Bold Gingham Ashton Top Hack

It was love at first sight when this bold linen gingham appeared in the new arrivals section of The Fabric Store website. As I've mentioned before I very rarely click 'Add to Cart' without a specific project in mind but I did with this. I loved the dramatic scale of the check and freshness of the white and golden yellow combo, all on a base of glorious slubby textured linen. I felt like head to toe large scale yellow gingham might be a little out of my comfort zone and had visions of a summery little crop top so restrained myself to an order of one metre (a choice I'm now slightly regretting as I love it so much).

I'd just purchased and had great success with the Ashton Top pattern from Helen's Closet Patterns when making my refashioned tablecloth top. Making that top has really reignited my passion for recreating garments and details I'm inspired by on the internet. I went back to browsing through my Pinterest boards and remembered the tops pictured below with their gorgeous button and loop detail down the side. I though the Ashton would be the perfect blank canvas to try this on and the project would also be a great match for my precious metre of gingham linen.

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Altering the top to fasten down the side seams took a little bit of thinking about but wasn't too complex. The pattern comes with two options for finishing your neckline and armholes; an all-in-one facing and a bias tape facing. Both achieve a lovely crisp finish and I like that you can make a choice between the two depending on what is most suitable for your fabric. To create my button detail I was obviously leaving the side seams open so to cleanly finish everything I used the all in one facing and extended it down the side seam to join up with the hem facing. This basically meant I had a second front and back cut out with the centre of each piece removed! I finished the inside raw edge of the facing on the overlocker which was a little tricky around those inner corners.

To assemble it I followed the instructions for the all-in-one facing but continued the stitching down the side seam when sewing the armholes. I then flipped everything out to the right side and sewed the remaining hem edge of the facing wrong sides together. It is really helpful to trim all the corners and clip your curves before turning the facing through and if you're doing something similar with a facing down the side seam then remember to sew the partial bust dart in the facing too.

I made the little rouleaux loops for the buttons by cutting strips of the fabric using the bias binding pattern piece. I then folded and sewed them together along the long edge and turned them through before cutting them into short lengths for individual loops. I pinned then basted these into place along the side seam of the top (raw edges of the loops towards the raw edge of the fabric and with the loops on the right side of the fabric). I then attached the facing right side to the right side of my shell fabric as usual so the loops were sandwiched between the two layers. It looks like it might be fiddly but was actually pretty quick and straightforward.

What was fiddly was making the covered buttons. I've never really got on with these and should probably invest in one of those little covered button tools. I made these by hand sewing loosely around the edge of each circle of fabric and then pulling on the thread to gather it around the button head. This is a reasonably heavy linen so provides a nice boxy structure to this style of top. This is one of those patterns that I can imagine feels like a completely different top when made in a finer fabric with more drape. So versatile. However, the thickness of the linen was quite bulky to make such tiny small little buttons with (these are the 11mm size). I managed but I feel like assembling the covered buttons took longer than sewing the whole rest of the top!

I followed my measurements to cut the size 6 B cup and am so impressed with the fit. Especially around the armhole. It sits really nicely and I only made one slight change to the fit for this version. My pattern matching at the side seams was spot on but I decided when attaching the buttons that I wanted to pull in the bottom edges for a slightly closer fit so now the horizontal stripes of the gingham are slightly mis-aligned. This is the cropped version of the pattern and I absolutely love the length for pairing with high waisted trousers and skirts.

I can see this top being worn a lot over the summer. It is just the kind of staple garment my wardrobe needs more of and I'm really inspired to make some more and have fun playing around with details on the pattern. There are some fantastic ideas on Instagram if you search #ashtontophack. I'm wearing it here with my Dawn Jeans but it works really well with so many other bottoms; the Flint Trousers, Persephone Pants, the Evie Bias Skirt to name just a few. I'm off to rummage through my stash and see what other fabric would make a good Ashton!

Tablecloth to Top Refashion

This top would have been my contribution to The Refashioners 2020 which has unfortunately but understandably been cancelled this year. I had already completed my project and wanted to share it with you all as (despite not being the most dramatic refashion ever) it really pushed me outside my sewing comfort zone and I'm hoping it might inspire some of you to give it a try too!

