Tasha Sews

Pattern Review: Simplicity 1059 I am out the other side of my huge work event that happened in May and have really been enjoying spending time with my sewing machine :-) I wanted some instant gratification and went with Simplicity 1059  which also happens to be on my 2019MakeNine list.  I went for View B without sleeves (obviously). I cut a size 16 and made minimal changes except to take 3 inches off the hem and bring up the centre front of the bodice. The pattern indicates a very deep hem (2.5") but for instant gratification sake I overlocked the raw edge of the hem, turned it up and zig-zagged to finish. The fabric was bought years ago in during a work trip to Boston. It is an ITY print that is super comfy to wear. The fabric hides all the small details of the dress such as the shoulder pleats, As it is a stretch fabric I omitted the the centre back zip.  This is a really simple pattern that took not time to sew up. The only thing that made me scr...

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: Simplicity 6413 I pulled out a black knit fabric when I initially was looking at fabric for the #MakeYourStash challenge. I had the idea for simple cardigan or wrap top, but I didn't have any patterns that I felt would work best. In the end I went with Simplicity 6413 which has also been in my stash for a while! Hilariously, you can't see any of the details of the fabric in these pictures - so I won't bore you all with too many. It was essentially a diamond textural print which was pretty was sheer, almost like lace. I am pretty sure that I picked it up from Goldhawk Road years ago. I underlined the fabric with some black stretch lining from my stash. In hindsight I wish I had underlined it with a contrast colour. You live and learn.  I cut a size 14 all over. I cut the front on the fold and forgot to take away the additional fabric that would form part of the centre front seam. Therefore the neckline and shoulders are a bit wide for my li...

Pattern Review: Simplicity 8216 When I first tried this pattern a couple of months ago I said that I wanted to make it up in a dress. Fast forward a couple of months and here we have it! Construction wise I did nothing differently from last time. I cut a size 14 all over. The only thing that I would be wary of is the fact that this really is a mini dress! For me it is fine with tights, but a too short to wear bare legged. For those thinking about making the dress I would definitely bear this in mind (FYI - I am 5ft 8" so a couple inches taller than average).  When I first finished the dress, I felt that there was too much blouson happening in the back, but viewing the pictures it is fine. It is super comfy to wear and a great work dress.  The fabric is a polyester that I picked up in the John Lewis sale earlier this year. It was reduced from £14 per metre too £7 per metre which is a bargain. I really love the print of the fabric and how the birds look ...

Pattern Review: Simplicity 8221 I snapped up quite a few Mimi G patterns back last year during a Simplicity sale and Simplicity 8221 has been in my stash waiting for the right fabric.  The fabric used was a stretch linen look denim picked up from John Lewis during the sale for £7 per metre. It cut and sewed so beautifully, that I it did make me remember how easy it is to work with wovens sometimes. Especially after my last chiffon dress here ! I cut a size 16, and I think that it fits pretty well out of the envelope. You can see in the photo below that for next time it would be worth doing a swayback adjustment to get rid of the pooling. The line drawings of the pattern show that there there are fish eye darts in the back. However, there isn't a huge amount of shaping, which I think is why a tie belt has been included.  To tell you the truth, I fell out of love whilst making this dress as I thought that I had made it too small on the hips. I had the rig...

Pattern Review: New Look 6123 & McCalls 3341 I have been wanting a simple v neck dress with an a-line skirt. I looked at purchasing a pattern, but relaised that I pretty much had all of the elements that I wanted in my existing pattern stash. I decided on combining the bodice New Look 6123 and skirt pattern McCalls 3341 . I was lucky as everything lined up really well in terms of the darts. I didn't have to move anything which was a huge bonus! The only thing I changed was to make the bodice a V-neck as I am not a huge fan of a round neck.  The main issue I had with this dress was the fabric. Working with chiffon is not the easiest and this was a polyester chiffon that frayed like anything. I finished all of the seams on my overlocker. This pretty butterfly fabric was super cheap fabric and picked up from one of the fabric shops along Goldhawk Road. If I remember correctly is was only £3 per metre.  I lined the bodice with some stretch blue...

Pattern Review: Vogue 9251 As the #makeyourstash challenge has been happening this May, I cut out a couple of long time stash fabrics to try some new patterns. The first one was Vogue 9251 . This dress ticks 2 boxes as not only is it a  #makeyourstash  dress, but also my 5th  #2018MakeNine  garment. The fabric was purchased at The Great British Sewing Bee Live, which took place in September at the Excel in London.  I was pretty restrained, and only picked up one piece of fabric - this floral polycotton priced at £5 for the whole lot. I was drawn to the floral print, but I hesitated when deciding what to make with it as the flowers are very directional. Whilst snooping my stash I thought that it would be perfect for a muslin for this woven wrap dress! Despite some niggles with the bodice (listed below), I really love the style of this garment. It is flattering for my pear shape, is easy to dress up and down and fits with so many of my other wardrob...

