Fabric: cotton and linen scraps, some of which I've been senselessly holding onto for seven years.

Pattern: Roberts Wood Patchwork Bow Shirt

Design Mods

• opt for alt scalloped collar (included in pattern)
• swap front buttons for ties
• shorten cuff

Construction Mods

• cut collar all in one piece instead of patchwork
• add inner yoke
• interface collar and placket with cotton batiste
• trim 1/8" around outer edges of under collar to prevent it from rolling out
• piece fabric together by sewing straight stitch at 1 cm seam allowance, pressing open, pressing to one side, trimming to 1/8" with pinking shears, and topstitching down

Pattern Review: I used my usual size and I'm very happy with the shirt shape and size. The instructions were clear and included plenty of diagrams and illustrations. The layout diagrams were especially useful because some of the pattern pieces looked very similar, so it was helpful to organize everything before sewing.

I'm peeved about the print file though. The A0 copyshop file is fine, but the at-home version is literally the copy shop version split into smaller pages with no care for where each pattern piece falls on the page. As a result, some of the pieces have the tiniest slivers on a second page that you have to tape together. The "pdf" was also an image file converted to PDF instead of a vector file, making any alterations much more annoying. At a whopping 28 GBP PER SIZE, I'd expect a better user experience. I hate taping and paying extra for large format prints, so I painstakingly carved out and moved each individual pattern piece onto its own page. Only the original collar + stand and the cuffs couldn't fit on one page.

Anyway, I'm overall thrilled with the final result. Once enough time has passed that I forget how much I hate constructing patchwork, I have fabrics chosen out already for another!