I made another Archer! I’ve made 2 before and I wear them pretty often – the flowery one for some reason feels more work-appropriate and the spotty one seems more casual, though I don’t really know why!

I feel like there probably isn’t too much to say about the Archer, now this is the third time I’ve made it. I made the size 4, as I have before, but this time I took 2.5cm off the shoulder pattern pieces to raise up the sleeves a little and make the shoulder seam sit more on my actual shoulders. The fabric is from The Great British Sewing Bee Live, from a shop called Holland and Sherry and it’s got a really subtle herringbone pattern in it. And it’s nice and thick.

For some reason I made the vast majority of this shirt in November but when I mentioned it in my planning post, I hadn’t done the buttons and button holes. I did most of this back before Christmas (I can’t remember when exactly) but I forgot the cuff button holes and buttons, so it languished as a UFO for a couple of months until the weekend before last I finally had white thread in my machine and did the last 2 button holes.

I did wear this to work but I wore it with my suit refashion trousers and it definitely gave me school uniform vibes – my uniform was grey trousers, white shirt, royal blue and gold tie and a black blazer! I think if I wear it with other colours then it won’t be quite so bad. Everyone has a white shirt in their wardrobe and I never think they look like they’re wearing a school uniform.

I used the second cuff option on the pattern, with the corners ‘missing’ and I’m really glad I did.

Here’s a shameless close up of my topstitching, which I think it amongst the best I’ve ever done. Which is lucky because this fabric did not like being unpicked – there were pretty much permanent holes wherever the needle went in.

This is my sort-of-outtake from this photoshoot – I took a whole bunch of photos and then looked at them and thought I should really iron the shirt as it looked soooo wrinkley!

I’m definitely glad I now have a classic white shirt – a definite wardrobe staple! Also I’m wearing a navy blue vest top underneath (because I was already wearing it) and you can’t see it, so it’s great to know the fabric is pretty much thick enough not to show it!