After years and years of seeing so many amazing Archer shirts made my other sewists, I have finally made my own! This is a very popular pattern in the sewing community because it’s such a great classic tailored shirt. The pattern is by Grainline Studio and has sizes ranging from 35-61″ hip.
I have a really cool RTW button up shirt that is black with white and metallic gold polka dots on it, and I love the way it looks, but since it’s polyester, it gets SO staticky! I was trying it on one day and got very frustrated by the static cling. Then I remembered that Style Maker had this See You at Six fabric that also had metallic details. Luckily, they had one remnant left over, and I was able to snag it.
I cut the whole pattern with only 1 7/8 yards of fabric, even though the pattern calls for 2 1/8. The only problem I ran into while cutting was not having quite enough width to cut the back piece, so the box pleat in the back in a tiny bit narrower than it should be.
I was going for a little bit more of an oversized look, so I went up one size, to a 14. I added 1.5″ in length to the bodice and placket, and 1″ to the sleeves. I am really happy with the length and how nice the collar came together. I love that I can button it up all the way and don’t get that weird bubble under the top button, and that it’s loose enough around the neck that it’s comfortable.
The sleeves I’m less thrilled with. I added 1″ as a guess, but I honestly should have shortened them, instead. I think next time I’ll shorten the original sleeve pattern piece by ~2″. The sleeve plackets were constructed the same way as my Fairmount Shacket, so I knew exactly what I was doing. Since it’s such a nice, tailored shirt, I was hoping that the plackets would be more like the Olya plackets, but that’s just a preference. Grainline has an Archer Popover variation with the nicer sleeve plackets, but it’s basically the cost of a whole new pattern. The cuffs are also really big, and I will definitely be comparing them to the Olya or Cheyenne Tunic cuffs next time. I have the sleeves rolled up twice in these photos, and I didn’t even have to unbutton them to roll them up.
This amazing fabric is from the See You at Six fabric collection from last year. This rayon is such a great quality, and I enjoyed working with it. It was a beast to try lining up the squares! Even after trying so hard with the cutting, I decided that done was better than perfect (in regards for lining up the squares) for this project. I tried really hard to get the front squares to line up, and the side seams kinda did whatever they wanted to. Haha.
I was set on getting buttons to match the metallic shimmer of the lines, but I was too nervous to order anything online since I wanted the color to be just right. I gave a swatch of the fabric to Michelle at Style Maker Fabrics, and she sent me photos of her favorites that matched the best, from their shop. I was so excited when I saw these Atelier Brunette Shiny Swing Buttons (color: chestnut) because they have a shine to them that mimics the metallic shimmer. They’re also really easy to sew on, which always calms my hand sewing anxiety. Haha.
This was essentially my first wearable toile of the Archer Shirt. Even though I’m bummed about the bottom half of the sleeves, I will definitely still wear this all the time with the sleeves rolled up. And maybe down the road I’ll muster the energy to shorten them and sew the cuffs back on.
I’m on kind of a green kick lately, so if you’re liking that then stay tuned, because I have some green pants and another green button up that I’ll be sewing up in the near future!
Let me know if you have any questions or comments, and happy sewing! xoxo
I love this shirt and the tutorial but I have huge issues with the huge sleeves. I made a size 16 and whilst my bazooms may be larger my wrists aren’t! I ended up with three pleats and I also don’t have gorilla arms so I had to chop a load off the sleeve length meaning I totally butchered the pattern. Oh and I’ve never worn it. My two Olya’s however are in need of replacing through excess wear 😉
The sleeves are unreasonably long and very wide on the bottom half! I’ll definitely have to make adjustments if I make it again. I do love the Olya and really enjoy sewing it too!