Sunday 26 October 2014

My Archer of Tribulation

I have finally finished my second Archer Button Up Shirt by Grainline Studio. This was my Archer of tribulation. I had difficulties at every stage, and it is nothing short of a miracle that it has reached completion and is not laying discarded in the corner of my sewing room.



I blame most of my issues with this shirt on my fabric choice. I wanted a fine gingham so that I wouldn't have to be too careful with pattern matching. Unfortunately, the only fabric available in the fine gingham at Spotlight at the time, was a poly/cotton blend. I think it was 80% polyester and 20% cotton.

My first issue was with the fusible interfacing. I just used the same interfacing that I always use, purchased from my local Bargain Box Fabrics. They sell two types of fusible interfacing...a cheap and nasty lightweight interfacing, and a cheap and nasty medium weight interfacing. The minute I fused the interfacing to the fabric the fabric wrinkled and bubbled and shrank. I had to re-cut the collar. I did some testing on scraps but I couldn't stop the bubbling effect. In the end I decided to underline the collar and cuff pieces with another white poly/cotton fabric I had left over from another project which didn't wrinkle and bubble when I fused on the interfacing.



This fabric did not like to be sewn. The seams puckered and I had terrible trouble getting them to lie nice and flat. For this reason I decided not to faux flat fell the seams. I just finished them off with the overlocker and left good enough alone. You can see in the photo above there is something weird going on with the yoke. It wants to pull up in the centre and is creating a fold of fabric at the base of the neck. I didn't have this issue with my first Archer which I made out of a cotton voile, so can only attribute this to the fabric.



I did make a couple of minor changes for my second Archer, based on what I learned during the construction of my first one. I cut a size twelve, as before, but I cut the sleeves in a size 8. These fitted perfectly into the armsceye and are a much more pleasing width and length. I also added 5cm (approx 2 inches) to the length of the front and back, at the waistline. To try and take away the boxy shape of the shirt I tapered the side seams slightly by 1cm (approx 3/8ths of an inch) at the waistline curving back to nothing at the armsceye and hemline. I am pleased with the shape of the shirt now, still loose but a little more figure flattering.


Two piece undercollar and collar stand
As you can see I didn't give any thought to pattern matching the two piece under collar which is a bit of a shame because it would have looked really good. Must keep that in mind for the next one. Due to underlining the collar and cuff pieces there was quite a lot of bulk in these areas. Luckily my trusty Bernina powered through all the layers without a problem.


Angled cuffs
I think the angled cuffs are a nice feature. I sewed continuous plackets as instructed in the pattern but they puckered terribly. I did the best I could and tried to press the puckering out but I didn't have great success.


Pockets
The pockets also gave me grief. When I pressed the pockets before attaching them, the fabric skewed strangely. At least they did this symmetrically. I was really worried that this would be very obvious and ruin the look of the shirt, but I don't think it is too noticeable if you don't look too hard. The last job was the button holes and buttons. I had every confidence that this would go well as my Bernina has an automatic buttonhole foot and setting so that once you set the button hole length it will reproduce identical button holes over and over. Well, how wrong I was. I think I spent about three hours on these button holes and I unpicked nearly as many as I sewed. The fabric puckered so I started using a tearaway stabilizer on the back which eliminated the puckering. Then my button holes were sewing with each side offset from the other by a few mm each side. I got very good at unpicking buttonholes. In the end, I started again and reset the buttonhole length. This, combined with the tearaway stabilizer worked a treat and I was able to go ahead and complete the remaining button holes without a hitch.



Despite all my problems during the construction of this shirt, I am glad I persevered and finished it. Probably not my best sewing but at least it is a wearable garment and I have learned never to bother making this in a poly/cotton again. Next one will be a nice soft cotton shirting or maybe a linen.


Happy Sewing

26 comments:

  1. Nice shirt ! I'm a French blogger and I love sewing too. Have a nice week end !

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think your finished Archer looks terrific! However, I do hear you regarding the interfacing. I also have this trouble with interfacing - it's really hard to buy decent stuff.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Sue. It's so frustrating when you can't buy decent quality sewing stuff. I think I will stick to 100% cotton for my next Archer.

      Delete
  3. It really does look nice!! I have also experienced the phenomenon of poly-cotton broadcloth and its puckering. You really did persevere. I especially like the sleeves: I agree that the shape and size of them look just right. Nice shirt!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Ripple Dandelion. I'm glad I'm not the only one to have experienced this problem.

      Delete
  4. I would have given up after the first puckers. I generally hate polyester. You really hung in and the shirt looks nice!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Linda. I was so tempted to put this shirt aside right from the first problems, but I am glad that I stuck with it and made it work.

      Delete
  5. I'm impressed with your perseverance with that poly blend, I can't say I would stuck with it. But it ended up looking quite nice! I don't notice anything with the pockets btw.

    I only just started using 'good' interfacing and it really did make a huge difference. It amazed me how much better it was than normal interfacing. Adhered perfectly on the first attempt with no sight of bubbles or puckers. It's really unfortunate how expensive it is for people outside the US to get many of the supplies that we take for granted here in the US (Big 4 patterns, interfacing, many fabrics, etc). I think it's really starting to become a visible issues. Rachel from House of Pinheiro just did a blog post on how much patterns cost in the UK and I was so surprised!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Carrie. Sometimes perseverance does pay off in the long run. I did read Rachel's post and I can certainly relate to expensive patterns.

      Delete
  6. I would not know about your trials from looking at your shirt -- it looks great to me! Sometimes I persevere just because I hate to be bested by a garment.

    ReplyDelete
  7. A lovely fresh shirt. That fabric looks nice - shame it was a pain to sew. If you didn't point out the issues you wouldn't see them. You have ended up with a very nice shirt indeed.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks BeaJay. Hopefully all the difficulties will be soon forgotten and I will just enjoy wearing my new shirt.

      Delete
  8. While I'm sorry that you had so much trouble with the fabric, I think you ended up with quite a nice shirt for all of your work! Well done on sticking with it to the end and getting a very wearable garment out of it!

    ReplyDelete
  9. From where I'm standing, your shirt looks absolutely perfect! I do think that sometimes we are 'too close' to our garments and we see every mistake and fault that really no -one else is even aware of. Well done on persevering. It's worth it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Ruth for your lovely comment. I know what you mean, and you could take some of your own advice regarding wrinkles in your jacket :-)

      Delete
  10. I think you did a great job with the shirt, and knowing Spotty's as well as I do, I know exactly the fabric you used... it is difficult to work with, to say the least! You did really well beating it into submission.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks so much Carolyn. If only I had known the difficulty this fabric was going to cause, I would have steered clear of it for sure. All was not lost, as it was a lesson learned, not only in the importance of fabric choice but also the benefits of perseverance.

      Delete
  11. I remember way, way back, trying to make a dress out of poly/cotton gingham and the result was just awful. On the contrary, your shirt looks great! Oh and your flowers are so beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks so much Diana. It's so nice to hear that sewers of your calibre struggle with poly/cotton gingham too. Our flowers are putting on a nice show now spring has arrived.

      Delete
  12. It might have been horrible to work with but it looks really good. I like the pickets on the bias

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Andrea. Despite all my tribulations it has turned out quite wearable.

      Delete
  13. Hi Jean, I'm in Australia too. I've gotten some lovely shirting fabric from Acorn Fabrics in the UK. Not cheap but they sometimes have free shipping offers on Facebook and end-of-line specials. I think your shirt turned out very nicely! Sarah

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Sarah. I will have to check out Acorn Fabrics in the UK.

      Delete