Alder Shirt's (Not A Dress)

My Alder Shirt Dresses (1, 2, 3) fit so much better around my shoulders/arms than my sleeveless Archer, even with mods. Thus, I decided to try making a shirt version of the Alder Shirt dress.  I ended up making two and I can see myself making more when the warmer weather arrives.

 

To make the dress (version A) into a shirt I simply took my Archer shirt pattern pieces compared them to the dress and drew on the shirt curve. I also folded up the button band and interfacing pieces to the length used in the archer pattern. Jen is planning a sew-along tutorial for making Alder into a shirt and I'm sure she'll have a fancier way of doing it, but for now this worked perfectly. These shirts are both made in a size 8.

 

For my first shirt I used a soft black cotton voile with a wide checked weave. It will be a lovely light option in summer. I used some cream buttons with little pink flowers on them. I have one big regret with this shirt: I used white interfacing with black voile. You can see the white through the fabric on the collar and button placket. Consider it a lesson learnt! Going out to buy some black interfacing asap.

 

For my second version of the shirt I decided to try out a pop-over button placket as a practice for my 3rd Alder dress. This placket is about 2" shorter than the one I ended up using on my Navy Alder dress. I used a stiffer cotton with a white and red flower motif that I've had for ages. For the insides (under collar, inner stand, yoke) I used a plain white cotton poplin.

I'm not totally convinced about this fabric, it's only OK. I wore it tucked into jeans and was relatively happy. I definitely want to try out the popover shirt version in a light blue chambray which I'm sure I'd wear heaps in summer.

 

The Alder Shirt (not dress) VS The Archer Shirt: Alder is narrowrwer through the shoulder and bust, meaning there is less arm hole gape. The Archer is narrower through the front waist and hips where as Alder has more of an A-line shape. The bottom button on my Archer shirt is a snug fit while on the Alder shirt there is plenty of room for belly, hips and bum.

 

I'm currently sewing something that isn't an Alder shirt or dress! In fact it's not even a Gainline Studio pattern. But I will definitely be revisiting the Alder pattern again and again.