I'm having the same problem. I'm not using variations, just simple attributes so you can filter on those attributes to select products. I couldn't figure out why my Layered Nav widget wouldn't show up on the sidebar, but now I'm realizing it's probably because none of the attributes have saved in any of the products. Hence, there is nothing to filter.
I found an old post alluding to the fact that it worked in older versions. I hope that isn't the problem.
Thanks to anyone who can help!