October at Village Haberdashery: It's all about the checks...

Time for my October visit to Village Haberdashery.  Annie is just on her way to Quilt Market trade show in Houston to plan for next year's fabric (you can see a preview peek of what she has in mind here) so I'll concentrate on what's going on now starting with check/plaid shirtings from Robert Kaufman. 

I haven't actually felt seen these in person, but I am imagining a soft, light weight Viyella style cotton like you see for men's country style shirts.  We have a local shop called, Farmer's Friend which is obviously aimed at the more rural community and there are check shirts a-plenty in the shop of this kind of fabric.  If you thoughts are turning to Christmas makes, plaid PJ pants would make a great male gift,although they do use a lot of fabric!   Boxer shorts are a more economic alternative.   If you fancy a male check shirt , Colette's classic  Waldon Negroni pattern and you can find a very detailed  men's shirt sew-along using Negroni with Peter Lapin's excellent Male Pattern Baldness blog.

Rather wear those checks yourself- I don't blame you! Annie has just received delivery of Grainline patterns including the classic Archer shirt pattern- very detailed sew along at Grainline.

And the Dahlia  dress pattern, released this week by Colette in return to what they do best, dresses with vintage styling and modern wearability, is a perfect candidate for a soft plaid shirting.  I am sure Annie will have this in the shop soon and if you are an ardent cutter/sticker type, the PDF download version can be bought here.  Otherwise, scarves, cushions, children's clothes- plaid/check shirting is a beautiful useable fabric.

Annie is something of an early adopter as she showed with her exclusive coup of been the first shop in the world to receive delivery of Caroline Friedlander's Doe collection

On of her new ideas really caught my eye, Baby Quilt club:

Sign ups are here and there is a multitude of options to tailor this club to your baby quilt needs.  Annie has put together some sample bundles to give you an idea of what to expect:

- you can choose monthly, every two months, boy or girl or a mix of selections, option to include co-ordinating Kona solids.  Great idea Annie!

A random insert here, I saw this during one of my frequent browses in the Chambray section (I've mentioned my love for Chambray so many times) and I chanced upon this beauty, Chambray jacquards in Indigo, which I have not seen anywhere else either as fabric or sewn up into a garment or quilt:

Jacquard means that the lighter colour weft threads float over the darker warp to produce the pattern.  A beautiful effect, delicate and a bit of a nightmare whilst cutting and handling- like the Chambray dot that I used for an Alder dress, but once it is sewn up and the seams are secure you are onto safe territory.  This jacquard chambray's just a little heavier than the dot and I will say, I hear it calling me!  Just not sure if it will survive contact with a cat!  Whilst I am netioning the Alder dress, that particular Grainline pattern is also currently in stock.  I reviewed it here and made a second version here.  The Grainline sew-along is here.

For Autumn/winter wear, I would make this as a dress to wear over a thin jersey top and stick a cardi over too!   Remember to keep your sizing on the more generous side if you are going to wear something underneath. I would do this by using the pattern I've already used but a less generous seam allowance on the side seams just for extra wiggle room.  Maybe in corduroy?

This is Sevenberry navy plaid, super soft and lovely for shirts, shirt dresses etc. 

This is Sevenberry blue and green check, a smaller scale pattern.

I've given myself ideas in this post, I feel like I can't get away from checks and shirts!  It's all about the bass  checks…  Enjoy x

Betsy Alder Shirt Dress

This is my second Alder shirt dress and this time I cut into a long length of Liberty that I've been storing for a while- the classic Betsy print in aqua that I found for a bargain price on ebay.  This is a tail end of summer dress, by the end of September it will have to wait for next year to come out and play!

I tweaked the pattern a little.  My previous Alder dress details can be found here.  On this one I retraced the bodice pattern to make it size 4 with size 2 at the waist, same small bust adjustment and raising of bust dart.  This made the collar a little bigger than my last version so I can wear it fully buttoned if I want and made the armholes slightly looser.

I used the Cami dress pattern for the pockets as they were a  little smaller than the Darling Ranges pattern pieces and it works a little better.

I used Oakshott Impressions/Elements scraps for the collar stand facing, pocket, yoke facing and bias hem.

As the weather is not quite up to high summer temperatures, I've been wearing this dress with my Butterick 6031 Slip.  I added pearl snaps just like on the last dress and I am going to add a 'how to' tutorial post after I've written this.  I use Prym pliers and they have been the only way I've been able to successfully and consistently attach snaps. 

You can find the Alder shirt dress pattern here as a PDF and the sew along details here.   I am considering a maxi version for winter- I loathe tights and am not keen on leggings so cold weather means knee socks and maxi skirts and dresses, but for now I am enjoying September sun and bare feet. The clogs are swedish and were a thrift shop score- lucky me!