Scallop-hem Ashton Top Hack

During Me-Made-May this year I saw a lot other participants wearing lovely tops made using the Ashton Top pattern by Helen's Closet. I've always got one eye out for a great-looking woven tank pattern because they are almost as comfy to wear as a T-shirt and only require a small amount of fabric. I remembered that I already own this pattern, having been sent it for free shortly after its release (with no expectation of making or reviewing it, I may add). And with some nice pieces of woven cotton fabric in my stash itching to be used, this project was asking to be made!

(image source: Helen's Closet)

Pattern:

This pattern is a shift style, with a simple rounded neckline and hem facing. Included are two bust size options, two length options and two neck-and-armhole finishing options (bound or faced). I chose to start with the longer length and according to the size chart, my measurements made me a size 10 at the bust and size 12 at the waist and hips. 

I dutifully blended between the sizes and folded out 2cm from the length on the torso, as I always do. Because I was planning to use some fairly precious fabric, I made a quick toile (muslin). That first toile came out too big, so I started again with a size 8/10 combo which a second toile told me was much better. 

The basic pattern is lovely as it is, but I felt that it would also be a great basis for some pattern hacks. So I decided to have some fun and try making a scallop hem, which is something that I've been thinking about trying in a project for a while. To make a scallop hem, you need to create a facing, but seeing as this pattern already includes hem facings, that was one less step to take. 

I also wanted to play around with the neckline a little, so I drafted a V shape at the back (and altered my facing piece accordingly). I love the V shape detail of the Peppermint magazine peplum top, and what better way to expose a ropey, faded early-2000's star tattoo?!

Fabric:

For yonks I've been the owner of two small-ish lengths of lovely Atelier Brunette printed poplin. I put them both in my #2020makenine sewing plans (which you can see in this post) because they've been in my stash for years and really should be enjoyed out in the world. This cute little Paris print on a grey background came from M is for Make at least five years ago. I bought the end of the bolt, which I think was about 90cm. Although it's a bit cuter than anything I'd buy for myself these days, however I still really love the print and TBH I couldn't think of anything else to do with it.  

Thoughts:

I'm very pleased with how this top came out and I've worn it a couple of times since completion. Making the scallops added an extra level of challenge to the project, and I had a lot of fun working out how to make them as neat as possible (the key is A LOT of perilous clipping into the curves). I'm not sure if the V-shape is a total success: it looks nice but I'm not sure if it quite fits with the scallop hem detail. The only actual annoyance I feel with this project is that, as you can see in these pics, one of my bra straps is almost constantly visible. Next time I use this pattern, I'll probably build up that area a bit, as I'm never going to wear a strapless bra. Ultimately, it's a win. The overall fit is great and I'm so pleased I was able to find a use for this crisp poplin after so many years of hoarding it. 

French Fanciness: The Elisabeth Blouse

Recently I was lucky enough to be asked to be a blogger/ambassador for Fabric Godmother, and was given free choice of pattern and fabric from their inventory. In exchange, I had to make up the garment (tough times!) and share my thoughts on the project in the form of a blog post. Lemme tell you, being given free reign on such a decision is pretty overwhelming! Anyways, eventually I realised that this gave me the perfect opportunity to channel my current main style inspiration: French sewers! 

I chose a combination of the Elisabeth blouse pattern by Republique du Chiffon and the Stardust double gauze in Forest by Atelier Brunette, and used gold ball buttons from my stash. You can find the post I wrote for Fabric Godmother here, however (spoiler alert), in short, I LOVE it!!! I never usually gravitate towards glitz or sparkle, but with Christmas and Mr SoZo's 40th birthday just round the corner, I think I've made myself the perfect semi-sparkly party garment. 

Suzon Obsession

I knocked up this blouse a couple of months ago, but stalled on blogging about it because I knew another would be inevitable. Now the second is complete, it's time I shared my new loves with the world! 

Pattern:

I'm not even going to pretend that I'm not deep in the middle of a major ruffle obsession. When I first saw the Republique du Chiffon Suzon blouse pattern, my heart skipped a beat. However, I didn't buy it immediately because RDU don't offer a PDF version of this pattern (my preferred type of pattern to buy), and at the time the English print version was out of stock on their site. Eventually I just couldn't take it any more, and I sourced a copy of the paper pattern from UK online fabric and haberdashery shop Dragonfly Fabrics (although it's is currently out of stock on their site).  

(image source: Republique du Chiffon)

To me, this pattern is near-perfection. The proportions and position of the ruffle are spot on, and I love how the width narrows a little towards the centre front. The collarless neck band sits so nicely, and I love the fit of the body of the blouse; it's loose and comfortable, but the bust darts prevent it from looking formless. 

I'd seen on the RDC site that they had drafted a free downloadable long sleeve pattern piece for this blouse. I decided some sleeves of some description would be a useful addition to get more wear from my blouse, but I wasn't a massive fan of the traditional-looking, full-length, cuffed shirt sleeve design. Instead, I used the sleeve head from the RDC download so I knew it'd fit into the armhole, and frankensteined it with the pattern piece I used for my remade denim Tova top. 

