Grainline Alder Shirtdress - Ikat

I was honestly surprised by how much I loved my first Grainline Alder Shirtdress. We've had a hot, humid summer in Cleveland, and I was desperate for something light and loose. I try hard to not wear the same dress more than once per week, but I broke my rule with that dress. I made that voile dress because I was really itching to make an Alder with this gorgeous cotton ikat.

I made no changes to this after my first version, but like that dress, I added side pockets. In the photo below, you can see that my hands are in my pockets. Well you can't see them, they're in my pockets.

Playing with the stripes was a lot of fun.

This is the under collar. Apparently Grainline has you cut the collar this way because it's supposed to cause the upper collar to roll towards the under collar. This hasn't been my experience, though, and I've made several Grainline collars (here and here, and my last Alder). Especially in this loose-woven cotton, the bias-cut under collar just grew and I had to trim it a ton. I guess it looks cool when I accidentally pop it.

Here you can kind of see the collar better. I centered the black stripe on it. Also, we have these really cool bone buttons with etched edges that perfectly reflect the sketchy lines of the ikat. But we didn't have enough of any one color, or a combination of two, so I used three different colors. Unfortunately for anyone who likes these buttons, I used up all of the small sizes and they have been discontinued. That's what you get for snoozing.

Also, like most button-up shirts I've been making for myself lately, I left off the top two buttons because I never ever button things up that high, and it makes my life so much easier to not sew that very top buttonhole.

I think this side view is a good example of just how shapeless this dress is. Or is it shapeful. I love how much body the material has. It behaves a lot like a linen because the threads are so large. I want to say it's handwoven, but I honestly don't know for sure.

I love this dress, especially the fabric, but I'm afraid it won't get worn as frequently as my first iteration. Mostly because I like it so much. White fabric and I do not get along. The first time I wore this dress, I dumped an entire cup of coffee on it. Luckily it came out with just water.

I figured this would be the last Alder I plan to sew for a while, because I feel like if I add sleeves to it I'll look like a frump, but I belted this dress this morning and loved it, so now I have to make one with sleeves and buy a real belt because I don't own one.