Breaking the sewing drought – Archer shirt

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA Despite my plans to binge-sew the first weekend after our container – and my sewing stuff – was delivered, it actually took me 3 weeks to get around to it. Who knew unpacking a whole house with a 5 month old would be so time-consuming. And making up some warm curtains was higher priority with winter cold and giant windows. Anyways, last weekend I finally got to spend a morning or (mostly) uninterrupted sewing. I chose to make up a pattern I’d been eyeing off for a while now, Grainline Studio’s Archer shirt.

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I went with view B, the mullet shirt, with its gathered back and the angled cuffs from view A. I made it up in a lovely cotton flannel from The Fabric Store which handled the added body of the back without being too fluffy. I’ve got plenty of my own fluff in that area thankyouverymuch. I added the awesome detail of pearl snaps, which I’d been trying to track down for ages in Sydney and finally found here in Wellington at Made on Marion along with a nifty snap tool. So much easier (and baby nap friendly) than a hammer!

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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA Amazingly, this was my first menswear-style shirt. Despite having a couple shirt patterns in my stash, I’ve been far to selfish to actually make one up for my husband. Whoops! I really like the precision of shirtmaking. For the past year or so I’ve been deliberately choosing projects (hand-tailored wool coat post soon to come!) that force me to slow down with more complicated technique as I have a tendency to zoom through projects, leading to a very full wardrobe. The instructions were pretty good and the pattern itself came together well. I blame baby interruptions on me installing the collar stand upside down. At least I think that’s what I did. Meh. I doubt anyone who doesn’t know the pattern would notice.

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Annoyingly, the sleeves are a touch long. I also put the snaps too close to the edges, leaving me with oversize cuffs that hang over my hand. Re-positioning the snaps should fix it, so back to Made on Marion I’ll go for more snaps! I cut the yolk, button band and pockets on the bias because matching plaid is a pain in the ass. And it looks great. There’s a bit of topstiching here and there which helps give it a bit of precision I think. The flannel makes it very cosy and being a button-up is so much easier for breastfeeding than pulling/rolling up a bulky sweater. Also, the ass-coverage is excellent. I reckon I’ll whip up another in the straight-back style while the design is fresh in my mind. Win!

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I cut a straight size 6 as the measurements surprisingly matched mine perfectly – thank you giant breastfeeding boobs! I went with the pearl snaps mostly to give it a bit of a western-wear vibe but also for super-speedy boob access. What’s your superpower?

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2 Comments on Breaking the sewing drought – Archer shirt

  1. thecuriouskiwi
    July 11, 2015 at 8:09 am (9 years ago)

    This looks nice and snuggly for the current Wellington temperatures! 🙂 Pearl snaps are also my favourite and I think they add the perfect touch to a menswear style clothing!

    Reply
  2. Emma
    December 28, 2016 at 5:11 pm (7 years ago)

    What a fantastic shirt!. I love the check. The Archer has been on my list for a while.

    Reply

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