Version 1:

This isn't my first Republique du Chiffon/Atelier Brunnette project combo. Remember my tragic Areli top fail? Although that project didn't work out, I wasn't put off from combining these two French companies' products again (and then later, again). I got hold of more of the Atelier Brunette Bye Bye Birdy cotton cambric (which basically feels and behaves just like lawn) from Fabric Godmother, this time in black (they also still have the gold version I previously used, as well as pale blue, terracotta and navy). The printed origami bird shapes really pop on this colour way, don't they?

As with my Areli top, working with this fabric was super easy and really enjoyable. Having googled other people's versions of the Suzon blouse, I came to the decision that this project best suited, and deserved, self-covered buttons. So even though I HATE making them (yes, yes, I know there are places that will do it for you, but who has that level of patience to wait?) and my ratio of successful/fail covered buttons is about 2:1, I did it. 

Version 2:

So here she is, hot off the sewing machine! Seeing as the weather is hotting up, and let's face it, I probably don't need two of virtually the exact same garment, I decided to go for the original sleeveless style for this one. Prior to finishing this second version, I only owned one sleeveless top which I wore a lot last summer. Aside from making this version sleeveless, the only other change I made to the pattern was to extend the ruffle piece by about 12cm in total to make it a little fuller. 

I saw this Atelier Brunette Moonstone viscose at Fabric Godmother when I helped out at their open day a couple of months ago. I hadn't intended to come away with any blouse fabric, but whilst cutting lengths of it for shoppers that day, I really fell in love with it. I feel that the print design and colours are way classier than what I'd usually go for, plus it's a breakaway from my usual black/navy/white/red/mustard colour palette, but tonally it's similar to navy so not really a massive departure I guess. 

I have very little experience of sewing with tricksy viscose, so I really took my time cutting and stitching it to minimise the slipping and fraying. Although it creases if you so much as blink in its direction, I love how the ruffles fall in the viscose. Plus, the slinkiness feels so nice against the skin, I can't wait for the next really warm day to take it out for a spin.

Areli Want to Like This Top

Agh! I'm so conflicted about this project. On the one hand, it was super fun to make and feels lovely to wear. On the other, it's astonishingly unflattering. Kind of medical-gown-levels of unflattering. 

Pattern:

After falling through a Pinterest sewing pattern rabbit hole, I came across the Republique du Chiffon Areli pattern. I'm a sucker for a bib detail and I adore the proportions of this. Plus, piping. When doesn't piping make something better?! I seem to be steering away from more fitted silhouettes these days, and I could see myself wearing this with some jeggings as I chase small children around a playground on a warm day. 

(image source: Republique du Chiffon)

I was enamoured by the fact that it consists of just three pattern pieces. Not only because I'm lazy and that's less taping together and cutting out required, but I also think that shows some clever designing. Obviously I picked the top length, for breast feeding access and also because I'm concerned the dress version would look a bit sack-like (oh the irony), and I don't like having to belt things to give them shape. 

I made one modification to the pattern, which was to shift the inner pleats a bit closer to the outer ones, so that there is a bit more space between the inner pleats and the bib. I adjusted the pleats on the back in the same way to keep the garment balanced.  

Fabric:

Running with the French theme, I used some very gorgeous Atelier Brunette cotton for this project. Annoyingly, the colours in my photos are not very accurate. The fabric actually a rich mustard shade (although officially it's 'gold') but my images are making it look a bit washed out. I don't think it's a colour that I should wear so close to my face (for me, mustard is best worn 'indirectly', as a cardigan, trousers or tights), but I love it so much that I don't really care that it doesn't suit me. 

(image source: Fabric Godmother)

I would struggle to justify shelling out £15 a metre on cotton fabric, but ohmygod I can see why people do. I acquired it when working at one of the Fabric Godmother open days last year as payment for my time, which is pretty much the only way I could get my mitts on stuff like this. It was a total dream to work with. The only bit of the project that proved tricksome was applying piping to such fine fabric, but I used some light-weight fusible interfacing to the bib section which wasn't mentioned in the instructions but helped a lot. 

Thoughts:

So I loved making this top, and it feels really soft and breezy to wear. But, unflattering colour aside, it's really doesn't look great, doesn't it? I'm trying to work out where it's going wrong. Even though I'm of average height, it seems a bit short on me, I think I'd prefer it to be to the bottom of where my thumb is resting in the image above. Plus, although I went with the size that tallied with my measurements, it's possible that the size down might look a bit better. 

I've just done a Google image search to look at other people's versions, and I can see there are a few other women whose tops sit a bit like mine does in the image above. I'm not particularly busty, but I'm wondering if this style suits smaller busted women. I really do enjoy wearing this top, and will definitely continue to do so, but I'd like to learn a lesson if there is one to be taken from this. I'd appreciate your thoughts on this! 

Cost:

Pattern: €9 (approx. £7.80) available in PDF form here
Fabric: £0 (in exchange for my time, but it can be bought for £15 a metre here, you'd need about 1.5m for this top)
Piping: approx. £2
Total: £9.80, although I'd like to try using this pattern again if I can figure out how to make it look better which will reduce the cost-per-use of the pattern