Pattern Review: McCall's 7084  This dress has been a slow burner and feels like it has taken me ages to finish. McCall's 7084  is my 4th #2018MakeNine garment.    One of the reasons this took so long to finish is that is that it has around 20 pieces and to top it off I decided to underline this dress. This lovely floral linen was a post-Christmas bargain from John Lewis in Oxford Street, London. It was initially priced around £18 per metre and I managed to snap up 2.5 metres reduced to £5.50 per metre. I underlined the dress with cotton lining from my stash. I didn't have enough blue lining so some patches are purple!  The linen was only 110cm wide and I didn't have enough fabric for the undercollar and placket facing. So there are some contrast blue parts on the dress. At first I wasn't convinced it would work but I had spent so long cutting out the pieces that I persevered and I quite like it now.  I knew that the princess...

Pattern Review: Vogue 8667 Behold another TNT pattern -  Vogue 8667 . I cut this dress out back in November 2017 but didn't get round to finishing it until January 2018, during some time off between starting my new job.  This is the 4th time I have made this dress! I have always known that I would like to add a wool version to my work wardrobe. The fabric is a wool polyester blend purchased from Classic Textiles on Goldhawk Road, priced at £8 per metre. It has been in my stash for at least two and a half years. It was easy to sew with and I still have a decent sized remnant leftover :-) I don't have too much to add to my previous reviews. I cut a size 14 for the bodice and used my self drafted A-line skirt instead of the pleated version and I fully lined the dress with some black lining from my stash. I was glad to get this dress finished and off my dressmakers dummy.  This dress is perfect for the colder weather that we are still experiencing...

Pattern Review: New Look 6392 This January I changed jobs! However, in my last role the company held a gala dinner in October and last minute I decided to make my dress. I wanted something that would be simple to sew but glamourous. I peered through my stash and decided to pair New Look 6392 with this fabric picked up in Boston in 2014! I didn't get a chance to snap any photos on the night and it has been so cold that I have had to resort to indoor photos. But anyway, back to the review! The lines of the dress are really simple. It is a darted bodice with a pleated skirt. I was initially worried that the pleats would add too much action to the bum, but I feel it works with the structural drape of the fabric.  I cut a size 14 all over and am pretty pleased with the fit. I didn't have time to do a muslin and I know that for next time I will reduce the width of the shoulders as it is a tad wide for me. You can see this in the photo above where the neckline gape...

Pattern Review: Vogue 8870 Summer is now well long gone here in London. However, I am sure that you are relieved as this year I have made so many summer versions of Vogue 8870. Here is the final one and I promise I will keep this review short and sweet! This iteration was a wearable muslin to see if I could get away with drafting it as sway dress with no waist definition. I have tried sway dresses countless times and yet I never learn my lesson. With my shape a loose dress looked terrible so I hacked it in two and popped in some waist elastic like the original version suggested. You can still see the slight pooling from my swayback, but because of of the blouson style it isn't too noticeable. The fabric is some poly viscose that I purchased from Dalston Market. It was ridiculously cheap which is why I picked it for a wearable muslin.  I don't have too much else to cover in this review that I haven't covered in these reviews here.  It has ended up ...

Pattern Review: Simplicity 6301 As some of you may know I started a new job at the end of March which also happened to be the beginning of the organisation's peak event times. I haven't had too much time to sew, but we had a launch event and I decided last minute to make a dress for the occasion. I have made Simplicity 6301 twice before here and here , so I knew that this would be a quick make. The star of this version is the fabric. This is a border print fabric that I picked up during my holiday in New York City in mid May. We met up with some family during our stay and went for a mothers day brunch and after headed to Belmont Avenue for some fabric.  This ITY knit was a bargain at $4 per yard. It is actually a border print so it was a bit tricky to squeeze out all of the pattern pieces. I ended up having to cut the neck and arm bands out of the black border, but I think that it ended up being a nice detail. I was worried that the lack of fabric wou...

Pattern Review: New Look 6123 At the end of January I had a work trip to Singapore. I was very pleased that I was very restrained and only bought one piece of fabric from Chinatown priced at $8SD per yard. It is a printed polycotton/viscose and I knew that I wanted it to be a feminine dress.  After a lot of deliberation I went with New Look 6123. I have actually made this twice before  here  and  here  both in a ponte knit. I love the gathered bodice on this pattern but knew that the skirt wouldn't suit me in a woven, so I added my self-drafted dress skirt which I have used  here  and  here ! This pattern is designed to be unlined. I knew that I wanted to line this bodice so I followed  this  helpful tutorial and it worked out ok after a little bit of head scratching. I lined the fabric with some blue stretch lining from either Walthamstow or Brixton (standard suppliers for stretch lining for me!) I cut a generous ...

Pattern Review: Simplicity 8084 Shirtdresses have been all the rage this past year and I have taken the plunge and jumped on the bandwagon. When Simplicity Patterns were on sale this summer I snapped up Mimi G's Shirtdress pattern .  I cut a size 14 for this dress. I added an inch to the length, but other than that I made no fit alternations. However I really struggled for the placket to lie correctly. Every time I stitched it, it ended up twisted and didn't sit right. In the end I recut the placket. The same thing happened, but not as badly. I wondered if it has something to do with the grain of the fabric? I also had to re-cut the collar to be larger as I found it ended up being too small.  I am glad that I persevered as I love the style of this dress. With the blouson effect and waist tie, you don't have to worry about the fit and you still get good waist definition. As this dress is unlined I french seamed the sides and used bias binding  to on the ...