The final garment I made for the self-made wardrobe – 2nd Archer Button Up Shirt
I don’t have a whole hell of a lot to say about this piece other than that this is the final garment I made for the self-made wardrobe project, and I’m sure it’ll get plenty of wear now that the project is complete. One of the upsides to making your own clothing, is that you get to make clothing that lasts for lots and lots of wears, so I’m looking forward to having this shirt in my closet for a damn long time.
Now lets get into the details:
MATERIALS
3 yards plaid cotton twill
13 half inch buttons
Black thread
Starch (lots)
PATTERN
The Archer Button Up Shirt from Grainline Studios – just like for my first shirt, I cut a straight size 4 & made view A. Then I added length and worked an inverted box pleat (instead of the regular box pleat the pattern calls for).
PATTERN MODIFICATIONS
I kept the pattern modifications from my first Archer which were to add 5 inches (12.7cm) of length to the body and 1 inch (2.5cm) of length to the sleeves. Since I added so much length I also added more buttons.
WHAT WORKED
Starch. Lots of starch. I don’t often use starch when I’m sewing, but this fabric is a cotton twill that ended up being very woodgey-wibbly-wobbly once I washed it, so after an age & a half of fighting to get the pockets to behave, I began applying starch liberally, and after that everything was smooth sailing.
The fabric is a nice medium weight cotton twill that I think will wear really nicely, and is a nice wardrobe complement to my first archer which is a very light weight cotton.
And as weird as it is, I love the brown/orange/white colorway of this plaid!
WHAT DIDN’T WORK SO WELL
The fabric was a total pain to work with at first, but after a good starching it started to behaving itself. Unfortunately I started with the starch at the front pocket stage – so the cutting was a total nightmare. The only good thing about the cutting stage, was I got the plaids to match (unlike my first Archer).
But it would seem that I cannot make an archer without screwing something up, so this time it was the button placement.
It turns out that 2.5” + 2.5” =/= 4.5” and that I should not math before coffee.
But at least that’s the only major thing that went wrong, and it does make the shirt really hard to mis-button.
I do plan on making more button up shirts, so maybe the third Archer is the charm? Maybe if I make it in a solid color?
The End – 365 days of 100% handmade clothing – The Self-Made Wardrobe Week 52
The Self-Made Wardrobe is a project where I only wear garments I’ve made.
It’s a year long experiment in getting dressed without clothing labels –
it’s a year about noticing patterns, trying things, and observing what happens.
Day 358 – Friday, July 24th
2nd Archer button up // black tank top // black maxi skirt
robot clock necklace // bracelets // rings // flip flops
Day 359 – Saturday, July 25th
black tank top // grey maxi skirt
princess necklace // bracelets // rings // flip flops
Day 360 – Sunday, July 26th
black tank top // vine flowers skirt
princess necklace // rings // wedges
Day 361 – Monday, July 27th
black tank top // jeans
princess necklace // bracelets // rings // black flats
Day 362 – Tuesday, July 28th
black tank top // black maxi skirt
princess necklace // bracelets // rings // flip flops
Day 363 – Wednesday, July 29th
black tank top // grey maxi skirt
princess necklace // bracelets // rings // flip flops
Day 364 – Thursday, July 30th
black tank top // black maxi skirt
princess necklace // bracelets // rings // flip flops
Day 365 – Friday, July 31st
black tank top // pirate skirt
princess necklace // bracelets // rings // wedges
Holy shit! You guys!! It’s done!!!
365 days of handmade clothing is a lot of days…
But we made it, and there’s no way in hell I would have finished this project without you guys, so big huge THANK YOUs all around!
I have some wrap up type information that I think might be interesting – specifically how many times I wore each piece of clothing, & the cost to make divided by how often the piece got worn. I’ll blog about that stuffs next week.
If there’s any other information you’d like to see, or any questions you have about the project, just leave them in comments and I’ll try to answer as best as I can.
In the meantime, I’m going to have a super low key birthday celebration, and unpack the rest of my wardrobe.
Thanks again for all the support for this project!! Hugs all around.
it’s almost been too hot to touch wool
Each Wednesday, I take stock of the projects I’m working on.
What I’m Working On…
: my Giant Black & White Granny Square That Will At Some Point Magically Turn Into A Cardigan, is making excellent mindless crafting. A couple stitches here and there whenever it’s cool enough to touch wool, and I’ve made it to the point where the rounds start to feel like they take forever… but I figure if I keep adding stitches here and there, I’ll have a finished sweater.
