Tasha Sews

Pattern Review: Butterick 5454 This months theme was to try something new. I totally went against this and sewed up another wrap dress.  And no, your eyes are not deceiving you, I am indeed wearing a dress with sleeves! When I sewed up this version  here  one of my colleagues at work mentioned that it would look nice with sleeves, so I decided to give it a try.  This ITY knit from my stash was purchased back in June at Vogue Fabrics in Chicago. It was on sale for $2.99 per yard. It sewed up beautifully. I cut a 14 and made no changes except to add in a bit more boob coverage in the bodice. I am wearing a black strap top under this, but mostly for warmth as it has been pretty cold here in London.  I don't have too much else to say except that I LOVE this version. Who knows, maybe 2015 will be the year I sew up lots of sleeved dresses.  You can see my pattern review here.   I am still deciding what to sew for February. I h...

I am finally back in the UK! I had a mammoth bout of travelling with two work trips either side of my fab holiday in Melbourne. As I was not able to do any sewing I filled some of my time with fabric shopping.  I spent just under a week in the lovely city of Cape Town. I picked up a couple of Ankara wax prints at a market in the city. To be honest the prints were probably not much cheaper than I would buy in London as I was at such a touristy market, but I really like them and they are such a fun souvenir of the city.  These next two fabrics were purchased at a fabric shop just outside the city centre on a street with a variety of fabric shops, a mix of dress and upholstery fabrics.   After Cape Town I headed to Melbourne for three and a half weeks. My first stop was at  Darn Cheap Fabrics  where I snapped up these fun fabrics. When in Melbourne I was also lucky enough to stop into Spotlight  which had...

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...