Helen's Closet Ashton top
A last (?) bit of summer sewing for me with the Helen's Closet Ashton top! I'm actually not completely sure how I decided on making this one. When I got fabric for the arenites, I got a bit extra for a matching top, but I guess I had in mind another wiksten shift, or maybe an lb pullover, not a sleeveless thing. But somehow I must have seen an Ashton somewhere that made me go for that instead.
I don't usually wear sleeveless things at all, as I really don't like my arms, but I guess Helen's Closet is a plus size friendly company (cup sizes!) and I must have seen it on enough larger people that it seemed like a possibility.
The pattern comes in a b cup and a d cup, I went for the d cup and the size 12. I technically should do a fba anyway, but I didn't and I'm happy enough with the fit. I might do an fba next time I make it, we'll see.
For fabric I used the fabric room tencel in the grey to match the arenites. It's fairly slippy and there are some small puckers in the hem as a result of that, But overall my cutting was pretty good, at least compared previous attempts with slippy fabric.
I thought this would be a super quick make, but actually it's fairly involved for such a small garment, at least if you do the facing which I did. The instructions are great and very detailed, she has you stay stitching and under stitching everything. The neck and armhole facing is attached by the burrito method, which I hadn't done before and was quite stressful, as I couldn't quite visualise what it was doing (I'm still not sure Incan!), but I followed the steps and it was fine. Unfortunately I then got a bit overexcited and carried on without reading the instructions and as a result have ended up with some seams over the facing under the arms, rather than having them hidden nicely. Still, I'll know for next time!
When I made this out of the same fabric as the arenites, I thought it would give a sort of faux jumpsuit look but then I had a crisis of confidence and thought it looked like pyjamas. I still kind of do think that, and I ended up not wearing this on a day when we were going out, but waiting for the next day when I just worked from home. Lots of people suggested that it would look more jumpsuity if I tucked the top in and I did try that, but it ruins the swingy a line shape of the Ashton. I’ll just have to find other things tio wear with it, and i have something luxe to wear for pyjama days.