Portia's yearly refashioning challenge started back in 2011 and carries an important message, encouraging sewers to look at fabric and clothing in a new light. I try to make careful choices when it comes to the fabric I use and how it has been produced. Despite turning away from fast fashion and making my own clothes I am aware that my fabric consumption has its own impact on the environment. One of the best ways to care for our planet and sew sustainably is to reuse and repurpose textiles which already exist. The theme for this year's challenge was planned to be 'use what you have' which felt a little more accessible to me as a newbie refashioner as you can use household items with large flat surface areas of fabric like bedding, curtains and tableware.

I was still really daunted by this challenge. I've always thought I that the transformation challenge on The Great British Sewing Bee would be my downfall. When I cook I'm not the kind of cook who throws things in to a pan on instinct...I like a recipe! My creative brain just does not seem to think in that way. So I eased in to my first refashion by using a tablecloth. Despite being a flat piece of fabric I really tried my best to make the most of what the table cloth gave me; right down to using one of the loops of edge stitching as the loop for my button at the centre back neckline. In the spirit of 'use what you have' the covered button I had stashed away, salvaged from an old RTW top.

When I moved to Dorking last summer I had a huge sort out and only brought with me things I thought I really needed so I didn't have any spare textiles asking to be refashioned. Instead I turned to eBay as my source of unwanted textiles. I've long been a fan and follower of the work of embroidery artists on Instagram like Tessa Perlow who embroiders on to existing garments to transform them into unique worn works of art. However, I've never been able to find the time or patience to do this kind of work myself. This project is sort of a cheats way of achieving a hand embroidered top, by using an already embroidered textile!

I chose this tablecloth because I fell in love with the embroidery. I haven't found a single flaw in the beautiful symmetrical handwork. I felt kind of awful cutting in to it but focused on the fact that all that work is being appreciated and given another life. I loved the colours of it and that it was quite big and bold, plus the embroidered green border added another element to play with. But what really sold it to me was how the embroidery was arranged in clear quarter and semi-circular sections. I enjoyed figuring out how to place those to their best advantage on the top and use as much of the embroidery as possible. I'm really pleased with how it turned out. I think my favourite part is the back with those big arcs of floral embroidery meeting in the middle.

I made the refashioning project feel a little more manageable to me by starting with a pattern rather than diving straight in to draping or cutting something from scratch. Baby steps! However, I did fully flex my pattern hacking muscles to make the design of the top much closer to my inspiration. Pinterest is still one of my favourite ways to collect inspiration for my sewing projects and over the last year or so I've pinned numerous boxy little tops with interesting details and style lines. The simplicity of the example below really grabbed me.

I considered using the free tank tutorial from Fabrics-Store.com (they have a tonne of great resources, patterns and tutorials on their website FYI) but ultimately decided I did want a bit of shaping in the bust. I was torn between the Afternoon Lyra Tank and the Ashton Top from Helen's Closet. I ended up plumping for the Ashton because it seemed to have a lot of mileage in it with options for an all in one facing or bias faced neckline and all sorts of hacks popping up online. When I'm splashing out on a pattern I like to think I'm going to use it multiple times. I'm really pleased with my choice as I think the shaping and fit is great but I'll discuss the pattern more in depth in a future post as I have another hacked version of it to share with you! For reference I cut the size 6 B cup.

To start with I extended the length of the shoulder seam a little to match the squarer shape of the inspiration garment. Then I drew a line straight down from the outer edge of the shoulder to the hem on both the front and back pattern pieces. I cut down these lines and attached the pieces I'd cut off the front and back together to create my new side panel pattern piece (after folding the bust dart out of the front piece and remembering to add seam allowances where necessary). I straightened off the top edge of the side panel and shortened it by 3" to create the stepped hem. I found this to be about as much as you would want to remove before you start seeing flesh above the waistband of a high waisted pair of trousers or skirt.

The final thing I needed to do was to cut a strip of linen to fill in the centre back which I wanted to cut two separate panels for to make the most of the beautiful embroidered detail along the edges of the table cloth. I hemmed the top and bottom of this little infill, overlocked the long raw edges then topstitched it in place between the panels 3" up from the hem again. The infill finishes about 5" down from the neckline creating a sort of keyhole opening which fastens with a button at the nape.

