Abundance of design options

A review of Megan Nielsen Sudley Dress and Blouse

Reviewed by sewinglikethewolf on 26th February, 2020

Megan Nielsen recently released an updated version of the Sudley, and I was thrilled that it was also in the extended sizing Curve range! I really love Megan’s patterns for their versatility and simplicity; and the Sudley does not disappoint. Having made a couple of her curve patterns before, I knew the fit was top notch.

The abundance of design options and hacking potential is crazy, it is easy to get carried away! The pattern can even be worn back-to-front. I mix-and-matched views here, going with the dress version combined with the cute peter pan collar. As I would be mostly wearing this with cardigans (and I hate bunching!), I opted to switch to the plain elbow-length sleeves.

As the Sudley dress is a smock style (quite like the Tilly Indigo dress) it is very loose fitting. Super comfortable, but maybe not so super flattering on curvier figures! I  fashioned some skinny ties and sewed these into the waist seam.

I chose my size based on my bust measurement. There is lots of ease throughout so I would recommend looking at the finished garment measurements to decide how oversized you want it.

The construction was wonderfully easy and straightforward, and the instructions were really clear as expected. The skirt is basically two rectangles gathered into a dartless bodice. The dress version is supposed to be fully lined, but I decided to forego this as my chosen fabric is opaque enough to get away with.

The only fiddly part I found is the bias facing just around the corner of the keyhole. If you go with the collar, make sure that you’re super accurate with your seam lines otherwise when you fold under the facing, it will be visible. I had to unpick quite a few wobbly peeking lines!

Will definitely be making lots more of these. The top version in linen is my to make list for the summer.

 

Full article on Sew Hayley Jane blog: https://sewhayleyjane.com/blog/lauras-sudley-dress