Plaid Grainline Archer For My Daughter

 

I have made Grainline Archer Button Up Shirt so many times now, but I thought this one was just too good not to share.  Minerva gifted me this lovely Robert Kaufman Mammoth Brushed Flannel in return for a blog post.  This is the second lot of this fabric I have received and the first I made up last winter.  My daughter admired my plaid shirt and mentioned how she would quite like one as well.  I have been looking out for more ever since.  This is not a fabric I can source in New Zealand so when Minerva offered again as part of their ambassador team fabric, I was quick to snap it up.  Once it arrived, I sat on it for a few weeks until she decided what pattern she wanted it made into and she eventually settled on the Archer Shirt but wanted it a bit oversized to almost work as a shacket of sorts.

A couple of weeks back, I was lucky enough to get a weekend to myself and it was the perfect opportunity to immerse myself in a bit of check matching.  I do find this takes a bit of getting my head around.  I decided I would match my stripes around the shirt but not bother too much with the vertical ones.  To make my job easier I cut the yoke, cuffs and pocket on the bias.  I cut one size bigger than I normally would to make the shirt just a tad oversized so that it could be layered in the cooler weather.

Did I mention that this stuff is a dream to work with.  It is thick, soft and spongey and even though it isn't at all fluffy before it washes it really comes into its own after a good wash.  I do hope it continues to retain its good looks for years to come but I suspect given the quality of this fabric, this shirt will be a keeper.

To make sure that I did the fabric justice, I constructed the entire shirt with flat felled seams.  This served two purposes, the first being making sure it retains its good looks for many years but also it meant I didn't need to change the thread on my overlocker.  In fact, I didn't use my overlocker at all for this shirt.

To finish the shirt, I rifled through my button stash and found some small grey plastic pearl buttons.  I stitched these on with red thread in an x shape to make them a tad more feminine and add a pop of colour.

I hope my daughters little yellow eyed penguin friends appreciated all the effort.