dress, which was a birthday present. Although the fabric is only 110cm wide, I managed to cut everything from 2.5m of fabric without too much pattern Tetris!

The instructions are easy to follow, well-explained and good quality. I have made a number of Megan Nielsen patterns and they are always a pleasure to work with. The only alterations I made were to extend the waist ties by 50% so that I could tie a slightly bigger bow and I omitted the elastic from the sleeve hem.

I'm really pleased with my dress and have plans to make a striped linen version for next summer. I wouldn't make any changes in future, but I think it would be fun to play with the directions of the stripes on the bodice and skirt and maybe add patch pockets instead of in-seam as a design detail.

I’ve been wanting to try this pattern for a long time and I finally found a beautiful floral rayon that seemed perfect for this pattern!

I made a muslin first and made the following changes... I widened the shoulders (like a lot of other users), lowered the darts by 1” (like a lot of other users), cut the ties on the fold as I didn’t want them as short as the pattern calls for and raised the armholes to improve arm mobility and then adjusted the sleeves to suit.

I love the fit of this dress, it has a lovely 90’s vibe to it with its relaxed fit but can look more tailored by using the waist ties. Using rayon gives the overall look a softer feel. I didn’t have to do a SBA like I do most other patterns because of the looser fit so it turned out to be a quicker pattern than most other dresses. I was nervous about using rayon for the neckline binding but the binding is a great width and by going slowly the outcome was great.

Next time I will raise the bodice waistline by 1” as I prefer a higher waistline on myself and lengthen the skirt to compensate. My only criticism is that the pattern doesn’t include printing layers.

Both the PDF and printed pattern come in sizes XS - XL. I bought the PDF version and printed it at home. The pages all went together well although there are no layers for you to print the size that you want however I just worked out myself what pages I needed for the version I made.

I made Version 1 which has a skirt gathered into a V necked bodice with a choice of sleeve finishes and buttons down the front of the dress. There is also the option to make a tunic style dress and top.

The instructions are very easy to follow and comprehensive and I ended up with a neatly made garment.

I used a light blue chambray (similar to the photo).

I am 5’1” and a size 10 (36 - 29 - 39) and I cut a size small based on the finished measurements. I made a toile for the bodice first as I usually have fit issues on the back (I have a short upper back) however I had none with this pattern.

Adjustments to Pattern:

I narrowed the skirt pieces front and back by just under an inch – this was only because I was trying to fit it onto my fabric however you don’t notice this at all as the skirt is gathered and sewn onto the bodice. I also shortened the skirt pieces by 2”.

I made the elbow length sleeve with elastic cuff - I shortened the sleeve by 3”.

I lowered the apex of the bust dart by 1” on the front bodice.

I used a striped shirting for the pockets.

I decided to leave off the back ties as I don’t really like them on dresses.

I particularly liked the way the binding was added around the neckline and then sewn down with the buttonband facing – it gives a really neat finish.

Probably the fiddliest / hardest part was sewing the gathered skirt to the bodice without getting any folds sewn in – slow, slow, slow!

I’m still not sure how I feel about the elasticated cuffs on the sleeves but the elastic can easily be removed should I decide to do that. Oh and I finished the sleeves completely before sewing them into the bodice, this just made it a lot easier to get the elastic in without a dress attached to them and I will do this in future for all sleeves I make. A nod to Emily Hallman for that tip!

I would say this is advanced beginner - if you have experience with buttonholes, gathers and attaching binding you will be good to go.
Overall a lovely dress that I have enjoyed wearing