Constellation Archer Shirt

Happy new year! I bring you the last of the Christmas gifts I’m going to be sharing on the blog, an Archer button-up shirt! I may yet show you a head to toe ensemble I made for my great aunt, but that’s pending me taking in the waist on the pants a few inches and dependent on her willingness to be a model (she’s pretty shy). But here’s Catheryn! Catheryn is actually a sewist themselves, so sometimes we get into that quandary of making a gift for someone who also knows how to make things. Do you ever get that feeling? “I can’t make ______ for such-and-such, because they could just make it themselves!” Except I’m over that. Just because someone CAN make something doesn’t mean they will, or that they would have the same idea as you for what to make. Plus I feel that you’re giving them the gift of the time spent, as well as buying the materials to make the thing in question. And there’s the thought you put into planning out a project with that person in mind.

Catheryn is an Archer junkie. They have made quite a few of them for themselves already, as well as having a short sleeve one that I made them previously. So I knew that the Archer would be a very safe bet and get worn a lot if I made another. This goes back to the gift-giving thing again – even though I know Catheryn already has a bunch of Archers, I also know that they wear them ALL THE TIME so I was on board with making another one. Just because something’s tried and true doesn’t mean it’s not special!

Catheryn is a planetary geologist, and loves space and dinosaurs and rocks. When I saw this constellation fabric at Patch, I immediately knew it was perfect for them. I hadn’t figured out what I wanted to make for them for Christmas before I saw it, so it was rare case for me of fabric coming before pattern. I pretty much never buy fabric without a project in mind anymore (I used to do this willy nilly), but the Archer came to mind very quickly after buying the fabric and I ran with it.

I’m happy with the top-stitching and how the pocket looks. I pretty much never put the two pockets on the Archer, partly because of how it looks, but mostly because if I only put one pocket I don’t have to worry about lining it up with another pocket perfectly mirrored across the centre front, muahaha.

I think this shirt is a good colour/print to be able to swing casual or a bit more dressed up, since it’s black and white and the design is relatively simple. I’m realizing more as I go along that I’m not really a button-up shirt person. I have a few Granvilles and Archers that I really like, but I rarely gravitate toward them. I think I WANT to be someone who wears button-up shirts, but in reality when I’m playing bass/cello and living my life, they just feel overly fancy and constricting and somehow like I should be avoiding doing things that make me sweat while wearing them (don’t ask me where this idea came from). Not that I exercise while wearing button-up shirts, but my life involves an inordinate amount of lugging large instruments, running between buildings/into my car, and just generally being in a frenzy. So it’s not a great lifestyle choice for me, I don’t think. I’ve come to accept it. Strangely, I still really love shirt-dresses (although I made the Alder recently and it was SO NOT MY THING). I’m not sure of the logic behind this, but I accept the strangeness of my preferences.

Above is a booty shot of Catheryn’s me-made jeans. The pattern is the Morgan jeans by Closet Case, and Catheryn did fancy top-stitching on the back pocket to create crossed rock hammers to show their geologist pride. We took these photos in Catheryn’s backyard when they were home for Christmas – they live in Toronto right now doing their Masters, but they’re also from Nova Scotia like me. Check out that back pleat and the top-stitching on the button band. I’m pretty pleased with myself. If you look REALLY closely on the second picture below, you can still see some pink fuzz. FROM THE PINK FUR COAT. It haunts me. This fabric went through the washing machine and dryer post-finishing of the pink coat, and post-1029487123 vacuums of my sewing area, and was lint-rolled after being finished. And still. The pink fluff lives on and on.

This is not sewing related, but below are a couple photos of Catheryn’s family’s beloved and very very old cat, Kato. She’s very sweet and very slow-moving and spends the majority of her days curled up on the warm lap of a person or on her heating pad on the back of the couch, as below.

And that’s it for my Christmas projects for this year! Back to sewing and knitting for myself like the selfish sewist I am at heart. I’m trying to be a more responsible human this term and start the term out in an orderly fashion, and really hope to carve out more sewing time than in the fall. I’ve already got going on my Snoqualmie cardigan, which I’m really excited about. I pulled out a good 6-7 inches of it yesterday because I noticed I was misinterpreting the pattern and I couldn’t live with it, but I figure if I’m spending this much time on the project I might as well make it as good as possible. I’m also taking a great class at Patch that started last night on how to make a pattern from an existing article of clothing without taking it apart, so I’m excited to show you the fruits of those labours eventually! I’m knocking off one of my favourite RTW dresses that’s rayon with a cap sleeve and an elastic waist and slash pockets so I can make MANY OF THEM and be the most comfortable, chic person at all times forever and ever. (Totally reasonable expectations, obviously.)