Tasha Sews

Pattern Review - DIY Apron Hello and Happy Holidays! I am glad to say that I actually managed to squeeze in some un-selfish sewing this Christmas.  Although not the most challenging project I popped out an apron as a gift for one of my mum's close friends. My mum had been procrastinating about making this for her friend for a while and had not gotten round to it. It was the 22nd December and I was scolding my mum for not whipping up this simple gift. In the end to show her how easy and quick this was I said that I would sew it for her. Front View Believe it or not, during by 10 years of sewing I have not sewed a single apron until now!!! I don't know what I was waiting for as this was so easy and a great piece of instant gratification. If you have been following my blog at all or know me in the real world, you will know that I really don't enjoy sewing for other people. Mainly because I like sewing for myself as it is stress/pressure free and becaus

Pattern Review: Mimi G 30 Minute Skirt Tutorial  So good news, my sewing machine is fixed and healthy again.  I collected it on Thursday and was super busy until the weekend so it went untouched for a couple of days.  I had been planning on making this freebie DIY skirt for a while, but hadn't really given too much thought to it. However, I went fabric shopping with my sewing group in Brixton a couple of weeks ago and found this striped jersey in the bargain bin in Simply Fabrics for a mere £2 per metre. In addition, when I saw the beautiful Candice at Sew My Time rocking a striped skirt I knew exactly where this fabric was going.... I ended up getting home much later than expected on Friday night so on Saturday I wasn't in the mood to concentrate and spend more than an hour sewing. To make myself feel productive (after staying in bed until 3pm!!) I popped on the soothing tones of Jill Scott to nurse my headache and sewed this up in no time.  It did t

Pattern Review - New Look 6843 So everyone, I come bearing bad news....my sewing machine is poorly. The bobbin is jamming again, so it is at the repair shop having a service.  However, after some tears (yes folks I cried) and a couple of days feeling rather lost, I vowed not to be defeated and even managed to squeeze out some sewing before the withdrawal symptoms became too much to bear.  I had a lovely invitation from Giselle at  The Crafty Beaded Knitter  to do some sewing one afternoon, even before she knew that my sewing machine was poorly. We spent the afternoon chatting all things sewing and I sewed up view A of this simple skirt - New Look 6843 .  I have named it the 'Mum' skirt because everything, including the pattern  I stole  my mum donated to me. My mum originally sewed up this skirt in a different pattern but wasn't so keen on it, and it ended up in the UFO pile. I asked a couple of times why it was there - as she only had to hem it - and

Pattern Review - Simplicity 2250 Hello all, For the make a garment a month challenge I decided to use my jacket sew-a-long item: Simplicity 2250 . I finished this earlier in the week, but I haven't had a chance to snap and blog about it. Perhaps as well as setting aside the odd 20 minutes here and there for sewing, maybe I should do the same for blogging! As mentioned in my last post, I decided to do this simple jacket for the sew-a-long with my sewing group. The pattern itself is very simple, it is unlined, has 1 piece sleeves and has no tricky features such as a collar or facings. I would recommend this for someone who is looking at trying a jacket or sleeves for the first time. For this project I used a heavy ponte knit fabric that I picked form Goldhawk Road priced at £5.99 per metre. It was easy to sew with and I sewed pretty much everything except the binding on the outer edge with my stretch stitch on the machine. Stretch stitch is cool, but it eats your threa

Hello all, As you may have noticed from my widget button I have joined the 'Make a Garment a Month' challenge or sew along. This was actually one of my 2013 sewing goals so after some deliberation I have joined the challenge! When you work out my average garments sewn per month in the year, I would say that it works out at a garment per month. However, when I look at the my blog archive I am definitely not producing a garment every month. I am hoping that this challenge will ensure that I make sewing part of my every day life. Even if it just selecting my next project, tacking some darts or sewing a hem. This will also make me more likely to stick to this 2013 sewing goal now that I have publicly declared it to the world. (plus if it gets to much I can leave the challenge at any time) Sarah Liz ids facilitating the challenge, and you can find more information here . Here are the basic rules:- 1.   The garment must be for you and not for someone else - this challenge

Pattern Review: Vogue 8725 I am glad that my sewing mojo is back in full swing. It was my uncle's wedding this weekend and I decided to make Vogue 8725 . This is how I styled it for the day.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE this dress! It makes me feel so lovely and feminine, and I really think that it plays my silhouette to its advantage. Plus, despite there being no cleavage on show it make my bust look huge which is great because:- 1. Boobs are awesome 2. It helps balance out my ample hips Most of the dresses I make tend to skim over and flare out at the hips, however, since I had been feeling inspired I decided to try something a bit different. I wanted to get the the fit right (and I knew instantly that this baby would require some size grading) so I made a muslin.  The fit was actually pretty easy as this is a pattern that comes with A,B,C & D cup sizes. This made everything super easy as no FBA was required. I cut a size 14 out on the bodice and graded out t

