Hello readers!

It’s been a while since I’ve posted something hasn’t it? I’ve been doing plenty of sewing though and thought I would pop in with one of my recent makes…the Grainline Studio Archer button up!

Confession: I may be on my way to becoming a Grainline Studio convert.

There are plenty of Grainline fans out there, as they are one of the bigger/more successful indie pattern companies around. But something always stopped me from buying any Grainline patterns – something about the style just always felt a little bit…not-me. Most of the designs feature a looser, more boxy, silhouette and I suppose that I am attracted to designs with a bit more shaping. So what got me going down the Grainline path? My gateway-pattern: the tee-shirt; in this case the Lark Tee. It turns out that I like sewing t-shirts. They are fast and easy. I wear them more than any other top, so I need a lot of them. So I made the Renfrew last year, and the Lane Raglan more times than I can count. Summer was coming and I wanted a new ‘basic’ tee pattern, so I decided to give the Lark a try. It comes with so many neckline and sleeve variations, that it seemed completely worthwhile. And it was. I promptly sewed up 3 tees over a weekend. I may even get around to blogging about them someday, but don’t cross your fingers :).

Cruising online one night, I ran across this lovely yarn-dyed windowpane cotton plaid and mulled over what to make with it for a bit – button-up shirt (yes!), hmmm… maybe the ever-popular Grainline Archer (maybe….), oooh – with the ruffle butt option (yes!). So, that, my friends, is how I got here:

The verdict?

I like it. The gathered back panel (view B, aka ‘ruffle butt’) is by far my favorite part about this shirt – it adds that touch of femininity to an otherwise basic (and yes, boxy) button-up. I think it fits me well…although the sleeves have a bit too much volume in the lower part of the sleeve that I’d probably reduce if I make it again, and there’s just a tiny bit of gaping at the bust.

The shirt came together fairly easily. I cut the yoke, plackets, and pockets on the bias, which was a little bit tricky because I discovered that the windowpane is not perfectly square (it’s taller than it is wide). As I was trying to decide which pieces to cut on the bias I did a google image search for “plaid Grainline Archer” to get a bit of inspiration, and came across this blog post by Dixie DIY – my Archer button-up twin!!

For the collar, I added a bit of coordinating pink gingham on both the under collar and inner collar stand. And I must say that this collar came together sooooo much easier than my last one on my Granville button-up. I don’t know if it was that the instructions were better or the pattern was better or if I’m just a bit more experienced now (you know, now that I’ve made like 2 other collared shirts), but assembling and sewing the collar was no-big-deal.

I love how soft this fabric is. It almost has the feel of a flannel, but without the fuzziness…so maybe like a really old flannel that you’ve washed a million times? And it doesn’t wrinkle that much, which is great. For now I’m wearing it with the sleeves rolled up, but will wear them long in colder weather.

And I have to give a shout out to the nice lady at Stonemountain fabrics who helped me choose those pink buttons – they are just right, aren’t they 🙂

Next Grainline pattern on my list: the Scout tee!

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Details

Pattern: Grainline Studio Archer Button Up, view B
Size: 16
Fabric: Cloud 9 organic yarn-dyed cotton, windowpane plaid for main and gingham check for collar accent