Tasha Sews

Pattern Review: Simplicity 1872 & Butterick 5744 I have finally got my sewjo back! It was the beginning of January when I posted my last garment. I started this dress back in 2018, but have only just finished it.  This dress is a frankenpattern of  the bodice of Simplicity 1872 and the skirt from Butterick 5744, both are patterns that I have made previously. I wanted a simple silhouette and dress for this lovely floral printed chiffon.  I initially decided to wear this dress with no elastic in the waist but it felt way too sack like for me, so I decided to pop in some elastic and it worked really well. A good amount of waist definition and yet the skirt is still floaty.  The chiffon fabric was a gift from Alex during her first visit to New York around three years ago, and not long after we met! It was pretty difficult to work with as it frayed like crazy but was worth it! I overlocked all of the edges and underlined it with a mustard orange lin...

Pattern Review: Butterick 5744 The last half of 2016 saw me out of action due a bad shoulder and neck problems. After spending a small fortune on osteopath appointments and improving my posture I am now able to sew for short bursts. I decided that my next project should be something with minimal hand sewing and Butterick 5744 fit the bill perfectly.  I made this ages ago here in a ponte knit fabric and have been curious to see how it would work in a woven. The fabric is some poly rayon blend that I picked up at a London market some time ago. I knew that for a woven version my fabric would have to have a good drape. I lined this with some stretch lining that I picked up somewhere in Walthamstow for £1 per metre.  I made minimal adjustments this time. I graded in an inch to the top and bottom of the front bodice pieces and that was it. I cut a size 14 and took off and inch from the bodice sides. I remember from the last time that the bodice comes with a la...

I started sewing Butterick 5744 way back in January. However, when I came to attach the skirt to the bodice it looked terrible. There was too much fabric going on in the bodice and the position of the elastic made me look frumpy.  After making various hacks here and there I still wasn't convinced. Generally my wadders go straight in the bin as I can't stand the sight of them. As I had spent so much time on the bodice I decided to just hem it and give it to the charity shop and popped it in my sewing basket for a task at a later date. However, last week I was clearing out my sewing area and I tried this dress on again and I actually quite liked it. I hemmed it and now I have a perfectly fine new dress! I have a really lovely RTW sheer dress which is very similar in style and I absolutely love it. When this pattern came out I knew that I wanted to try it. I decided on the skirt of view A and the bodice of view B.  I initially cut out a size 14, but I really shou...