Alder Shirtdress #2

In case you couldn't tell from my earlier post, I'm kind of in love with the Alder Shirtdress. For my wearable muslin I made a size 6 version A (A-line variation). Next up, it was time to try version B (the butt gathers variation).

My wearable muslin pulled across my chest but fit great elsewhere. I checked out Jen's sample dress' and noticed that her versions were quite a bit looser than mine so I decided to size up all over. This meant printing out another version of the PDF which is pretty darn huge. ugh!

For this version I cut a size 8 all over and made no changes to the pattern. I used some lovely blue chambray with white polkadots that I bought at The Cloth Shop. The fabric drapes well but still has some structure and weight so it works well for the boxy shape. The polka dots must be bleached onto the fabric as every time I pressed the fabric I could smell chlorine. Oddly, I found this quite comforting on a cold day. It reminded be of summer days at the pool - quite the contrast from the current Melbourne weather.

This version came together in a around half a day. The sewing process is almost identical to Version A, except for creating the gathered butt/side skirt panel and sewing it in to the main dress. I intended to French seam the whole dress but wasn't sure how to insert the gathered skirt component with French seam. For this part of construction you have to piece the skirt panel in to a square corner of the dress. This requires a little fiddling and also cutting into the dress. The panel went in fine but I have no idea how you would go about French seaming it. Also a note to future self, first sew around the corner of the dress to reinforce it before attaching the skirt panel and cutting in to the fabric.

I used white thread for this dress and the same brown foe wood buttons I used for my First alder shirtdress. I omitted the chest pockets on this version as I thought the dress was busy enough. Once again I regret not adding in-seam pockets - next time I will definitely add them!

The fit of this dress is relatively loose. I normally wear things with a very defined waist which this dress definitely doesn't have, but still has some nice waist shape with the added hip/butt ruffles. The fit is better across my chest in this version, if anything there is excess room. I think version B of the alder, loose and gathered, will be perfect in the spring/summer months. It's more interesting than a sack dress but is similarly loose and flowy. I think my A-line version looked better layered up and belted for winter wear than this version.

I'm definitely keen to make a few more versions of the alder shirtdress. I'm thinking another VA, this time in a size 8 and then some alder shirtdress hacks, starting with a pull over version with a button placket ending just under my bust.