I guess, in many ways, all you need to know about my review of the Close Core Patterns Nicks Dress is that I’ve already sewn three versions of it!

And, really, there is basically no stronger recommendation that immediate repeat makes, is there?

But, you know, since if you’ve come this to this post, you’re probably looking for a bit more, so I’ll expand a little.

Although, just a little, as I found so Nicks Dress very straightforward that I don’t really have too much to say about it!

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When I saw that Closet Core had released the Nicks Dress – I loved it at first sight. I also thought “how dare they release another totally fabulous pattern so quickly after the Mitchell Trousers” since I hadn’t even had time to finish sewing my Mitchell trousers yet!

My Nicks Dresses!

My body measurements had me between a 12-14 at the bust and between a 14-16 at the waist and hips. I checked out the finished garment measurements and, seeing that there was plenty of ease at the hips and that the waist ease could be adjusted through elastic, I went with size 12.

I am really happy with the sizing and found that has plenty of room for me.

I decided to start my Nicks Dress experience by testing out the pattern with a fabric which had languished in my stash for a few years. It’s a rather stiff cotton with tiny eyelets. I had only a very limited amount of this narrow fabric, so I needed to make some adjustments.

For this cotton Nicks Dress, I’ve used the short sleeve of view B. And I’ve only used the top two tiers of the skirt. For the top tier, I added 7cm length and for the bottom tier, I added 5cm. As I was using the selvedge as a hem, I knew I didn’t need to hem the garment, which is why I added more length to the top tier, than the bottom one.

So my wearable muslin version confirmed to me that I found the Closet Core Nicks Dress just about perfect and didn’t want to add anything to it.

You can see on this navy version that in a slightly stiff cotton, the ruffles have quite a bit of structure.

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Armed with the knowledge that I was very happy with the Nicks Dress, I then moved on to the main event: a full maxi length view A Closet Core Nicks Dress with a lovely long sleeve. In a lovely fluid, drapey fabric. With a dreamy autumnal colour palette…

For this version, I decided to use the the “Hilma River” viscose twill by Atelier Brunette for my perfect autumn colour palette. I’ve already used this fabric in a different colour way for a skirt so was confident that its properties would work well for the Nicks Dress.

And, well, what can I say, I think it did!

I also used coordinating Atelier Brunette buttons which makes this one feel a little bit extra special!

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The Sewing Experience

I found the Closet Core Nicks Dress an easy and straightforward sew.

Sure, there’s plenty of gathers, but I’ve never been one to dread gathers, so no issues for me.

The bodice has no darts or shaping and the neckline is finished with the yoke at the back and bias binding at the front, which I found made the bodice a very easy and efficient sew – this helped to offset the extra gathering time you knew would knew would be included in the skirt.

The rouleau loops for the buttons at the bodice are a little bit fiddly but the instructions were well set out and easy to follow for this step.

The instructions for the Nicks Dress suggest you can use a bit of hand sewing to ensure that the bodice is well closed at the front, without gaping. But on all my versions, I haven’t found this necessary and I find the button loop closure to be secure.

The bottom tier of the view A Nicks Dress looks so outrageously enormous as a pattern piece that I thought perhaps I’d done something wrong.

But, no, I hadn’t, it just takes a lot of fabric to create this much effortless swish factor.

My only beef with the Closet Core Nicks Dress is that it doesn’t include pockets!

Nooooooooooo!!!!

Perhaps the rationale is that with lightweight fluid dresses, pockets may not always be practical. Or, that we’d be too tired gathering to add in the pockets. But, it felt a tiny bit lazy.

Nonetheless, no big deal. I added inseam pockets to my versions (well, except for the below one, but the reason for that should be obvious). I think I used the in-seam pockets from the Amy Jumpsuit – so kept it in the Closet Core family.

All-in-all, I found the Closet Core Nicks easy and satisfying to sew and, most of all, the end result is basically my definition of dress perfection.

I fucking love it!

Getting fancy

And so I decided I wasn’t quite done with the Closet Core Nicks Dress (well, actually, I’m sure I’m still not done – there’ll be more in the future).

I’ve been eyeing off the permanent pleated fabric from Stragier for a while and decided to finally pick some up. They have the pleated panels, together with coordinating plain fabric, available in both a satin and a batiste. As I prefer matte fabrics, I went for the batiste in Royal Blue. I love the feel and look of the fabric, but it does stick to tights somewhat so probably needs to be worn with a slip underneath to avoid this when wearing tights.

And, well, not much to say except that I love the way the Nicks bodice looks with a pleated skirt too. This was also a pretty quick sew from such a high-impact look.

There was, however, one nightmare aspect of making this particular pleated Closet Core Nicks. The pattern is finished with an elastic waist. The channel for the elastic is formed by attaching the skirt and the bodice with a large seam allowance and then using this allowance to create the channel. Which means that your skirt fabric forms part of the channel.

And, umm, when your skirt fabric is made of multiple fine pleats, well, it turned out impossible to make the channel. I made a huge mess of it and ended up constructing a separate channel using the plain bodice fabric. But once the elastic was in there, pulling in the waist, it just looked like a total dog’s breakfast with the pleats.

There was just too much bulk.

So, ummmm, I’m afraid this dress can only be worn with a belt to cover up the mess going on at the waist.

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Still, no big deal, since I think it looks great with the belt! After one wear, I also added in belt loops to make sure that the belt remains in the correct place to cover up the mess at the waist line.

Top sewing tip: a belt can save us from a multitude of sewing sins!

So not much else to say, except that my versions of the Closet Core Nicks Dress have be swishing and spinning all over the place!

The pretty details, swirl factor and loose flowing arms are basically my definition of dress perfection. I just don’t think I could think of way to improve this dress if I wanted to!

It works equally well as a breezy summer dress as a fancy work dress and as a boho winter dress that can be worn with layers. The Closet Core Nicks is versatile!

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The only way to do more with it would be to make more versions. And I do think I’ll be back with the Closet Core Nicks before too long. I’m dreaming of a future version in a lightweight double gauze playing with stripes….