A Cinched Waist Sudley Dress and the End of Silk Hoarding
I’ve wanted to make an elastic cinched waist Sudley dress for quite some time, and I finally did it! Even better, I used silk I’ve been hoarding for years – double win!
This was actually really simple – I cut the Sudley bodice to be in between the cropped length and the full blouse length as I wanted it to sit at my waist with a bit of volume. Then I sewed the entire dress as per the instructions. The bodice I left unlined, and finished the neckline and keyhole with bias facings. The skirt is lined because it was a tad too see-through – but I simply cut two skirts and sewed them as one piece. In the end, I used a long scrap to make an elastic casing at the waistline seam and inserted elastic. Voila. Super easy.
I really need to do this again, I love how it turned out!! Some of our pattern testers also made their own fabric belts, and that’s another idea I’d like to try out myself.
Now as to the fabric – this is lovely silk from Potters Textiles in Perth, that I have been hoarding for years. As per usual I loved it so much I couldn’t bring myself to cut it. Every project felt like a waste. And I’m glad for that, as it meant I could use it for this dress. It somehow seems to walk the thin line between casual and more dressy – which works so well for me. Anything that can handle the school run and date night is a winner!
What do you think? Would you try a Sudley with an elastic waist?
[Make this look]
Dress: Megan Nielsen Sudley // get the pattern + similar fabric
Shoes: Swedish Hasbeens
LOOKING FOR MORE SUDLEY POSTS?
Here’s the full list of Sudley posts and tutorials:
- Pattern Tester Round-up
- Ties and Shoulder Seams
- Collar
- Bias Facing (Views A, B, D)
- Sleeves and Side Seams
- Bodice Lining (View C) (this post!)
- Skirt (View C)
- Hem
Here are a couple of posts you also might find useful:
- 5 Tips to Sewing a Perfect Rounded Collar
- How to Finish the Sudley Keyhole & Neckline with a Bias Facing
Don’t forget to tag your creations with #MNsudley and @megannielsenpatterns when sharing on social media, and check out what everyone else is up to!
DON’T HAVE THE PATTERN YET?
Order Sudley today in sizes 0-20 and Curve sizes 14-30
Meg
Meg is the Founder and Creative Director of Megan Nielsen Patterns, and is constantly dreaming up ideas for new sewing patterns and ways to make your sewing journey more enjoyable! She gets really excited about design details and is always trying to add way too many variations to our patterns.
10 comments
I love how this dress turned out..so pretty. I just started sewing clothes. I made one simple dress. Is there a rating on how difficult your patterns are? I don’t want to get discouraged if the pattern is to hard for me. Enjoying your blog..Deb
Hi Deb! So glad you like it :) Yes all my patterns have a rating out of 5 – where 1 is beginner. When you look at the product listing it’s written out as say 1/5 and on the pattern covers its shown as coloured in dots on the top right of the envelope. I hope that helps! xo
It looks so good on you!
Thanks Kieran! xo
It looks really great. Excellent idea and it looks very flattering on you.
Thanks Annette! It’s not a style i would usually wear (ie cinched at the waist, and billowy elsewear) and i think i’ll need to try it again, as i really like how it turned out! xo
The dress is lovely. So is that amazing silk. Very nice.
Thanks honey! It’s so nice to finally use up a fabric i’ve been keeping so long :)
Love this!
Okay, so this is a really dumb question, but…how do you attach all of the bits? Do you attach the bodice and skirt and just put the casing on top?
Not at all a dumb question! I ended up sewing the casing to the waist seam and then sewing it flat against the bodice so that the waist seam was also hidden in the casing – now that i think of it i really should have taken a flat photo so the detail could be seen.