Coming in hot with another button up shirt in block printed cotton! No one is surprised. Haha.
A nice surprise though, is that this is the FREE Noa Shirt pattern by Fabrics-Store. I’ve been curious about this pattern for a few years, and I finally got around to printing the pattern and making it.
I’ve been making a lot of oversized button up shirts lately, but I really wanted to make one that was more tailored and didn’t have dropped shoulders. I looked at a couple of other patterns, but decided to give this one a shot.
I was really curious about how it compared to the Grainline Studios Archer Shirt. I made the Archer a few years ago and made it a size too big and lengthened the sleeves when I shouldn’t have. I also made it in a rayon, and I’ve learned that if you want to make something oversized, cotton and linen are better for that. Making something oversized with rayon ends up looking kind of sloppy, in my experience.
All that to say that I really tried to not make the same mistakes with this shirt. I compared these pattern pieces to the Archer and I was actually pretty surprised how close they were.
I made the size 12/14 which is what my measurements put me in. I lengthened the bodice pieces by 2″ and I used bias binding on the hem.
The pattern instructions for this pattern are a little bit tedious. I can’t really complain because it’s a free pattern, but the instructions are online, and they make you jump from link to link, taking you to different tutorials about how to do each step. The tutorials are also just general tutorials for other patterns that have similar steps, so it wasn’t like they were explaining how to do the step for this specific pattern. Luckily, I’ve made plenty of button up shirts to get the gist of what I need to do, but I definitely don’t think this is a good shirt pattern for beginner sewists.
Rebecca Good has a Youtube Tutorial that shows you how to sew the Noa if you’re more of a visual learner. I haven’t watched all of it but seeing someone else make it would probably by helpful.
If you’re an experienced sewist and you’re okay with going with the flow on patterns, I think you would do just fine. But if you really like detailed instructions that you can follow easily, then I would go with a higher quality pattern like the Archer Shirt or the Cameron Button Up by Helen’s Closet (on sale right now!) would be a great one. Helen always has the best instructions, and the finished measurements for the Cameron are very similar to the Noa.
I have pink undertones in my skin, so I was a little worried about this fabric making me looked washed out, but it’s not bad! I really like wearing it with jeans, but I also wore it to a friend’s art exhibition with my cream colored Free Range Slacks (last photo, above), and it felt like a really solid outfit.
Pattern & Fabric Details
(no affiliate links)
Noa Shirt by Fabrics-Store.com + Hand Blocked Cotton from Fibers to Fabric
Free Range Slacks by Sew House 7 + midweight linen
Thank you for reading today’s blog post! Please let me know if you have any questions below. Happy shirt making! xoxo
Very nice! I like how it fits you so comfortably. Love you! Grandma Frame 👵