Do you ever see a popular pattern and think “meh, not for me”? The Myosotis dress from Deer & Doe was that pattern for me. I couldn’t even say or spell it! On researching for this blog, I learnt that Myosotis comes from the Ancient Greek for “mouse’s ear” so it feels more appropriate that I’ve fallen in love with the pattern, given my nickname.
I felt like there was too much going on for me and wondered if all that ruffle, flounce and gathering would swamp my small frame. What I hadn’t realised was there was another, less ruffly version.
So many ruffles vs basic shape
Given my apathy towards this pattern, how did I come to own it? My whole dress is a combination of goodies from the mind of Sew Hayley Jane. The pattern, fabric and buttons are all from boxes that I had purchased from Hayley over the past year or so.
When I got the Myosotis, I was slightly more interested when I saw the line drawing of the simpler version and had a more detailed look at the hashtag. In the back of my mind, I thought that waist ties might make it a dress that I would be more comfortable with. It had a collar though and I wasn’t ready for that level of complication in my life! And so, it went into my stash and was forgotten for a while.
Fabric
Make Nine 2020 was the reminder that I needed to release it from the archives. Whilst perusing my fabric stash, I came across a double-gauze with dandelions on it and wondered if it would make a good Myosotis. Spoiler alert: it did. By coincidence, this was also from one of Hayley’s boxes.
I hadn’t made anything with double gauze before. It’s light, soft and I enjoyed sewing with it. I had seen posts online about double gauze misbehaving during sewing, but I didn’t experience that at all.
Hacking some waist ties
I had my mind set on additional waist ties to cinch the dress in. Rather than look up a tutorial online, I decided to “wing it”, which is a very rare approach for me. I cut two rectangles of fabric and folded them in on themselves then stitched closed (sort of like bias binding). As I predicted I would, I forgot to secure them into the bodice, so ended unpicking a bit of the sides to add them in! The waist ties allow me to pull the dress in at the waist a bit, which I prefer as a silhouette than it hanging loose.
I cut a size 38 on the collar and bust, then graded to a 40 on the waist and hip. I shortened the skirt by about an inch and did a full bicep adjustment to give myself a bit more space on the arm.
Pretty gathers 
Added waist ties
Buttons
These buttons are from Whim Wham Buttons and I think they’re called “Joy”. I was undecided on whether to use the pink or yellow ones and even did an Instagram poll (my followers couldn’t make their mind up either). In the end I went with yellow, partly because my husband preferred them and partly because the yellow were from a SHJ box, whereas the pink weren’t!
Yellow or pink? 
Buttons and topstitching
Verdict
I’ve badged this as a ‘surprising make’ as love it and wasn’t sure through the whole sewing process. I definitely prefer the simpler version and added waist ties. It’s so comfortable to wear that I’m considering another one in the other double-gauze that I have in my stash and Make Nine!
Thanks for reading :o)
My Stash Reduction Quest 