Do you LOVE dolmans? I know I do.

Now I can hear some of you saying, "Dolmans don't look good on my body shape." We are about to blow that out of the water and show you how to dive into dolmans.

How are we going to do that? I have my best series yet. We are diving into dolmans and to do that, I've got some amazing co-bloggers and some guest bloggers too. I rounded up women with EVERY body shape so you can see how they use dolmans to look absolutely amazing!

I've got myself, as an Inverted Triangle
The Creative Counselor as an hourglass/small pear
Made By Melli as an apple
Sew Sophie Lynn as a rectangle.

And for good measure, I've got my guest bloggers:
Dos Natural Sistas (spoon)
Rebel and Malice (pear)
Sew Far North (apple)
Mahlica Designs (pear)
Lulu and Celeste (inverted triangle)
Adventures with Bubba and Bug (hourglass)

Now there are a LOT of dolman patterns out there. Even with 9 seamstresses working hard, we still couldn't sew them all! So, this series isn't all inclusive. But I'll have a nice round up post for you during the series to cover all the patterns we've found.

Just like my raglan series, we're working from a basic chart to break down all the information for you. And then we'll talk about any adjustments we made to the pattern to better fit our unique extraordinary bodies. You'll find the blog tour links at the bottom of every post. You won't want to miss a single one!

Now that I've got ALL of that out of the way, we're ready to get down to my first review!

Today I'm sewing up the Sew Much Ado Seafarer. I'll give you the chart and then we can talk about my adjustments and my opinions on this pattern.




As with all dolmans this pattern sewed up in a snap. Probably less than an hour from print to finish. Seeing as this is my first dolman in the series, I can't say this is my favorite dolman (yet), but I can say I LOVE the fit. I did my standard length adjustments by removing 1/2" above the bust and 1" at the waist. I SHOULD have done a full bust adjustment but I was feeling lazy. Because of that, there are a few wrinkles in the bust, but since I used cotton/lycra its no big deal. I actually DIDN'T scoop out the neckline on this and it turned out great. It has enough scoop to be stylish and cute without being too revealing. However, when/if I make it again, I will definitely scoop the neckline out more. I have a thing for nice low necklines because they balance my shoulders and large bust better.

IF you do the bands (I skipped them on this version) they have you do the neck and armbands flat, instead of in the round. This is an easier way to do it, but it looks less professional (imo). But you don't have to do it their way. You could just as easily insert the bands in the round. problem solved.

The pattern includes a cute little pocket and a few styling ideas that could really change it up. I have to admit though I felt a little sad that there was really only 1 hem length. Yes you could opt for band or hem, but I love a good tunic because I really prefer wearing leggings. But a few tiny hacks and I could easily extend it to tunic length.

Overall the fit is good and it fits like a loose fit t-shirt. I like it and would recommend owning this one.