Sunshine Yellow Myosotis Dress

This is another stash-sewing project! I still haven’t bought any new fabric, which I’m pleased about. I’ve maintained my excitement about sewing the fabrics I already have, and this project brings back some fun memories from last summer! It’s a sunshine-y Myosotis, which brings my Myosotis total up to five!

I bought this beautiful yellow double gauze when I was in Vancouver, British Columbia last summer. I visited Dressew after it was recommended by multiple different people, and it did not disappoint! I got a couple other pieces that I haven’t sewn yet, and this fabric was bought specifically to become a Myosotis so it’s satisfying to see it turn into the thing I planned! That said, it’s got quite a loose weave and was a bit shifty to cut and sew. I accidentally sewed the shoulder seams inside out and had already serged them before I noticed, but I knew picking out serging would cause way too much fraying so I just cut it off and then after unpicking my line of stitching, resewed at a shorter seam allowance.

This Myosotis is a mash-up of views A and B, which I hadn’t done before. The first version I sewed was this seersucker one, with both sleeve and skirt ruffles. Then I made two ruffle-less versions which I never blogged about, although I really should’ve because this double gauze one is one of my favourite things I’ve ever made. I wear it ALL the time. This one in cotton lawn was my third one. Then I took a hiatus from the pattern before making a second double gauze version as my fourth iteration. I wore that last Atelier Brunette one on Wednesday evening and got so many compliments on it that it reminded me that I’d never made the yellow one I’d dreamed up a year ago. I bought buttons for this because I didn’t have three buttons that matched each other and went with the fabric/were the right size. Other than that I had everything on hand – made do with a close-enough thread, and cobbled together enough interfacing pieces to cover the two facings and one of the collar pieces.

For this one, I wanted to have the skirt ruffle because I think it’s so fun and swishy, but I find that I don’t wear the ones with the sleeve ruffles outside of warmer weather because it’s hard to layer those sleeves with a cardigan on top. It ends up looking and feeling like a bra with tissues stuffed in it, except on your arms. Not ideal! So then I never end up wearing the full ruffle ones in winter, and that basically eliminates them from my work wardrobe. So I’m glad I have one sans sleeves ruffles so I can have some flounce but still wear it to work all year!

I made sure to take back photos of the garment this time! It was on my mind because Stacey recently made the Myosotis and had a great series of stories that she has highlighted on her profile outlining all the fit adjustments she did to the pattern, especially to correct drag lines in the back. I notice on this version that I do have slight drag lines at the front shoulder, but it’s nothing that bothers me enough to fix and wouldn’t have noticed if she hadn’t been focussing on it during her fitting process. Fitting is so personal, and I think everyone has different things they have higher standards for than others! I think that’s one of the reasons why it’s important not to comment on the fit of a garment someone else has made online unless they’re specifically seeking feedback!

My measurements are 37.5″/30.5″/39.5″ (or were the last time I checked) and I went up to a size 40 for this Myosotis from the 38 that I’ve made in the past (aside from the seersucker one, which is also a 40). I was finding the others harder to get over my climbing shoulders, even though they DO still fit and I wear them lots. I notice the fit in the shoulders is better on this one, and it was much easier and more comfortable to put on, since there are no real closures on this and it just slips over your head.

It’s been really hot here in Nova Scotia lately, and I’m glad to have another lightweight summery dress in my closet that I can just throw on! The colour especially makes me so happy! It definitely reminds me of sunflowers. This summer has felt like such a return to childhood in a lot of ways – I can’t go anywhere outside of the Atlantic province bubble without having to quarantine, so I’ve been doing a lot of camping and hiking and climbing around the area. It feels like I can be more relaxed and go with what I feel like doing at the time. And that’s definitely translated into my crafting and making: I have been baking a lot, knitting a bit more, and experimenting with printing as opposed to making a lot of new garments from scratch. I also got two new baskets to put my printed PDF envelopes in, so I’m excited to go through and organize my patterns again! A bunch of them don’t fit properly anymore because of the changes to my body from climbing, so it’ll be a good clear-out to get rid of ones with outdated fit modifications.

How has everyone’s summer been going? How has the pandemic changed your usual habits for the season in terms of your day-to-day and your making?