Fabriclore Collaboration - 1 Ashton Top by Helen's Closet Patterns

In this post, I will talk about this new blog series in collaboration with Fabriclore and sewing the Ashton top

The Blog Series

This blog series is aimed at inspiring people to sew your own garments. I do not teach how to use a sewing machine, so this is for people who already know how to use one. I introduce you to Indie sewing patterns and some free resources to help you start sewing garments. Most of these resources are what I used to teach myself. Importantly, this is a way to showcase the lovely Fabriclore collection as unique garments that are hand sewn. I love the idea of taking indie sewing patterns and making them in Indian textiles.

The India that I knew growing up does not sew at home. Almost every neighborhood has a tailor's shop where they make made to measure garments. But the kind of garments usually made are limiting. Most people have made to measure blouses done to wear with their sarees. We also get kurthas or tunics and rarely skirts and pants made.

These garments are not made from any pattern per se, the tailor is skilled at cutting the fabric with just the client's measurements. Since the designs are pretty straight forward, the fitting would be pretty simple. With the fast fashion industry also setting up shops in India, the need for these tailors are also dwindling.

There are some. very exclusive designers that will make different styles of garments for a customer, but they are few and far between and not financially accessible for a large part of the population.

India is hugely growing economy. It has the largest population of young people in the whole world. This emerging generation is immersed in social media and have access to information like no other previous generation. This already lifts several barriers. I would like to inspire this generation of people to make their own garments, explore their own style through sewing and introduce sustainable and stylish wardrobe choices. Through this blog series, we hope we can reach them and give them access to information that they may not know exists.

The series will be 3 blog posts per month for 3 months to begin with. Depending on feedback and interest, we could decide to continue. I plan to start the series with some very simple patterns and we can increase the complexity of the pattern and fitting as we go along. I also plan to hack the patterns to show you how you can get more out of the same pattern and also introduce you to a vast resource of free patterns to play with.

The Ashton Top

For the first post, I chose the Ashton Top by Helen's Closet Pattern

I absolutely love Helen's patterns. Her esthetics are simple and elegant and fits well with everyday wear. Her sleeveless ashton top is perfect for beginners and for someone who has made garments before. The techniques she uses can up your game or teach you something new.

More importantly, Helen's instructions for the pattern is perfect for this blog series. Her instructions break down every step into simple smaller steps with amazing explanations that anyone can sew this garment. It is almost like Helen is sitting next to you teaching you. When I first started sewing, this is what really drew me to Helen's patterns.

When I reached out to Helen about using her pattern for this blog series, she has generously given all Fabriclore customers a 20% discount code on the Ashton top pattern. USE CODE fabriclore2021ashton during checkout at the Helen’s Closet website. This code will be valid for both the Ashton top and the sleeve expansion pack. The code is valid until May 31st, 2021.

You will need to purchase this pattern to make this top.

All details of sizing, fitting and sewing the Ashton top is posted on the Fabriclore blog page.

I chose to make this pattern with this lovely Ikat fabric. Check out all their ikat fabrics. This fabric is light with some structure so the A-line of the top looks gorgeous. This fabric would look great for so many different garments too. I highly recommend that you try it out.

Sewing the Ashton

The pattern gives you 2 different ways to finish the armhole and the neckline. You can chose between a bias binding method or sewing a fully enclosed facing. I chose to use the bias binding method and recommend it first for beginners. If you love a challenge, try the enclosed facing!

I chose to make the cropped version and cut out a size 6.

Techniques you will learn

If you make this garment you will learn to

1. Sew french seams

2. finish neckline and armhole using bias binding or an enclosed facing.

3. Attaching a hem-band

Get Inspired

The Ashton is such a lovely and easy pattern. It is also a great scrap busting project because the yardage is pretty minimal. I leave you here with more pictures to inspire you.