Pattern Review: Kwik Sew 3844  Another pattern that I had already reviewed, but there are two things about this top that excite me... 1. This fabric was £1 from the bargain bin at Simply Fabrics 2. That my finishing techniques/making the effort to to do them has really improved. For those of you that are not familiar with this pattern this is  Kwik Sew 3844 , reviewed not long ago  here .  In terms of fit, I did nothing except sew this straight out of the envelope, cutting a size medium. As I am using a soft lightweight jersey, the drape is a tad more feminine so I didn't even pinch in the edges. I spotted this fabric in the bargain bin on a Simply Fabrics haul before the summer. I really appreciate a fabric where the pattern is on the bias. It's such a win for me. Although it's not hard to refold your fabric on a 45 degree angle, it really swallows up fabric and spits it back out in unusable pieces which makes me sad.  As mentioned above, I

Pattern Review: Butterick 5770 ...And I have finally sewed something. Again I have been MIA for a couple of months. Whilst thankfully this is not because of a broken camera, but because it has been summertime and here in the UK the weather has been pretty good. I have spent most of the summertime outdoors and generally being a tourist in the city I live in.  This has resulted in a serious lack of sewing mojo. I do blame the sunshine but I must confess this is also due to working on project that did not excite me at all.  This was Butterick 5770: I picked up Butterick 5770 a while ago in the sales and when I found this chiffon priced at £1.65 per metre from Brixton Market I decided to try it out as a wearable muslin.  Note to self: Don't make a muslin out of fabric you have to underline. Seriously, I don't know what I was thinking? Talk about creating extra work! One thing to mention about this pattern is that it is sized pretty large. I cut a s

Pattern Review - Butterick 4443 I wore this last weekend to celebrate my godmother's birthday. It was great to catch-up with family and the weather was fab. I was planning to wear this the following weekend, but my sewing mojo needing relieving and out popped this:- Butterick 4443 is another one pattern where the line drawings and pattern reviews led me to purchase as opposed to the envelope picture. I was attracted to the simple bodice variations, but was worried by the slightly 'mumsy' looking model with the ill fitted gaping neckline..... I feel pretty pleased with how this dress turned out, although I did spend alot of time perfecting the fit. I really shouldn't say 'perfecting' as (of course) I didn't bother to do an FBA. I cut a size 14 - the skirt was full enough at the hips so I didn't have to grade out to a 16. I took approximately 2.5" off the front and back at the waistline, and graded the seams out as they went up t

Pattern Review - Kwik Sew 3844 I have seen a number of lovely tank tops of late and it quickly made me realise that I have a hole in my wardrobe/pattern collection. Although I have sewed  a simple top before  I wanted something more casual. That said, the first thing that I sewed this pattern up in is black lace - not that casual at all.  I had seen this Kwik Sew pattern a couple of times and been a bit stubborn about buying it. I am going to admit my prejudice here. I have previously avoided Kwik Sew patterns like the plague, as I couldn't believe that these patterns are priced higher than the average easy pattern, and at the same time have such terrible models/envelope pictures! However, I  gave in and used my Sew Direct member discount to purchase it at half the price.  I think that it was worth it. It's  really the fabric that steals the show here. This fabric was purchased to make a going out dress (currently on my sewing table).  I purchase

Pattern Review Vogue 8645 ...because I am! This was my second attempt at sewing my dress for my friend's wedding a couple of weeks ago.  When cutting this out I accidently cut the front pieces out too short, so although I abandoned it as a dress I couldn't bear letting this fabric go to waste and sewed it up as a top.  For those of you who don't already know this Vogue pattern (where have you been!?), this has previously been blogged about  here  and  here . Therefore, I actually have nothing new to say about this pattern. I even look bored wearing it.... The fabric is a floral sateen that I picked up in the Christmas Sale from John Lewis. It sewed up fine, although given the thickness of the fabric I almost didn't want to line it. If I were to make this pattern as a top again in the future I would definitely take out some of the fullness, unless I was using a very floaty fabric with a better drape.  When I realised my mistake in cutting th

Pattern Review - Vogue 8645 As I mentioned in my last post I encountered numerous problems sewing a dress to wear to my friends wedding. When I picked up 3 metres of this lovely satin like fabric from Shepherd's Bush market a couple of months ago I had in my mind to sew this lovely Vogue maxi dress pattern.  However, as I was trying to be creative with my cutting out the pieces and trying to stretch the fabric to meet the pattern I sadly cut out the front facing on the wrong side. As time was short rather than try and get creative I popped it aside and decided to go for a quick and easy  Vogue 8645  that I have made  previously.   Of course, I stuffed up cutting this out as well by cutting out the back waayyy too short. And unless I wanted to really push the bootylicious look in perhaps a more literal way I knew that I would have to consider cutting out another dress. As my wedding suitable fabrics were on short supply I went back to my original fabric and managed to sque