Thursdays are typical release days over at Petite Stitchery & Co. Guess what? It’s Thursday! The Merry and Bright Top and Dress just released for both Girls and Women and it’s currently on sale through Monday, December 10th.

This top/dress has a fully lined bodice, which means no neckband! (If you are still struggling with neckbands, check out my foolproof tutorial here.) There are multiple sleeve lengths (sleeveless, short, half, and long), multiple skirt lengths (tunic, mini, knee and maxi), an option for a one or two shoulder bodice, and a ruffled or plain bodice for the single sleeve. This dress can be super casual or more elegant depending on your choice of fabric.

I think my favorite part of this dress is the rolled hem. I love, love, love rolled hems! (It’s not called for in the instructions but it’s still my favorite.) They are especially perfect if you accidently cut your dress a little too short for a traditional 1” hem (I’ve had this happen a handful of times). Boom! Rolled hem to the rescue! (Note that this works best with flowy fabrics!)

MY THOUGHTS

Elastic around the waist. Just a little tidbit – make sure you have REALLY good, stretchy elastic. (For me, this was not the clear elastic.) I had to stretch mine to the max and just barely got it to fit around the skirt! If you run into this issue and it’s causing more of a pain, I’m sure you can get away with trimming the sides of the skirt so the opening isn’t as big for your elastic.

Mainly for the mini and knee length, I suggest sewing the bodice before cutting out the skirt, just in case you need it shorter or longer. I feel like I am an average height, with average proportions between my legs and torso, but I seem to always have to lengthen my knee length dresses so they hit just above my knee cap.

For being an LDS garment wearer, the neck opening is a tad on the wide side. Keep that in mind if this applies to you.

The main thing I don’t totally love about this dress is the front armscye where it meets the bodice. I can’t quite put my finger on what it is though…it’s almost like it’s on backwards- minus the neckline of course. (I just put on another shirt on backwards and I think that’s totally it!) It doesn’t look terrible in these pictures, but it’s very straight looking. The sleeves are cut on the fold, but I’ve made other shirts and dresses with the sleeve cut on the fold and they looked fine with no issues.