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Tyger tyger

Tiger Archer

Tiger Archer

Tiger Archer
top: Archer shirt // pants: Jamie Jeans // shoes: Shellys London

I’ve made a lot of Archers. I think the official count is at eight at the moment. I feel like I say this every time I make a new one, but I always mean it: this is my new favorite one! Or at least it’s a three-way tie for first place (the red/blue plaid one and the dotted one get worn a ton).

One of my goals this year has been to be more careful and precise with my sewing. For this project I slowed myself down and was extra careful and ironed after every seam. Usually I get far too impatient and rush through things and then it shows (to me, at least), so this time I wanted to do everything right. (Especially since I finally gave into my Cotton and Steel obsession during a particularly awesome Craftsy sale.) In the end it took me about as long to do this one as the others because I didn’t have any seams to rip out. And it’s SO NEAT. I may have danced a little when I finished. And then wore it for three straight days. I also made a pretty little tag for the inside. I just used some twill tape and the only font function on my ancient Bernina to spell out Peneloping. Easy peasy.

The buttons were a complete fluke. I’d picked them up at a discount fabric store ages ago with no plan in mind because they were pale mint and adorable. It wasn’t until I was nearly done with this shirt and realized the background color was just minty enough that white buttons wouldn’t work that I found these buttons again. They’re a tad smaller than I normally use but I still haven’t gotten over how perfect the color is so I’m happy.

Fit-wise, I changed things up a bit. Before this one I’ve always sewn a size 2 for extra swingy-ness and added an extra 2″ to the length for butt coverage so I could wear them with leggings. I decided I wanted this one a little more fitted so I traced a size 0 and didn’t add the extra length. LOVE. I also sliced off about 3/8″ of the shoulder because I noticed previous ones hang off my shoulders a bit. I don’t mind so much if it’s a giant flannel shirt but this helped with the more fitted look.

I have five more fabrics waiting to be made into Archers (I know.. I told you I was obsessed.) and I’m having trouble deciding which fit I like better. Since they’re all flannels I might do a few of each so I can have my buffet-dinner Archers and my fancy-fall-outfit Archers. I’ve even infected my sister, who has requested two plaid flannel Archers for Christmas. Let’s hope non-sewing sisters can appreciate plaid matching skills.

-pointed stare-

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Archer + Virginia sittin’ in a tree

Plaid Archer Plaid Archer Plaid Archer Plaid Archer Plaid Archer shirt: self-made, pattern here // leggings: self-made, pattern here // glasses: Bonlook // knee socks: J.Crew // boots: Boutique9 

Sometimes projects just don’t work out the way you planned. You have this perfect image in your head, you painstakingly gather all the supplies, read all the tutorials, and do all the math, and something just doesn’t work out.

This was kind of the opposite. :]

I had absolutely zero faith that this would work out. I’ve always had a soft spot for a cute plaid shirt, but even after seeing a bunch of gorgey Archer on the interwebs, I had sort of decided that that was beyond my skill set or patience level to even attempt. But then I decided that I needed a crazy skill-developing project (to even out the endless hours of mindless ruffling) so I figured this would be a good idea. But I was pretty sure this was going to fail.

I started looking for a cute cotton flannel plaid print that wasn’t too preppy/matronly/sleepingshirty/manly/boring and when I saw this one I knew it was a winner. I immediately set out to read about a million tutorials on how to match plaids.

These two posts were particularly helpful:

http://reallyhandmade.com/cutting-out-plaid/
http://reallyhandmade.com/sewing-plaids/

I’m not joking when I say that it took me two weeks to cut out all the fabric. I had to read and reread tutorials a bajillion times, and then I’d get myself all geared up to cut into the fabric and give up at the last minute. Two weeks. Maybe I should’ve picked a shittier fabric to start with because falling in love with this one made things even more stressful. The fact that the cotton flannel didn’t like to keep its shape is great for shirt comfy-ness but not so great for cutting.

I totally have the hang of it now though!I stalked everyone else’s Archers to see what pieces were supposed to be cut on the bias (I ended up doing the pockets, the right button band, the sleeve cuffs, and the outside piece of the back yoke) because I realized I had no idea which ones were supposed to be. I even made the pockets and sleeve cuffs (which I forgot to roll down and photograph) identical to each other! I tried to match everything else as best as I could and it was totally worth the extra effort, although I now have an annoying habit of scrutinizing (ok, and judging) everyone’s plaids to see if they match.

And yeah, I’ve worn this every single day since I finished it on Wednesday evening. I should probably make a few more.

PS Yes, those are a pair of Virginia leggings I snuck in there! These were made out of moisture-wicking fabric that I ordered off eBay. I’ve worked out in them but I haven’t actually gone for a run in them so I can’t really speak to the effectiveness of the moisture-wicking abilities. They’re definitely super toasty though.

PPS I feel like Archer + Virginia is a match made in heaven.

PPPS You guys, I’m so in love with this shirt it’s not even funny.

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A not-so-sterling Archer

Archer + Virginia leggings

Archer + Virginia leggings

Archer + Virginia leggings

Archer + Virginia leggings

Archer + Virginia leggings
shirt: self-made, pattern here // leggings: self-made, pattern here // boots: Boutique 9 // glasses: BonLook

You guys!! I made a shirt!! A real fancy button-up shirt!!

Ok, not that fancy, but still!! I wasn’t totally convinced this was going to work out, but thank god for Jen and her amazing sew along with amazingly detailed instructions! Ok, enough with the !’s. I highly recommend reading through the sew along, if not following through as you sew this, especially if this is your first complicated/tailored/lots-of-tiny-pieces pattern. I made this one in two days, and basically pored over each step six times before actually diving in. It was like Jen was there holding my hand and handing me a nice cup of tea and reassuring patpats every time I got stuck. It’s definitely not my best work but my topstitching has officially moved from “Horrendous” to “Probably Don’t Need to Redo.” Yayy!

Anyway, since this was my first attempt, I bought some cheap shitty (kind of plasticky, really) lineny/chambray-y looking fabric (It’s not, seriously, it’s like plastic.) just in case I totally effed it up, which I somehow managed not to! As a result, it’s sort of stiff and not nearly as drapey as I’d like it to be but I think it’s something I’ll still wear. I may have three or four more fabrics set aside for more Archers. Hee.

As a bonus, I also finally took photos of my second pair of Virginia leggings. See what I mean about them being sort of heinous? I really don’t know what I was thinking with that fabric, but at least I didn’t end up with a giant patch of flowers at the crotch. That would’ve been awkward. I definitely need to find a cuter (smaller) floral knit fabric to make moar leggings.

Anyway, I’m pretty sure this is going to be one of my favorite outfits for fall.

Archer

 

*PS Please tell me someone gets my post title? I’m ridiculously pleased with myself right now. Hee.

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