I'm really enjoying the combination of the modern cut of the top constructed with the more traditional embroidery. The weighty beautiful vintage linen turned out perfect for this style of top as it holds the structure nicely. I did have some scraps of white linen left over from my Wrap Top to use for the centre back and side panels but I actually only used it for the bias facing in the end.

I'm so proud of myself for embracing this creative challenge and can't thank Portia enough for encouraging me to try something a little different. It has really pushed my creativity and construction knowledge and proved that I can do more than I think with my sewing. I'll definitely be looking at textiles differently in future and will make an effort to incorporate more refashioning into my sewing practice. I even feel like I might have the confidence to move on to something a little more challenging next time!

Fibre Mood Mira Dress in Fabric Godmother Viscose Print

If asked if I usually start a project with the pattern or the fabric I'd say pattern 90% of the time. I don't often buy fabric without a specific garment in mind but this is one of those fabrics I just couldn't resist and ended up on a hunt for the perfect pattern to pair it with. Viscose is one of my absolute favourite fabrics to sew with and wear. It is comfortable, breathable, drapes beautifully and is not too fancy to wear day to day. Whenever I see it in a wearable print I love I snap it up. I had a little preview of the new additions to Fabric Godmother's range of reproduction vintage prints at a trade show earlier this year and fell head over heels in love with this one. My obsession must have been obvious as Josie offered to send me some to sew up when the new designs were released.

This is the Jackie print in pink on a viscose lawn base. There are a variety of bases in the range; all viscose but some weaves are heavier than others and therefore have a slightly different feel and body. The lawn is definitely on the lighter weight end of things and has the tight fine weave you would expect from a quality cotton lawn. This tight weave gives it the most exquisite smooth hand and slightly buttery finish that feels so luxurious and cool against the skin. It is so fine and delicate that it is slightly sheer and you do need to be careful of it stretching out of shape as you sew, particularly around the neckline which I added stay stitching to. To stop things shifting out of shape when cutting I used lots of fine entomology pins (mine are from Merchant & Mills) to keep the pattern pieces in place without ruining it with big holes. You could use a rotary cutter and weights to keep the fabric in place and flat to the table but I feel like I get more control and a more accurate cut when using pins and good shears.

For reference I pre-washed this fabric on a 30 degree delicate cycle in the machine, which is how I treat all viscose. Washing hasn't altered the hand or finish of the fabric at all and the colours are just as rich. I used a medium heat steamy iron which worked really well.

When the fabric arrived I had remembered the colours being slightly fresher and more vibrant than they are in reality. But I'm actually really glad they're not as in my opinion that makes this print so much more versatile. The more muted colours feel right for all seasons and definitely have a more vintage feel. What drew me to this print initially is that it clearly brings 1930s/40s tea dresses to mind yet has a really contemporary vibe to it as well because of the bold floral motif and use of black. Despite being pinkie doesn't feel girly or twee; just my kind of floral. After doing a bit of research into colour theory earlier this year I've discovered that warmer, autumnal hues suit me much better then fresh, cool pastels. At first I thought this meant pink was not a good choice for me but THIS muted dusky pink has a definite warmth to it which really works. Especially with that red dotted through.

I toyed with lots of pattern ideas for this fabric, I wanted something which would literally drape me in the fabric and billow around as I moved to show the fabric off at it's best. I considered a Wilder Gown, Hannah Dress and Ravine Dress before remembering that the Mira Dress from Fibre Mood Magazine had been on my to-make list for a long time. It is a fairly simple style with a neat, sleeved, empire line bodice and voluminous gathered skirt. I think these fairly non fussy styles without too many finicky details are always a good choice when working with a bold print. The fabric is the star of the show.

This fabric was calling to me to be turned into something dramatic and while the flare of Mira has some element of romantic drama I decided to add to it by adding a third gathered tier to the skirt and make it midi length. Whilst this beautiful breezy style is perfect for the warmer months I can absolutely see me layering this up and wearing it with tights and ankle boots in the autumn/winter. The existing bottom tier of the skirt uses two panels of the full width of your fabric and whilst I could have made an even wider tier out of three panels I felt the two panel version was about as full as I wanted to go. So I my third tier is actually inserted between the existing two and the panels are halfway between the top and bottom tier sizes. I added the height of all the panels and bodice together and measured to see where this length would hit on me. I felt I could do with it being a little longer so added 2" to my new skirt tier.

