shirt Archives - Sew Wrong

Lucinda March 18, 2014

Finished Project: Archer Popover [Grainline Studio]

You guys, I made a popover, wooo! The lazy girl’s answer to a collared shirt!

Pattern: Archer from Grainline Studios
Fabric: cotton shirting from Mood

Jeans: Levi’s
Jacket: Michael Kors
Sunnies: Bulgari

Oh man, there are so many more of these in my sewing future. When Jen posted her popover version of the Archer Shirt last December on Instagram, I literally squealed out loud – it was the perfect solution to the J Crew shirts that I love so much but are outrageously priced (plus, I’m trying to make all of my clothes now…so there).

I whipped this up pretty fast the night before Chris’ annual family gathering, which is always so much fun (actually, I was planning on making this for the blogger meetup in NYC but I changed my mind and wore something else last minute!). Not sewing buttons made it go together even faster, and because I’m super lazy, I decided to not make cuffs and instead made the sleeves shorter. The only problem I ran into was, yet again, the collar – but I’m getting better. Honestly, it was so stupid on my part. I forgot to staystitch the neck and was so excited to try on the popover after I made the placket, and I must have stretched out the neck when I tried it on. Sigh. There was some creative problem solving when I attached the collar stand, but it all worked out ok. Next time I will have a perfect collar, I know it!

This was a pretty easy pattern hack – I’m thinking about doing a tutorial (it’s been a while since I wrote one!) on how I added the placket to my Archer shirt. I don’t think it’s the “proper” way to add a placket, but once I figured out what to do with the fiddly bottom part, it went together smoothly, almost like fabric origami. And honestly, you can make your placket any length you want! Maybe make it a bit longer and wear it over a cami, or be a saucy vixen and don’t wear a cami, ooooo.

I’m thinking my next Archer Popover will be out of a green voile I bought from Mood on Black Friday. I was going to save it for a button-down Archer, but I’m envisioning: slightly longer placket, cropped sleeves, waist ties that tie in the back for a more fitted look, and no collar.

Do you like popovers? They’re so easy to wear, and look great with skinny jeans or pants!

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Lucinda December 30, 2013

Finished Project: Plaid Archer Shirt [Grainline Studios]

Pattern: Archer by Grainline Studio
Fabric: cotton flannel from stash (bought at Joann Fabrics a few years ago)
Size: 2 graded to a 4 at hips
Snaps: Dritz

Jeans: Michael Kors

Well, I think I successfully used my new camera remote for these pictures! It was a little tricky, especially with the late winter afternoon lighting, but I’ll get the hang of it. I’m just glad I finally got pictures of my Archer, because:

I really wanted a plaid Archer shirt after seeing Lauren’s awesome Lumberjack (or Lumberjane?) Plaid Archer on her blog. Let’s be real: plaids scared the crap out of me before I attempted this shirt, and to try to match them up not just at the side seams but also at the front? Getouttahere. But her tutorial was awesome on how to cut out plaids and I owned this plaid LIKE A BOSS.

I think the trick is to really take your time and breathe when cutting out plaid. Oh, and cutting out the pieces on a single layer really helps as well. Being that this fabric is flannel, which can be tricksy and shifty, added another dimension of difficulty to cutting this out, but after the pieces were prepped it was smooth sailing with the sewing.

Oh hey there, pretty perfect collar stand #grungesewalong #archershirt #grainlineatudio

I will always use Andrea’s tutorial on collar stands from now on. Andrea, you rock!! This shirt would not have been a success without your awesome step-by-step instructions. Muah!

I have the sleeves rolled up in the other photos because I haven’t installed the snaps yet on the cuffs! This was the first time I tried using snaps as a closure on a garment, and while it’s super-fun to rip off my shirt Hulk-style, they kind of were a pain to install properly. I had the handy Dritz pliers, too, and I kept screwing up snap after snap, so I gave up on the cuffs. I probably won’t use snaps again, but it’s something I can at least say that I tried – I didn’t find them easier to do than buttons.

The bias cut pieces were another key part of plaid success. Certain pieces, like the yoke and pocket, would be a bitch to cut out and match up, so I cut those two pieces as well as the button-band on the bias. It broke up the striping of the plaids and added interest, and forget trying to get all that stuff matched up.

I absolutely love this shirt and have worn it several times since I finished it around Thanksgiving. Maybe I’ll make a striped one now? But it’s a definite: I never need to buy a slouchy J Crew button-down ever again. Look out, 2014: there’s a boat-load of Archers headed your way.

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Lucinda November 4, 2013

On My Sewing Table – Plaid Archer [Grunge Sew-a-Long]

Matching plaids like a boss #grungesewalong

I’m conquering two of my biggest fears/challenges this month: matching up plaids (eek) and sewing another button-down shirt with a collar stand (double eek). I had three yards of this red cotton plaid flannel hanging out in my stash for the past two years, thinking that I would make a cape from it (hello costume, I don’t think so) or maybe a dress (again…no). Funny enough, when I decided to throw caution to the wind and cut out the plaid to make another Archer, there was conversation on Twitter about November being a Grunge Sew-a-Long month. Perfect timing! I think the Archer pattern is a great pattern to pair with plaid – it has a loose, but not too loose fit, and I think it’ll look adorable with skinny black pants and boots (not leggings, please, because leggings are NOT pants. That’s your public service announcement for today).

