I love this pattern, but I made some modications that make it a bit better….

Round the bottom corners: One secret for a professional look in both knitting and sewing is to slightly round the corners. Instead of casting on 131 sts in the very beginning, only cast on 129, and then inc 2 in the next (WS) row as follows: K1, Kfb, knit to last 3 sts, Kfb, K2.

Reposition the sides’ stitch markers a bit toward the back: The original pattern doesn’t account for the slight overlapping that is required for the button bands. This means the fronts are a bit too narrow (when buttoned) compared to the back and the sleeves pull to the front a bit and lay funny. The fix for this is very simple. Move the two stitch markers toward the back by one stitch on each side. Specifically, 34 sts from the edges instead of 33 sts.

Work the sleeves in the round: To avoid seaming, I always try to work the sleeves in the round whenever possible. I’ve found the original pattern produces cuffs that are a bit narrow, so I start with 32 sts instead and then work in the round. I inc 2 sts on each side of the imaginary ‘seam’ as follows: in the 3rd round AFTER the garter-st cuff, then every 4 rounds 3 times, then every 5 rounds twice, then every 6 rounds twice = 48 sts.

Add a 5th buttonhole: This is obviously completely optional, but I prefer the look of 5 buttons. To do so, make the first button hole in the last RS row BEFORE the row that joins in the sleeves. Then space them every 5 garter-ridges (i.e. every 10 rows).

Dec another 16 sts BEFORE the neckband: In the original pattern, the last RS row before the neckband is simply knitted across. The pattern then has us perform lots of decs in the neckband itself. Instead, consider reducing the number of neckband-decs needed by performing 16 decs in the knitted row. To do so, simply work Row 1 of the second pattern (leaves motif) once more, BUT AVOID WORKING ANY OF THE YARN-OVERS. You will still need to perform some more decs in the neckband to get back to the final number of sts, but not so many. I found this makes the leaf pattern look better as well as the neckband. (Note: If you choose to also work the raglan decreases too, you will end up with a total of 24 sts decreased - even better!)

NOTE on the Second pic: My advice when joining the sleeves is to use a long circular needle and the magic loop method. There is no way, in my opinion, to ‘smoosh’ all the sts from the sleeve onto a straight needle and between two sts separating the front from the back. Be kind to yourself and use the magic loop!