I’m back with my finished work in progress!  This past week I’ve been working like crazy on my first Alder by Grainline Studio, view B.  I’ve been dreaming of this light blue chambray Alder since I was first introduced to Grainline by my coworker (who is Jen’s friend).  I knew that I wasn’t experienced enough to tackle it at first, so I’ve been waiting until I felt I was ready.

This summer I decided I should challenge myself and try it, but it took me a couple months to talk myself into it.  I had the fabric for about a month, then pattern printed for about two weeks…one night I decided I would just put the pattern together.  Then I decided I would just cut it out.  The next day, last Sunday, I sewed for 8 hours straight (not necessarily recommended).  I got about 3/4 of the way done and then worked on it for about an hour a night this past week.  I used Jen’s Alder sewalong, which was fantastic.  Only made about 4 dumb mistakes, albeit correctable. 😉  Yesterday “all” I had to do was the buttonholes and buttons.  I think this is the part I feared the most, afraid I would mess it all up at the very end.  But it wasn’t so bad!  I used my machine to put on the buttons for the first time, that actually worked really well and I don’t think I will hand-sew them on anymore.  Being my first collared garment, I was a little scared of that too.  But the sewalong helped a lot and I found everything turned out better than expected, actually.  And now it’s done!

I forgot to have Brian take detail shots during the day, so we took a few with the car headlights after we got back home tonight.  Hey, it works!  You can totally see my goosebumps though…it was cold, thus I am also wearing my beloved first Grainline Driftless Cardigan in a lovely subtle floral double knit.  You can see I am also pairing the dress with my floral leggings I posted earlier (Patterns for Pirates Peglegs).

I made my usual Grainline size, 8, which I measure into exactly and always fits perfectly.  I keep going back and forth though…I think this Alder looks a little big, especially on the back of the bodice.  Looking at other peoples’ dresses though, it may just supposed to be that way.  Not sure.  Of course that won’t stop me from wearing and loving this!  It’s definitely very airy in a good way, which will be perfect in the summer. (Wish I would have gotten around to this sooner…)  But it doesn’t matter, I’ll be wearing this with leggings/tights and sweaters all winter.  I tried it with my cropped Grainline Linden over the top too and I liked that a lot.  Definitely a good staple, solid dress.

I forgot to take detail shots during the day, so this is with our car headlights…and my Grainline Driftless Carigan!

I will probably make more and hopefully I will be faster next time around.  It will likely be a little while though, since I want to sew up some quicker makes for the next bit.  I was getting a little bored with pieces with only 4 seams, etc. so this was the perfect challenge at this point.  I do like the idea of the Alder/Archer mash though, it would be excellent for winter.  We’ll see. 🙂

Speaking of easier projects, I have another post coming up later this week with exactly that.  Happy sewing!