I’ve sewn up my second version of the lovely Ashton Top by Helen’s Closet and thought this one justified a blog post just cuz I wanted to share this lovely fabric.

This linen, from the Fabric Store a few year’s ago, is probably one of my all-time favourite fabrics.

I made Megan Nielsen Tania culottes with it and I also made, originally, a matching Ogden Cami. You can read all about those makes in this original blog post.

However, that Ogden Cami was always rather ill fitting and has subsequently become way too tight. Honestly, I feel like the dumbest sewist ever but I am still yet to master the fit of the Ogden Cami on my body. I always get it too big or too small – I feel like it’s the curse of the Ogden!!

So when I was recently diving through my stash and saw that I had enough of this fabric leftover to make up an Ashton top, I was overjoyed!!

Does anyone else always think of sewing from scraps as sewing for free?

The Ashton top is available in a size range catering for a maximum bust and hip measurement of 147.5cm (58″). My Ashton top is a size 12, using the cropped view B.

Modifications to the Ashton top

You can read more about my first Ashton top here.

After my first version, I decided to slightly modify the back neckline by shortening it (by cutting into the neckline near the centre back and slightly overlapping it to remove about a centimetre in length on either side, so about 2cm in total, since it’s cut on the fold). This worked a treat and I’m really happy with the back neck fit now.

Remember to also make the same change to your back neck facing though!

I also lowered the armscye about 1 centimetre. I do still find that the arm sits a little too high on me and I will still want to tweak this one a little more on my next version.

As I’m now pretty sure I will return to the Ashton top on a regular basis!

Hem facing

One of my favourite features of the Ashton top is its optional use of a hem facing. There is something about a hem facing that just feels super luxurious!!

And I feel that it is the perfect finish for linen. It gives the hem a nice bit of heftiness and, most importantly, if the summer heat leaves you with creasy linen belly, there is no chance of an unsightly hem becoming visible if your top starts to turn out a little at the bottom. Instead, only a lovely matching facing will be seen, thus rendering the sweaty creasy linen belly basically impossible.

Ahhhh, what joy!

All in all, not much to say about this one, just wanted to share this little Ashton Top because this combination of me-made garments simply makes me want to spin.

If you want to see more of my sewing adventures, you can find me on Instagram here.