Thanks to Lauren’s tutorial, I feel like I’m matching up plaids like a boss so far:

I was freaking ecstatic when I tried this on and saw the plaids matching up perfectly! Sadly, I don’t think I cut the sleeves out correctly so they don’t match at the underarm seam, but I’m really happy how this is turning out so far. Just cross your fingers for me, I’m about to tackle that collar…

Oh, if you want to participate in the Grunge Sew-a-Long this month, post your finished projects in the Sewcialists Flickr group.

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Lucinda October 3, 2013

Pattern Review: Archer Shirt [Grainline Studio]

Pattern: Archer Buttonup Shirt from Grainline Studio
Fabric: Art Gallery Fabrics cotton voile in “Branch Silhouette,” from Grey’s Fabrics
Size: 2 graded to a 4 from waist to hips

Jeans: Levi’s

This is my third Grainline Studio pattern and I’m not stopping anytime soon. I love Jen’s design aesthetic – modern wardrobe staples with a minimalist approach. Which reminds me, I need to crank out some more Moss Minis for fall/winter this year since the one I made last year was not enough (plus I need to make one a bit longer so I can wear it for work, eeep). She’s an expert pattern designer and writes great instructions, so I knew I’d be in good hands using this pattern as my first serious foray into shirt-making.

So, this shirt isn’t perfect by any means, and I’m ok with that. I realized after the fact that I haven’t been stretching and challenging myself with my sewing skills – I love me some knits pretty hard, and that’s great for whipping out basic tees and cute dresses for my closet. But if I want to grow – and truly become a better sewist – I need to start taking on more projects with more challenging techniques.

Let me put it this way – that collar stand kicked my ass.

To borrow a term from Lauren, who borrowed a term from Clueless, this shirt is definitely a “Monet:” it looks good from a distance but up close, it’s kind of a mess (thank goodness for prints). Everything started out all fine and dandy: sewing the side seams together, attaching the yoke, adding a pocket (I was going to put on two, but after I added one, I decided not to since it just gets lost in the print, as demonstrated in the picture above). And then came the sleeve plackets….they’re kinda meh. I think I may have goofed with them overlapping the wrong way, but it doesn’t seem that noticeable to me. The button bands went on smoothly, cuffs were attached ok…

And then that goddamn collar stand.

Ok, shame on me for not at least *practicing* how to attach a collar stand to a shirt. I’ve made a couple of collared shirts in the past out of cheap shiny poly and other wonderful fabric choices from Joann Fabrics, but they were just the simple kind of collar that attaches to the neckline. Dust-your-hands-off-and-call-it-a-day kind of collars. So, I thought, how difficult could this be? It’s not awful looking…it just doesn’t match up well at the one side, it kind of juts out from the button band. And hell, my stitching looks awful in the inside of the collar – there’s some fabric that got tucked and sewn in place, and I didn’t have the heart to rip it out and sew it again, and I figured it wasn’t too noticeable when the collar is open (ehhh it kind of is). Plus, when I was turning the collar right side out, I poked a little too hard with my point turner, made a hole in the edge of the collar stand, and it started to fray – greaaaat. Some Fray-Chek solved that, but again…it’s just more little details that make this not the best thing I’ve ever made.

Oh, and I totally did not understand how to make the top buttonhole in the collarstand, even after studying one of my own RTW shirts…I was way off with that shit.

Amazingly, my buttonholes came out ok! They were actually the least stressful part of sewing this shirt, I got the placement right and didn’t screw up stitching any of them on my Bernina 1005…I really miss the automatic buttonhole feature on my mom’s Bernina, it makes a world of difference when it comes to buttonhole precision.

So, try, try again, right? Totally. I WILL master making button-down shirts – they seem like part of the perfect uniform of skinny jeans and boots for my new job. And I like the fit of this shirt, too, it’s not too boxy and it doesn’t have any bust darts I have to worry about moving up. I think I may lengthen it a little next time…I feel like it could be a slightly longer. I’m also going to try using Andrea’s tutorial on sewing collar stands for my next shirt, I feel like she’s an “Archer Expert” with all of the fabulous shirts she’s cranked out from this pattern. My next fabric: a Marc Jacobs tiny floral print cotton shirting. And maybe on my next shirt, I’ll be proud enough to show some close-up shots of the stitching detail!

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Lucinda February 27, 2013

New Pattern Lust: The Archer Button-Up From Grainline Studio

All photos from Grainline Studio

My love for Grainline Studios is no secret and I have every single pattern by Jen Beeman in my “to sew” queue (sadly, I tried to make the Tiny Pocket Tank lately and didn’t pick a good fabric for it…lesson learned for next time). So when I saw her newly released pattern last night, The Archer Button-Up, it shot waaaay up to the top of my sewing list.

Dig that back ruffle, isn’t it divine? This could have been just another button-up shirt but the ruffle takes it beyond that and makes it a much more fun addition to your wardrobe than just another closet staple. Plus, it makes a masculine shirt much more girly, yay for that.

I’d love to make it in a purple or pink plaid (if my plaid-matching skills were up to par, that is) or a Liberty of London cotton lawn. Yikes, sewing queue, you seem to be growing every day with all of the indie patterns I want to sew…this is truly the Year of the Indie Sewing Pattern for me.

Do you love the new pattern? What kind of fabric would you use?