Metamorphic Dress by Willow and Stitch.JPG

I’ve been raving about Sew Liberated’s Metamorphic Dress over on instagram for a little while now but I love it so much that I thought it deserved a few words and pictures over here too!

I’ve been reading, and loving, Meg’s insights on parenthood and living a creative life since my daughter was a tiny baby, 7 years ago. Her blog remains my favourite place to find inspiration, ideas and reassurance. It was, in fact, blogs like Sew Liberated and Made by Rae that first nudged me down the path towards re-discovering a joy of sewing, first for my kids and then for myself. This seemingly small act of stumbling across these blogs so many years ago has caused such a massive shift in my focus and my passion that it is actually impossible to imagine where life would have taken me if hadn’t clicked on the link that first took me there. If I had stayed my finger, where would I be right now? I have no idea, but I’m fairly certain that life would be less joyful and less fulfilling. I feel like I owe so much to Meg, I love her philosophy of sewing, and of course, her designs, so when I got a chance to pattern test the Metamorphic dress I was thrilled.

This dress ticks so many boxes. The most amazing thing about it is that it’s reversible - it’s two dresses in one. I packed mine for a weekend away and it was almost the only thing I had to pack. My husband’s head nearly exploded the first time I turned it inside out and put it back on - hilarious! You don’t fully appreciate the genius of the reversibility though until your kids smear something grotty over you and you can just whip it off, turn it around and put it back on (although unless you’re layering it, I’d recommend finding a private spot before you do this - I almost got caught out here, I was so excited when I realised that I could switch it around that I nearly stripped off there and then…oops!)

Striped Metamorphic Dress by Willow and Stitch.JPG

I made this version in a blue and white stripe cotton / linen blend for the outer layer and a lightweight linen from The Fabric Store for the inner layer. The linen is 'Duck Egg' and it’s the most gorgeous colour. Next to grey it looks blue and next to blue it looks grey and it will go with pretty much everything in my wardrobe!

The dress is super comfortable, although I would expect nothing less from one of Meg’s designs. Clothes are no good at all to me if I can’t move in them, I need to be able to be spontaneous with my kids, be able to roll down a hill, to rescue them from unexpectedly big waves, to jump and run with them or to help them down from a tree. I can do all of this in my Metamorphic dress and I feel great doing it. The relaxed fit means that it's cool on the hottest summer days and also layers up beautifully for winter.

And… I’ve saved the best for last... Pockets! It has 4! Topstitched pockets for the outer layer and inseam pockets for the inner layer. I basically refuse to wear anything without pockets these days because where am I going to put the random bits and pieces that get handed to me on an hourly basis otherwise? Pockets also add an element of fun to laundry day - one garment might have hair ties, lego pieces and marbles in the pockets. In another I'll find wilted flowers, twigs and rocks, or else googly eyes, glitter and tiny paper airplanes - it's like discovering miniature time capsules of our days.