Deer & Doe Myosotis Dress Pattern Review

The Deer & Doe Myosotis is my official go-to dress when I need to throw on something easy and breezy. True story: I wore the white tencel twill version to a Bay Area Sewists meet up, and in the course of nerding out about my dress, I realized I’ve made the pattern five times already! Five! And I have another one in the works!

The Pattern

Pattern Description

The Deer & Doe website describes the Myosotis as an “oversize[d] shirtdress with inseam pockets”, but that doesn’t do it justice. Version A has sleeve ruffles and a tiered skirt and Version B has short sleeves and a plain gathered skirt. I’ve made both versions as printed and done a few hacks. 

Sizing

Deer & Doe’s size range has great petite options – it goes from a French 34 to 52 (31 ½” bust to 45 ⅝” bust – but isn’t fully inclusive. They draft for an hourglass figure of average height (5’6”) with a C or D cup, which I assume is bra size, not sewing cup size. I find their sizing works really well for me, and I’m quite a bit shorter than their block.

Pattern Adjustments

Since the dress is meant to have a bit of ease, I’ve sewn all of my Myosotises (that’s the real plural – I checked!) without adjustments. The darts pointed to the right places and I was happy with where the waist fit. 

My Atelier Brunette Chestnut Stardust version was a straight 38. The rest have been 36s.

Design Modifications

Each one of my Myosotis dresses has been slightly different. Here’s the rundown of my modifications:

• Atelier Brunette Chestnut Stardust version: This is Version A with no modifications.
• White Tencel Twill version: This is Version B with the skirt lengthened by 3 inches.
• Embroidered Gauze version: This is Version A, but I adjusted the length of the ruffles to accommodate the border print. I also sewed on snaps instead of buttons because my buttonhole foot wasn’t cooperating.
• Pink Cotton Gauze version: This is also Version A, but I added sleeveless ruffles. More on that below!
• Atelier Brunette Black Stardust version: I refashioned a sewing fail into a peplum top with sleeveless ruffles. The peplum is 8 inches from waist to hem (not including seam allowances).

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Construction Tips and Tricks

When I first laid eyes on this pink Nani Iro double gauze, I knew it needed to be a light and airy Myosotis with a ruffle cap sleeve. There just aren’t enough tutorials out there on how to add a ruffle sleeve – I found a French one, but it wasn’t great. I ultimately took the shoulder ruffle from the Sew Over It Ultimate Shift dress and co-opted it for this pattern. You can see the pattern piece’s dimensions in the image below.

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I gathered the ruffle sleeve, basted it to the armhole (right sides together), and then finished the armhole with self-made bias binding, sandwiching the ruffle between the bodice and bias binding before turning the bias binding to the inside of the dress.

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The Fabric and Haberdashery

I can always squeeze out this pattern with less than the recommended amount of fabric. With some serious pattern Tetris, I’ve managed to make Version A with 2 ¾ yards of 60” fabric and Version B out of 2 yards of 60” fabric.

For the Embroidered Gauze version, I calculated how many yards of ruffle the pattern required and then purchased my fabric based on that length. All told, the ruffles are 4 yards long and I had lots of unused black gauze left over.

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Fabrics

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Keywords: Pattern Review, Deer & Doe Patterns, Deer & Doe Myosotis Dress, Deer & Doe Myosotis Dress Pattern Review, Deer & Doe Myosotis Shirt, Pattern Hacks