Sleeveless Archer Shirt In Winter

I've been getting some serious shirt on lately. Here is my Sleeveless Grainline Studio Archer Shirt. Soon to be bloged are my Alder Shirt Dress (wearing it as I type) and my first ever men's shirt for Tim. This weekend I sewed 30 buttons holes and hand sewed on a button for each hole. Safe to say my next make will involve a zip and absolutely no buttons!

So, it's winter and quite cold in Melbourne at the moment, but after making my first archer I wanted to try a sleeveless version immediately. And, actually, a sleeveless shirt in winter is quite practical! I've layered it here over a Merino Renfrew top and under a store bought Merino jumper. I wouldn't normally be able to layer over and under my long sleeve shirts as it would all get caught up at the sleeves and drive me crazy rearranging it all day.  Plus, nobody can tell it's not a long-sleeve shirt when I have my jumper on. 

The detail's: To make a sleeveless archer I adapted my existing size 6 pattern using Jen's tutorial. As instructed I brought in the shoulder seems by 3/4". I didn't add any darts of remove an ease from the armhole so it is quite large and even a little gapey. This is unfortunate but not really an issue in winter and in summer I'll probably just be glad for the extra breeze.

I made the shirt in a White and Navy Gingham and used a larger Red and white Gingham for the contrast. I love that shirt yokes and collars take so little fabric, so you can use up scraps or fabric from no-longer worn garments. The red and white gingham is from a circle skirt I never wore but got second hand because the fabric was lovely. I used white bias binding for the armholes and some red plastic buttons.  

The only other changes I made to this shirt were: 1) Sew the front button plackets at a 5/8 seam allowance in stead of a 1/2. This was purely as I was tired and confused. Thank goodness I realised early in the project! 2) Use the burrito method to sew the yoke pieces to the shirt front and back. It's less fiddly than the method provided and I think it provides a cleaner finish.

Once again, I think the fit is pretty spot on and I'm super happy with how the shirt looks untucked and tucked in. Below I have the front ends tied in a bow and tucked under which is how I'll wear it in summer with shorts.  I freakin' love the flashes of red! I was tempted to put the red and white yoke on the outside but Tim suggested it looked like I was wearing my shirt inside out. I'm supper happy with the final product and it is more versatile than it would have been with a contracting outside yoke.

Second time round the Archer shirt was a dream to sew up. I will definitely sew more in the future and I can't wait to try a pull over variation like this gorgeous chambray version by Kat.