TL; DR – I’m too old to wear shorter dresses. Thankfully, a longer option exists!

I love testing for Forest and Thread. I don’t know what it is about her patterns, but I always end up pushing myself to do the cleanest finishes and focus on detail. So I jumped at the chance to do the Cinch Me I’m Dreaming dress (also, best pattern names ever).

First off, I love the pattern. It’s so lovingly made and developed…But I made all the wrong choices for me for this pattern. First off, I chose the short version rather than the longer version. Second, I chose the gingham fabric, which just adds to the cutesy factor. The best compliment that I can offer about the pattern is my (very judgy) 17-year-old daughter’s take: “I don’t like this on you, but I would wear that for sure!”

And then I realized that the longer version of the dress just added a panel to the bottom, I still had enough fabric available, and voila! Now it’s the right length for me (my daughter would have, in fact, rocked the shorter length).

This will probably be my last “summer” pattern for a while, but once the temps start getting warm again, I’ll be reaching for this pattern again!