It was very nice, it was paradise

Guess what I did this weekend! I took full advantage of my boss accidentally giving me five days off in a row and dragged two friends to Berlin (the boyfriend eventually followed as well). We had a blast wandering around and discovering a new city, and I even managed to photograph a project in the process!

This trip was super last-minute (I think we booked it two weeks before leaving) and I knew we'd be going from cold outside to warm inside quite a bit, so I figured a cosy layering piece would come in handy. This plaid flannel had been in my stash for a while (another mega bargain from work: down to 3 euros a yard + my employee discount!) and I decided to try out an Archer hack I'd been thinking about.

I chopped the pattern pieces off at the waist and added a slightly flared skirt with a curved hem. The waist has elastic to provide some shape and leave space for cake and pastries (which were abundant during our trip). I also added a western-style yoke to the front and back, which is super easy! Basically, you merge the back yoke and bodice pieces, draft a separate yoke piece with the shape you want, do the same for the front, sew the shirt body and yokes together at the shoulders, turn the lower edges of the yoke under, put it on top of the shirt body and topstitch it in place. If you sew the shirt body shoulder seams with the wrong sides together, all seams are enclosed as well. Of course I completely forgot to do that.

I only had two yards of this fabric so I had to do some compromising on the plaid matching. All horizontal lines across the bodice match, but I cut the yokes, pocket and button band on the bias to avoid matching those. The skirt portion had to be cut on the cross-grain to save on more fabric, but since it's all sort of gathered up it's not really noticeable.

The fabric was horribly off-grain, sadly enough. Even though the plaid is woven instead of printed, the whole thing was twisting around and took a lot of tugging and swearing to get right while cutting. It turned out all right in the end, and I love the final dress! It kept me warm during a three-hour tour about street art and subcultures, so that's a win. I also think it goes well with my hair (which is back to blue! Finally!)

Apart from freezing and posing in stairways we also had a ton of fun! I definitely want to go back to Berlin because there's so much more to see... Maybe when it's a bit warmer!