Sewing this dress was a comedy of errors on my part. A series of unfortunate events. A big ol’ bag of brain farts.

That said, it turned out great! I absolutely love wearing it despite my handful of mistakes. You can read about those later, but for now, let’s dive in!

The Details

Pattern: View B of the Alder Shirtdress by Grainline Studio. I sewed a size 8.

Fabric: Rifle Paper Co. Tapestry 100% cotton from Oak Fabrics. I used the Natural colorway for the majority of the dress and Midnight for the collar stand and inner yoke. (P.S. The gold bits sparkle in the light! Props to my mom for picking it out at the fabric store.)

Alterations: Added 1″ at the waist and 2″ to the hem. I ended up taking in the side seams by about 1/2″ total, tapering to nothing at the underarm. I also added inseam pockets using this Colette tutorial.

Construction: Regular sewing machine for all seams and topstitching; serger to finish all seams.

The Brain Farts

I’d like to preface by saying that I could have avoided all of these mistakes by paying a little more attention when cutting my fabric—and especially by sewing a damn muslin. But I convinced myself that I didn’t have time for that! So here we are:

1. Left is right and right is left. As in, I cut the wrong right front and left front, so my shirt buttons in the “men’s” style: left over right instead of right over left. Apart from being a little awkward since it’s the opposite of my norm, not a big deal.
2. I’m 99% sure I printed off the collar stand at a smaller scale, because it came up a little short on either side when compared to the sew-along photos and illustrations! I had to re-print the collar stand at a coffee shop when I couldn’t find it in my pile of pattern pieces, and I have to assume I didn’t double-check the scale when printing. Oops! Guess I won’t be buttoning it up to the top.
3. I snipped a hole, albeit a small one, into the right front bodice when clipping the bias binding. I covered this mistake by flipping the bias binding to the right side.
4. I tried to fix the back armhole/yoke gaping by easing in the armholes a bit after reading this tutorial. Unfortunately, this meant seam-ripping the aforementioned binding. It was all very fiddly and added a lot of stress to an already small seam allowance. The adjustment made a small difference, but I’m not sure it was worth the time. Live and learn!

The Verdict

Aside from some gaping at the back armholes, I LOVE the fit of this dress. I’m glad I took it in a tiny bit at the sides to give me a little more shape. I might tweak the location of the button across my bust after wearing this a few times, as you can definitely get a view of my bra if you’re sitting in the right spot.

It did me well in the sweltering heat of NYC for not one, but TWO days. My flight was canceled so I got a bonus day (not complaining!). Zero shame in outfit repeating with this Alder. I can’t believe it took me this long to make one!