Tasha Sews

Pattern Review: Simplicity 1370 This pattern has appeared so many times on the blog! It is a great pattern to use up fabric remnants. This fabric was stolen and used originally for a midi skirt . I had enough left to squeeze out a mini skirt! I really don't have anything else to say about this pattern. For those new to the blog I cut a size 16. I underlined the linen with some cotton lining from my stash. I omitted the waistband due to fabric constraints and used bias binding to finish the waistband and hem.  The print is really fun and goes with my standard black accessories. It will also work in the winter with boots and tights which is always a win! Expect more of these on the blog until I find another TNT remnant busting pattern! This is the end of my backlog of summer sewing patterns. Time for some Autumn/Winter sewing. In the meantime you can view my Pattern Review here .  What are your preferred remnant busting patterns? 

Pattern Review: Simplicity 1370 Who doesn't need a denim mini in their wardrobe? I do have this one here  which I made a couple of years ago. However, a dark blue denim mini was just what I needed. This is Simplicity 1370  and I decided to make the most uninteresting view. I sewed a 16 with no alterations to the fit. I sewed french seams as this skirt pattern is unlined and omitted the waistband. I used bias binding to finish the waist and hem. The only other change was to use an 8" zipper (I find the 7" zippers that they suggest too short), and I used an invisible zipper as I prefer the finish to a lapped zipper. If I were to make this again I would think about adding an inch or two to the length as it is quite short on me.  The fabric is left over from my vintage peplum dress . I bought 3 metres of stretch denim for only €10. It is so easy to sew with, if I am in Paris any time soon I am definitely going to purchase some more for my ever increasi...

Pattern Review: Simplicity 1322 The past month has been busy at work and with a bit of travel. However I am pleased to say that I have been squeezing in a bit of sewing here and there. Some of which has been  Simplicity 1322.   I purchased this pattern during a recent Simplicity sale and decided to make a wearable muslin from some fabric in my stash. Some faithful blog followers may recognise this cotton from my  first ever blog post!   This skirt is a perfect little stash buster as it only uses 80cm of fabric. This cotton print was originally purchased form Fabricland for around £4 per metre and I underlined it with a blue polycotton from my stash, picked up for £1 per metre from good old Brixton Market. Other than the underlining, I didn't really make any changes. I changed the construction order as per the pattern instructions as I used an invisible zipper in the back rather than a lapped zipper. Therefore I sewed the front to the back pieces and th...

Pattern Review: McCall's 3341 Firstly, some breaking news which is that I am currently featured on Pattern Review as their Member in Focus. You can check out my interview here. As promised, here is my second stash busting mini. For this skirt I used McCall's 3341  and went with View E. I have made this before in my pre-blogging days, also to use up a remnant of leftover fabric. This is a simple a-line skirt with darts in the front and back and is a pattern that I stole from my Mum's stash years ago. I cut a size 16 and sewed this straight out of the envelope. The only (lazy) change I made was to omit the waist band. I am trying to demonstrate with my above pose how the skirt is designed to sit just above your natural waist. I always find this quite strange in patterns, as so few RTW clothes have this feature. I'm sure that I have seen a tutorial somewhere (maybe Threads?) on how to lower the waistline of a pattern, but as I was doing some stash-busting/insta...

As you may have read previously, my sewing group held a 1 metre stash busting sew-a-long. I made Simplicity 1884 for the challenge. The sew-a-long inspired me to have another look at the remnants in my stash to see if I could use them for some quick instant gratification projects.  I had (just) enough fabric to create a mini skirt using Mimi G's pencil skirt tutorial . I have made this previously here and it's a definite go-to garment in my wardrobe.  For this simple skirt I used the remnants from Vogue 8827 . This is a ponte knit purchased from good old Simply Fabrics in Brixton, priced at £3 per metre.  As you can see in the photo above the skirt has two side seams, rather than one seam at the back. This is because I didn't have enough fabric to cut this on the fold. The skirt ended up being shorter than I initially planned as I the fabric is a one-way stretch which meant that I was further restricted by the amount of usable fabric.  A...

Pattern Review: Vogue 8711 My sewing group ran a skirt sew-a-long through February and March. I picked an oldie but a goody, Vogue 8711 . I absolutely love this pattern and have made it twice before, once in my blogging lifetime here . You might recognise this fabric from my last tank top  but for those of you not up to speed, this jersey was purchased from Simply Fabrics in Brixton priced at £2 per metre.  I sewed this straight out of the envelope, cutting a size 16. The only minor alteration was that I reduced the waist elastic to ensure that waistband was snug enough.  This fabric is thinner than the jersey that I used for my last skirt so it definitely falls differently. This fabric clings less, which isn't a good or bad thing, just different. I have one other confession to make which is that I didn't trim the seams back enough when sewing this. The lovely Giselle  photographed this for me a couple of weeks ago, but when I looked a...

Pattern Review - Vogue 8711 So it seems as though I have been MIA these past couple of weeks. The reason for this is silly - I broke my camera on a hen-night out. So although I have been sewing I have not been able to upload any suitable proof of this! As I was visiting the folks this weekend I forced  asked my mum to take a couple of snaps of Vogue 8711  before heading out for my cousin's birthday drinks. I have made this skirt previously (view D) in my pre-blogging days as a skirt for work in black jersey, but I have been dying to make this again with the contrast panels.  I'm not sure about other sewers out there, but I generally find skirt patterns really underwhelming, so when I first saw this one a couple of years ago I had to jump on it! I absolutely love the fit and style of this skirt and think that it flatters most shapes. It creates such a feminine silhouette either enhancing your god given curves (have you guys seen the stunning Mimi G rock...

Pattern Review - Vogue 1247 Skirt I have needed a black miniskirt in my wardrobe for ages and this  pattern fitted the bill. This pattern is actually easy, as some of you know sometimes an 'Easy' Vogue is far from it. I used a lightweight stretch denim purchased from Fabricland. The skirt was completed one leisurely Monday afternoon/evening and came together very easily. I omitted the pockets and went without the waistband and just finished it with binding. I really like the shape of the skirt and I like the instructions to finish the inside seams with bias binding - I think it looks neat - it both senses of the word. Inside View  You can see my review on Pattern Review here.  I currently have Simplicity 1872 on the sewing table. Hoping to finish this over the next week or so . I am still on a sewing high following my recent pattern and fabric purchases!