Metamorphic dress by Sew Liberated, take 2 x 2

I was pretty sad to have messed up my first Metamorphic but I definitely wanted more. So I undid the bodice shortening and ordered some pretty linen.

While waiting for my linen to arrive from Lithuania, I realised I had the perfect combination for #2.  Two layers of cotton voile, one in "sage green" (bad advertising) from Mood and the other a Nanette Lepore silk/cotton voile from Harts Fabrics.  I haven't worked with voile in a long time and had forgotten about how fine lightweight fabrics can be shifty, but overall I didn't have any major problems with it.  Because both layers are transparent, if I flip this dress to have the taupe side out, the flowers will show through.  Maybe I'll do that one day so I didn't put a label in it but I think the real show here is the seafoam green and flowers!

By using such light fabrics I could see how this pattern would do with a minimum of gathering fluffiness.  The bodice ends where it should end.  In fact, I'd say that if you have a large bust it would be wise to lengthen the bodice so it hangs below the bustline - by shortening one inch I made the dress totally unwearable (see here if you really want to) and although some of my pictures make it still seem high, when worn it's obviously below the curve of my bust.

I still used a size 4.  The armholes are apparently supposed to be quite low and I could wear a layer under it, but because of my massive back and shoulder muscles, though the armhole is relatively low, it does not show my bra.  After wearing the dress for a day the front armhole got a bit stretched out but not too badly.

I've worn this dress a few times already.  I love it, I love layering it, the pockets are oddly relevant despite being quite small.

Once my linen arrived from Lithuania I was ready!  But then I worried I should have gotten grey instead of the dark olive green...too Christmasy?  I canvassed Instagram and everyone thought it was fine. Also honestly I couldn't be bothered to wait for more linen, and even looking for a different fabric just slid me down the slippery slope of buying too much...so I went with it.

My etsy seller is Linengraphy. The linen is lightweight - 130 gsm and it is luscious. I would definitely buy from them again. I also bought a piece in bottle green of heavier weight 190 gsm, which I don't really like as much.  That's a color I always like more on the screen than in reality.

This being the third time around, you'd think it would go perfectly but I got hung up on small problems - my overlocker tension went haywire so I rethreaded the entire machine and then jumped in twisting dials with zero success...ends up one thread wasn't caught tightly enough in the overlocker tension knob.  Live and learn.  Then in a bad mood one day, trying to hurry, I um burritoed the front to itself AND overlocked the SA before I realised, so I had to undo and then approximate the correct seam allowance.  That means the armhole on this dress is even a bit bigger than it's supposed to be.

Also, I found the instructions annoying regarding in-seam pockets. I don't do them very often.  I didn't know - Do I only sew to the notches?  Do I need to finish the little piece of fabric under the pocket that gets ignored?  And why are the pocket instructions sitting next to the pictures for a totally different step of the pattern?  As seems to be the case with Sew Liberated patterns - the results are great but the instructions leave me a bit annoyed.

(Answers: I overlocked that orphan seam, no it doesn't matter if you sew the entire pocket to the side of the dress, and the appropriate drawing is further down the page.)

I was reassured that my dress doesn't look too festive.  I'm very grinchy at baseline but I also want to be able to wear my dress all the time without people having holiday flashbacks. The greyer shade of green might indeed have solved this concern, too bad shipping takes so long.

After wearing this dress a few times I think I'll size down to a 2 next time I make it.  I am unlikely to layer under it, and I'd prefer a bit less ease.  I will also stabilise the armhole early...like staystitching?  Gasp!  

Sew Liberated Metamorphic dress review

I found this pattern recently though it's been out for awhile. I think when it came out I just wasn't interested, but recently I've been All About layering my clothes.  Seems like I accidentally happened upon a trend...

So in my head I made up about 12 different versions.
In reality I got this fantastic flowered poplin from Drygood Design in Seattle. I had eyed it up in person and now was really pleased to have an excuse to buy it.  I got the last 2 meters.  I paired it with black silk noil.

And this time...I didn't make a practice version, or even a quick muslin.  Oh nope I did not.  I cut a size 4, and I shortened the bodice by 1 inch based on my recent success shortening everything.  And despite the pattern pieces lying on my floor for two hours, I had the outer skirt with the wrong edge against the fold of the fabric and I didn't notice my error.  The shape of the skirt makes this tempting to do, for some reason.

And here, I have a complaint.  Yes, every Indie pattern company is unique and special.  But that does NOT mean each company needs to reinvent the wheel.  Standard drafting marks on patterns mean that it's easy to switch from one pattern to another without confusion.  This pattern didn't use standard marks but used about fifty words to tell you to put one edge on the fold - easy to overlook, unlike a nice double arrow.  This is my second pattern by Sew Liberated - seems I am really liking her aesthetic, but I find the patterns and instructions just a bit difficult, though eventually the results are worth it.

I had to do some juggling of the instruction order to accommodate my skirt having no side seams.  

Anyway.  You know it.  The fit at the armscye is perfect - on everyone else maybe it's low but on me it is just right.  And the gathered ruffles hit just about 1 cm below my nipple line.  Oops.  It's totally unwearable.  When I first tried it on I thought I would need to lengthen the bodice but upon closer inspection I guess 1 inch is about right.  I didn't iron my gathers so they are even puffier than necessary, and I think that doing the skirt properly gives you a chance to control the gathers better than I did - I had to apply the outer skirt in the round instead of doing the front and back separately and topstitching the gathers down. 

I discovered while taking these photos that two layers, with the silk noil underneath, makes it feel like I'm wearing a bathrobe and I just fell in love with the feeling a little bit.  Not enough to make me love the dress but I stopped hating on it, and I think my next version will also use a silk noil base.

Not hemmed.  I stopped there.

I will not be thwarted!  In two ways.  First, after considering sending the offending dress straight to the Goodwill basket, I realised all that fabric could be salvaged into a different dress.  AND I'm still going to try this one again.  I'll focus on lighter weight fabrics to ensure that it doesn't feel so puffy, and I'll get the skirt right...and I won't make unnecessary adjustments.