Alder Shirt Dress, the Perfect Piece (for me)

I'd always really liked the Alder shirt dress from Grainline Studios, the idea of having something loose fitting and comfortable but still having a defined waistline appealed to me. When I saw this version, posted by Jen on the Grainline blog, it gave me a kick it the butt to buy the pattern. Those are my colours! I knew immediately it would become a staple in my wardrobe. As much as I am drawn to the outrageous prints in the store (and buy them because I'm impulsive), I tend to only wear black and grey in real life.

I was really busy and didn't get around to making the dress until fairly recently. Part of this is because of how HUGE the pdf was. I loovvee Grainline's patterns, but their pdfs are often colossal from containing all the views in one file.

I used a black polyester "linen" from the sale rack at Fabricland (evidently my favourite place) It's really light to wear in the heat (tip for wearing all black in the summer). My big gripe with the material is that it was very hard to press. It seemed to melt before it made a crisp fold. Because of this lovely feature, I left out the breast pockets to save myself a headache.

 Something is kinda wonky with the sun+my camera in these photos

Back view!

 I'm trying to be a more dynamic model, as viewed in the below picture. Its going medium.

I've been styling this by having it buttoned up to the top and pairing it with a statement necklace tucked under the collar. I have two favourites making the rounds right now!

For a casual wear, I pair it with white sneakers and my hair up. It can be easily dressed up with flats or kitten heels and a fancier necklace for the collar, and I plan on pairing it with tights and cardigans for winter wear! Its a very versatile piece, and find myself reaching for it most days ("did I wear this the last time I hung out with her??")

 Again, the dynamic modelling is going medium.