Two simple smocks

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Here are the two full finished dresses from my no-flip facing tutorial post. They’re both very simple loose smock shapes in some fun prints, ideal for autumn and winter with tights and a cardi.

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The first and most recent is another Megan Nielsen Sudley dress made from a lovely new season Liberty tana lawn print called Moon Dust. (I’m going gaga over quite a lot of the AW prints this year – constellations and clouds and tigers, oh my.)

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It’s funny to compare it to my first Sudley and see how the use of a very fluid viscose vs a slightly more crisp lawn affects the silhouette. The skirt stands away from the body more in this one, making it rather more loose and bell-shaped.

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I did the above-elbow sleeve length option this time and also dipped the front neckline lower, omitting the keyhole detail from the back. and of course, instead of self-lining the bodice I did a no-flip facing !

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For this dress I used the bodice from McCall 7080. I was attracted to the cute waistline tuck in the pattern, however it turned out really weird-looking – bulky and unflattering – so I unpicked it and got left with a much more simple silhouette that’s basically the same as the Sudley.

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The fit on the bodice and sleeve is really quite nice though so I may use it as a block again. I cut the skirt midi length originally which was a bit overwhelming in the print, so I hacked some off. I might go a tiny bit shorter still.

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This fabric is particularly special to me because I bought it on my birthday back in January, when I took myself off on a solo daytrip to Brighton. I had an amazing lunch at Silo, trudged the chilly beach from pier to pier, and of course popped into one of my very favourite fabric shops, Ditto, where I bought this stuff. It’s a silk poplin and the print is so beautiful, weird and unique – the very definition of a conversational print. It’s long out of stock but Ditto has another silk poplin in a monochrome globe print which I’m tempted to snap up too as this stuff sews and wears like a dream.

What are you sewing this weekend? I’m feeling quite uninspired at the moment, perhaps because I hate winter and cold-weather dressing, but I might dig out some knits and make a couple of turtleneck sweaters.

11 thoughts on “Two simple smocks

  1. Sam

    These are both lovely Katie. Sorry to hear you don’t like this time of year and cold weather dressing. Isn’t it strange, I’m much happier when I can put on my thick tights and cardi’s! I’ve started working on a coat this afternoon but haven’t got any further than tracing the pattern and converting the one piece sleeve to a 2 piece one.

    1. Katie Post author

      Oh no, I can’t stand it – give me throwing on a summer dress and calling it an outfit any day! Your coat plans look amazing…

  2. Giorgia

    Both great dresses! Really need to take a trip to Brighton and check Ditto fabrics out.. I’m wrecking my brains at the moment on how to make a swirly skirt from some really tricky Ombré velour… more details on my blog, would really appreciate advice from more experience sewists actually!

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