The dress is quite straightforward to construct; it is essentially a simple dart-less bodice which has a key hole opening at the centre back neckline, fastening with a hook and eye and a skirt formed of gathered rectangles. It would be quite a speedy project if it wasn't for all that endless gathering! I think gathering is my least favourite sewing technique. I think I'll probably revisit this pattern again as the simple construction leaves a lot of room to play around with different necklines, sleeves and even skirt styles.

Using a bias tape facing is fast becoming my favourite way to finish a neckline and I really liked how the instructions for this dress easily achieve a clean finish at the centre back opening. The technique also has you under-stitch the bias tape before you turn it to the wrong side which I always think produces the tidiest finish you can get. I was so pleased with how this turned out I decided to add one of my precious Kylie and the Machine labels!

The most annoying thing that happened while making this dress was that I realised half way through cutting that seam allowances aren't included. They need to be added to your pattern pieces and the seam allowances are slightly different widths in different places on the pattern so that takes a bit of time to figure out and do. I jumped straight in without checking the seam allowances as when I made the Fibre Mood Jasmin Trousers recently they were included (and marked) on the pattern pieces. Mira was in an issue of the magazine released a good while back and I was sent it ahead of release so perhaps Fibre Mood have changed how they do seam allowances since then. I decided that the lack of seam allowance didn't really matter with the skirt pieces as they would just be very fractionally less gathered up and luckily I had only cut the back of the bodice and had enough fabric left to re-cut it. It also gave me another whirl at pattern matching the centre back seam which still isn't quite perfect but I'm happy enough!

I wrote in my Jasmin Trousers post that it was quite tricky to differentiate between some of the markings for different sizes on the pattern pieces and have since been informed that if you use Adobe Acrobat Reader to print your PDF you can use the layers function to print only the size(s) you need. So much easier!

I had 3m of fabric which was plenty for this dress in the size 38. At 142cm wide it was JUST wide enough to fit the bottom tier skirt panels on. The size 38 is bang on my bust measurement. This particular pattern only includes bust and height measurement as really the only area that needs to fit well is the upper chest and shoulders. I'm quite pleased with the fit in this area but for some reason I expected it to fit a little neater under the arm the flare out. The cut of sleeve feels like it should fit into an armhole which sits closer to the body and I feel like I could have got away with using my pieces which didn't have seam allowance after all. I think it is just a new shape for me that will take a bit of getting used to! Overall I think Fibre Mood have got the oversized, bohemian feel of this just right. Being petite I find it easy to feel overwhelmed in these diaphanous styles with lots of fabric. I think keeping the sleeves reasonably slim and unfussy like these really helps to balance out the volume of the body.

Having no shape though the waist is a departure from my usual style and I considered adding ties at the empire waistline like I did with my Myosotis Dresses but now I've worn this about the house a little I'm really starting to enjoy the effortless, relaxed style of this design. I think a super lightweight diaphanous fabric like this is the perfect match for this pattern. I'm looking forward to the warmer temperatures next week so I can waft about in this and my handmade sandals!

Haptic Lab Constellation Quilt

It's finally finished!! This is the DIY Constellation Quilt from Haptic Lab and it has to be my longest WIP to date. My mum bought it for me more than three years ago. It hasn't taken me this long through lack of enjoyment but more being overwhelmed by other projects to complete in the mean time. Speedier projects seem to feel much more urgent than this slow paced labour of love. I made good progress when I first began it years ago then work got busy and it languished in a corner. A week on the sofa with a sprained ankle a year later saw another burst of progress but work ground to a halt when all I had left was the Milky Way of hundreds of french knots. I haven't done a huge amount of embroidery but have always enjoyed a bit of cross stitch and french knots were my nemesis. I couldn't muster up the enthusiasm to pick this quilt back up when all that was left waiting for me was hours of french knotting but lockdown gave me the final kick up the bum I needed. I've absolutely conquered my fear of the french knot and dare I say I even enjoyed them!

