I read so much on pattern matching prior to making this shirt & it all said to keep the pattern going across the body. Put the largest/boldest thing in the middle, and go from there, everyone said.
I set my shirt up to have a very bold button band, and then kept the pattern going across the body, just like they said!
I should have followed my instinct to put the brightest vertical plaid bars symmetrically. Instead, they're a few inches off on either side, as it kept the pattern going. Now that I've finally sewn the main seams up I see my mistake:
It looks like I've been rotated several degrees!
Too late to change it now! I'll chalk it up as a learning experience. I don't know why I ignore my instincts in sewing so much; it's not like the decades of garment construction and design I learned in knitting suddenly do not apply here.
I do really like this plaid fabric, but I might have to avoid looking in a mirror when I wear this shirt. We'll see how I feel once it's completed! As long as I don't feel like a circus tent I think I'll be happy. (It's sized to fit over layers, and the lack of waist definition is kinda getting to me, even though when I wear more than a layer or two I don't have much waist definition. May alter it later.)