Holly & Ivy Dress by Get Your Crap Together ( GYCT ) tester

I love testing for Chelsea of GYCT. She listens to her testers, and the things that need tweaking are always minor. She just puts out a good product. This dress is definitely going to be a "go-to" dress for me. It sews up fast and has lots of options. Two lengths, three sleeves, and three neckline options. Oh! It has an overlay skirt option too!

Being that it is starting to get chilly here and my eldest has few long sleeve dresses I requested to test the long sleeve dress with a square neckline. I have a love for square necklines, and actually have few, most likely none at the time, patterns that have a square neckline.

Originally I thought to use some Brambleberry Ridge fabric for the dress and do a holiday dress, but then I realized this pattern would be perfect with my Target fabric...yes, some Target stores have fabric, ours is one lucky one that does and I stocked up when the first line of fabric went on clearance. I'd had my eye on the fabric I used for the skirt since before it arrived in store. Inspired by this Persnickety dress, I paired it with horizontal stripes and picked up some orange fabric from Hobby Lobby's clearance bin for the sash. I love navy and orange together.

The Holly & Ivy Dress sews up quickly and without trouble. I LOVE that it has inset sleeves. It just looks better when sleeves are inset rather than sew with the side seam. The waist seam is fully enclosed, so nothing to bother her around the middle. I made this a size too large so that it will hopefully fit until spring - another reason I chose to use everyday fabric instead of making a holiday dress...though she does still need a Christmas dress. Only change I can see myself making to the construction is increasing the skirt side seam allowance so I can do french seams instead of zigzagging the edges.

And my daughter's verdict? She wanted to wear it as soon as the buttons were on. We tied just a ribbon around it for Church on Sunday, and I made the real sash today before we took pictures. It's comfortable for her and she can easily run in it.

Get your Holly & Ivy pattern here.