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Matilda dress from an old sheet!

Matilda dress made from a vintage sheet // Megan Nielsen Design Diary

My friends, there are insufficient words to describe how much i love these dress. I have been wanting to share this one with you for so SO long! This is one of the samples we made of the Matilda dress during development. It’s made from an old sheet from a thrift store (i don’t know if it’s vintage, but i feel like if i called it that it would be cooler right? LOL).

Matilda dress made from a vintage sheet // Megan Nielsen Design Diary

We make a lot of samples during our pattern development process, and we often use old sheets because they’re cheap and readily available. They’re usually only partially sewn, and not usually anything you’d want to wear, but this time I fell in love with this dress and the pretty floral print, and immediately helped it migrate permanently to my wardrobe.

I don’t often get to wear our samples, as I tend to keep them for store displays and photoshoots – so it was nice to steal this one for myself… from myself! ha!

Matilda dress made from a vintage sheet // Megan Nielsen Design Diary
Matilda dress made from a vintage sheet // Megan Nielsen Design Diary

It’s a little sheer, but not unwearable. I just wore a half slip / petticoat here and I think it totally solves the problem. And as is often the case with me – I chose shell buttons, because i feel like they are subtle and pretty and basically go with anything.

Since this was one of our earlier samples it doesn’t have as much topstitching as the other samples – top stitching takes time, and when we’re developing it doesn’t always make sense. But you know what, I really like it this way! It’s a good reminder that you can make something pretty without going overboard on details.

So perhaps instead of continually buying expensive fabrics for my wardrobe – i should go back to my roots, and make everything out of old cotton sheets with pretty floral prints.

Matilda dress made from a vintage sheet // Megan Nielsen Design Diary

Now that Perth is beginning to warm up, this is for sure going to be a go-to summer dress for me. I’m a huge fan of any clothing that feels cool and comfy on hot days, but still looks stylish, and I can already tell this dress will do that.

About Author

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.

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Let's Get Sewing
6 years ago

This looks amazing! Your pattern drafting skills are incredible, and this dress would look good in any fabric!

Rae
Rae
6 years ago

So lovely!!!

Haley
Haley
6 years ago

I’m in love with this dress! Beautiful <3

MADELINE NEWTON
MADELINE NEWTON
6 years ago

i love this in this lighter fabric….looks like spring is here…so cute …need to show all of your work…

Qudsiah Khan
6 years ago

Hi Megan,
Lovely dress! Are there any plans to release a sleeve expansion for Matilda for Fall/Winter here in the US?

Thanks!