This is actually the second Haptic Lab quilt I have completed as I made the New York map quilt for my sister about 5 years ago. I was really pleased with how that one turned out but definitely feel like I have 'levelled up' my hand quilting this time around. I think my stitching is a lot neater and more accurate and I managed to keep the back reasonably neat and tidy too. I'm really proud of it and am actually quite inspired to start another one! They have kits for maps of lots of different cities (mainly US and Canada but London and Paris too) plus a map of the world. I've just seen that they are now offering print-at-home versions which is very tempting! As well as the DIY kits they sell completed quilts and I'm really in love with the National Parks quilts. Fingers crossed they might bring those out in a DIY version.

The DIY kit is essentially a map of the quilt printed on to tear-away paper. You layer up your backing fabric, batting and top fabric and lay the tissue out on top. Then you safety pin through all the layers at various points and you are ready to sew. You sew straight through the tissue and tear it away at the end. So satisfying! The sewing instructions are limited and quite vague so I made my own decisions about techniques to use on different lines. It might look like quite a daunting project but actually once you've got your stitches figured out are quite straightforward and therapeutic to work on. I've really enjoyed whiling away some of the lockdown hours in front of some mindless TV with this on my lap. They certainly do take up some hours though. A couple of people have asked me how many hours I have put in to this and I've really got no idea! I'd love to know so if I do another one I'll have to keep a record. This is the regular size quilt by the way. They also do a large size but I feel like the regular is a nice manageable size to sew.

As I noted when I made the New York quilt, there is so much room for creativity when sewing these up. To start with you can have a lot of fun when picking the colour combination of fabric and thread and you can also use different colours and types of thread in different areas. I like that for the map quilts the Haptic Lab team suggest getting creative and marking on personal landmarks like relative's houses or buildings in the city which mean something to you. For this quilt I stuck with a classic starry night look though and I also opted to leave off the constellation names. Check out Jasika’s version of this quilt though! Her colour choices make it so entirely different.

I started this such a long time ago that I can't remember where I got all the various materials now but the front is a fairly fine deep navy cotton sateen. I love that it has a slight sheen to it and the intense colour which seems so right for a night sky. The back is a quilting cotton in a slightly different blue and I used the same batting as last time - Hobbs Heirloom Premium Cotton Quilt Batting. I would really recommend it as a good thickness for hand quilting. I had a shop bought binding squirrelled away for the edge which I'm really pleased with the colour of. If you want to do the same you'll need to make sure it is at least 4cm wide when folded out flat to give you a decent width of bound edge.

For the construction lines I used a Gutermann 100% cotton hand quilting thread in navy. For the majority of them I did a simple running stitch but for thicker circle running around the stars I used two strands of the thread and a backstitch to make it denser. For the constellations I chose a metallic silver DMC embroidery thread. I love the effect of this but it did have a tendency to get tangled up more than non metallic threads. This was not going to be fun at all for all those french knots so for the Milky Way I used a pearly white regular embroidery thread. I chose to only take the navy stitching through to the back side of the quilt. Although one or two silver and white stitches have made their way back there too! The more I sewed the better I got at avoiding mistakes like this.

I've got a big embroidery hoop but found it got in the way a bit when I was doing the constellations themselves as you quite quickly cover a fair bit of distance and find yourself at the edge of the hoop. Having to move it every five minutes was a bit of a pain so some times I opted to do without. Probably very naughty of me but I found it a lot easier this way! The hoop was absolutely invaluable when doing the french knots though as they are so much easier to manage on a nice taut surface.

To bind the edges I followed this tutorial although there are lots of almost identical tutorials online. it is very straightforward to do and achieves a lovely neat finish with mitred corners. You stitch the binding on by machine when attaching it to the front and for this I used my walking foot to avoid the layers of the quilt being stretched out unevenly as I sewed. Once attached to the front you fold it over the raw edge to the rear and stitch the folded edge of the binding down by hand. You might think that after all that hand sewing in the quilt itself I would have had enough of it but I actually really enjoyed this part and it was quite speedy to do. Perhaps because it was the most familiar and well practiced technique for me in the whole quilt as it was just like sewing a hem.

This quilt was a learning process and certainly hasn't turned out perfect but I'm delighted with it none the less. When I was finishing up the binding I added a Kylie and the Machine 'imperfect' label. It seemed to fit the bill just right. I love the idea of declaring the imperfections; for me they are a really beautiful thing and what makes this quilt unique. A sign of the effort and love that went into making this with my own two hands.