Sewn: Black + White Sleeved Alder

Pattern: Alder Shirtdress View A with sleeves from the Archer Button Up
Pattern Tutorial: Archer Alder Variation
Fabric: Carolina Gingham 1″ from Robert Kaufman
Shoes: Rachel Comey Penpals (cause someone always asks about the shoes)

I posted the tutorial on this dress last Friday but since the weather has been a bit rainy here in Chicago I only got pictures of me wearing it this weekend. Can you tell it’s really cold out in these photos? No matter how hard I try to look warm I can always tell I’m freezing cold. I think the arms smashed to my sides with my hands tucked up in the cuffs is what gives it away.

Anyway, I’m really happy with how this dress turned out, I think the pattern and fabric are so perfect together. At first I was really bummed to cut into this amazing gingham fabric because I really wanted to make an Archer out of it but I was a half yard short on the other two plaids I intended to use for this. Now that it’s done and I’ve worn it I’m really glad I chopped it up into this Alder Archer combo, the fabric is pretty much the perfect weight and stiffness for a dress like this. I always find myself getting obsessed with certain fabrics and wishing I had a zillion yards of each. This is kind of one of those.

I’ve seen a few people posting funny outtakes though recently and thought I’d get into the fun, this is just one of the many blurry photos where I just couldn’t stand still. I think I’ll be getting a lot of wear out of this dress over the fall and winter, I can see it being pretty good for layering with other fall garments so I’m excited about that prospect.

One last thing, lately I’ve been having a hard time figuring out what to write when I do these finished garment posts. Besides pattern name and fabric, is there anything in particular you like to know about a garment in a post like this? I’ve got a lot of them coming up so I’m going to need to get this figured out, definitely a bit rusty! I used to do these all the time and it was so much easier. Maybe I just need to get back into it and it’ll come to me.