Ho hum I don't know how to even begin this post. It makes me sad/mad. Do you want the good or the bad first? Ok let's start with the bad. After wearing her for three days straight (no shame) I just pulled my freshly washed Archer out of the dryer excited to wear her tomorrow.
Ok so what's the big deal you may be asking yourself other than the fact that I did a piss poor job in the plaid matching department and it could use a good iron. Well let's take a gander at the before wash picture.
Well this shirt was fun while it lasted. I do have some plaid from Mood that I'm going to make my next one out of. I promise to do a better job at the plaid matching. My husband has requested a shirt now. He eyeballed mine the whole three days I wore it and I kept telling him to stop molesting my shirt with his eyes, it wasn't going to fit him! I'm debating on what pattern I should use for him. I've seen the Colette Negroni and and also Simplicity 1544. Let me know if you've used any of these patterns.
Excited to have the next three days off. My plans are lots of sewing to ring in the New Year. How will you be celebrating?
Aaah it makes me sick! Look away, look away!!
I don't understand what happened with the color. I prewashed this fabric and after I wore it I washed it in the same manner as I did before. Nothing else in the wash with it was discolored. It's like it faded all over itself. The "Shanni Made" clothing label on the inside was even ruined. I knew and expected it to fade a little but this is a major difference. It doesn't even look like the same shirt. I purchased this flannel from Joann Fabric. I've really been disappointed with their fabric quality with the last three or four items I've made. I'm totally not upset over the money involved but more so my time and the fact that I absolutely loved this shirt (I did wear it three days in a row!) When you put so much time and effort into a project it's really disheartening to have it ruined only after one wash.
Ok enough sulking. Erase that hideous "after wash" picture above from your minds. Let's take a look back at when my shirt was happy and let's talk about how awesome the Grainline Archer pattern is!!
This is my second Archer and certainly NOT my last. You can see the first one I made here for the Fabricista Challenge. The only changes I made to this one was shortening the shoulders an inch and I used pearl snaps instead of buttons.
These pearl snaps were a real bugger to get on. I managed to crack the first one because I pushed to hard (in fear that it was going to fall out). I used the Dritz snap pliers and I just found them rather awkward to use. Whenever I would try to push the snap into place it would fall out of the pliers. They have little rubber bumpers to avoid this problem but I found them even harder to use with these in place. I know practice makes perfect and if anyone has any tips on using these please share.
Jen has a great sew along of the Archer on her blog that I've followed each time I've made this pattern. Lots of helpful pictures and even a few videos when it comes time to attach the collar stand. Attaching the collar stand was pretty tricky for me. I seemed to have gotten it correct the first time but the second time around I could just not get it right. I ended up making up my own way. Next time I'm gonna give Andrea's tutorial a try which is attaching the collar in a different order and looks like it may be a little easier for me.
I hate to admit it but I made an effort to match my plaid. Boy I really did a horrible job. I tried something different this time and cut my pattern on a single layer of fabric. I read where others have had better luck with plaid matching this way. I'm not quite sure what happened.... My only piece of advice to you on this, don't drink and match plaid.
Well this shirt was fun while it lasted. I do have some plaid from Mood that I'm going to make my next one out of. I promise to do a better job at the plaid matching. My husband has requested a shirt now. He eyeballed mine the whole three days I wore it and I kept telling him to stop molesting my shirt with his eyes, it wasn't going to fit him! I'm debating on what pattern I should use for him. I've seen the Colette Negroni and and also Simplicity 1544. Let me know if you've used any of these patterns.
Excited to have the next three days off. My plans are lots of sewing to ring in the New Year. How will you be celebrating?
