Skip to main content

Made by a Fabricista: Chambray Button Up


Hi there Fabric Mart Fabricistas!  My name is Teresa and this is my first time posting here...I am so thrilled to be blogging with Fabric Mart!  When I started poking around at the fabrics available on the Fabric Mart site I immediately started my search with the chambrays.  My ready to wear chambray shirt died recently (after wearing it for many years) so it was time to replace it!


I landed on this beautiful light blue denim chambray and it is perfect!  I went to my tried and true pattern, the Grainline Studio Archer Button Up.  I love the casual fit of this button up pattern.  I've sewn this pattern many, many times and always love the results!


This was the first time I used a sleeve tower placket on the archer button up.  The archer instructions have you make a tiny little sleeve placket, which works great, but I much prefer the look of these tower plackets!  I grabbed the pattern piece from another sewing pattern, and it worked perfectly!


I also drafted the breast pockets.  I wanted this chambray shirt to look a lot like the ready to wear shirt that I was replacing.  I love the look of the buttons on the breast pockets!


The last area that I deviated from the instructions were with the collar.  A couple of months ago, I tried Andrea's collar insertion method.  I've always struggled getting the topstitching on my collars to look nice on the inside and the outside.  Following Andrea's steps, I have had the best results!


Button up shirts can seem like a daunting task with a lot of steps, but I absolutely love all of the little small details. And the archer button up has such thorough instructions, it is not complicated at all!  Time consuming, but definitely not complicated!  It's fun to slowly sew something that will get worn frequently!


I am thrilled that I have a little bit of this chambray fabric leftover.  I'm thinking I might have just enough to squeeze out a little chambray cami!  Thank you Fabric Mart for the perfect chambray fabric!
Thanks for having me Fabric Mart and thanks for reading!
Teresa from Dandelion Drift

Comments

  1. Great job! Love your modifications. I am always a bit afraid to alter patterns (or 'frankenpattern' as the cool kids say). Your shirt came out great and I'm sure you will wear it for years!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nice job of a great timeless wardrobe staple. It looks like an RTW for sure which I mean as a complement. Enjoy!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thanks for leaving a comment! All comments are reviewed before posting to help us eliminate spam. Your comment will be posted within 24 hours.

Recent Posts You Might Like

Made by a Fabricista: What to Make with Silk Taffeta

You may have noticed that Fabric Mart has a *HUGE* selection of silk taffeta right now.  A lot of it is either large plaid or large stripes.   I was curious about it, and not really sure what I could make with it, but I just knew it would be gorgeous fabric and had to play around with it.  Turns out, it's actually great for quite a range of projects!  The dress above is my third project. Let me show you the first two. My first was to make some queen size pillow shams.  They are the plaid ones in the back of the photo.  I also made the two printed ones in the center from another Fabric Mart home dec fabric special!  I wanted to make the covers removable with a zipper, and include a braided trim.  As luck would have it, I found a whole card of braided trim at an estate sale that worked with my taffeta for just $2! To start, I used a zipper foot to stitch down the braided trim all around one side of the pillow. Then I serged ...

Made By A Fabricista: Mechanic Chic!

When it comes to buying ready-to-wear garments as a sewist, I only ever spend in three categories: heavy duty winter jackets (life in Maine!), bras… and jumpsuits! I love a good jumpsuit, but unfortunately the ones I used to buy have been impacted by the tariff situation and I can’t get them affordably anymore. This can only mean one thing, folks: it’s time to roll up my sleeves and sew my very first jumpsuit!  When I started planning for this project, I knew I wanted to use a heavyweight linen for cozy comfort in the fall and breathability in the summer. I wanted something that would wear beautifully and soften with age, and something with neutral tones that could go with everything. Naturally, when I came across this 100% linen canvas on Fabric Mart, my heart skipped a beat! I love the ikat-inspired geometry and something about it reminds me of leopard spots too. Bold yet wearable! I am pretty sure this fabric was intended for home decor which I don’t mind at all and in fact of...

Made By A Fabricista: Tried and true summer basics that fit.

Happy Summer Friends! As I am writing this, we are headed into a nasty heat wave…so the timing could not be better to share two of my favorite summer patterns and fabrics.  But first, let me tell you about the fail I had heading into this month’s blog… As Fabricista’s, we get to pick out fabric for each of our blog submissions. I fell in love with this gorgeous lilac jacquard knit that I thought would be perfect for a pop of color in my summer wardrobe. But I made a fatal error - I grabbed a pattern I haven’t made for years, quickly went up one size to account for a few new pounds, and sewed them up. And they don’t fit, will NEVER fit, and will never be worn. Sigh…when will I learn?? Here’s a flat lay pic so we can at least look at the lovely fabric: The lesson I learned (relearned!) is that just like with off the rack clothes, the things that worked well for me years ago don’t work well for me today.  And that’s the case with both tops and bottoms. So I went back to two patt...

A Yard And Change

Do you have a fabric that you love and has been hanging around but is too small to use? Maybe you found a wonderful fabric with a super cute print but there's only a yard left.  I've got a few projects I worked on all with roughly a yard of fabric. And I have a few tips for making that yard and change go further! Cutting Layout: You can get a lot more mileage out of a yard of fabric if you can get creative with how you lay out your fabric. Cutting things single layer will give you the most control. My favorite thing to do is unfold the fabric and fold the selvages in to meet in the middle. That gives me two folded edges to work with. I had to overlap these to get enough width for the tank top. Just make sure that your pattern pieces don't also overlap!  This one was especially fun for me because I really loved the print on this swimwear knit but am not yet up to sewing swimwear. But a nice flowy hiking tank is perfect for this! In the future I'd love to experiment with...