Tasha Sews

Pattern Review: New Look 6301 I am back with yet another wrap dress. This is my second iteration of New Look 6301 . I can't get enough of wrap dresses. They are so comfortable and easy to wear. This will be number 4 on my blog! Here are the links to dress 1 , dress 2 and dress 3 .  I don't have too much to add that I didn't blog about in my last wrap dress post . One thing that I did notice is that as this fabric has much more stretch I did find that the bodice is a tad larger than last time. However it is not noticeable with the busy print and still fits well.  I knew that I would definitely be rotating this in the work wardrobe so I only removed 3 inches off the skirt hemline this time. This will be a transitional dress so I am looking forward to pairing this with tights and a black cardigan in the Autumn months.  This fabric was purchased from  Karstadt in Rosenheim outside of Munich in Germany. I was visiting a friend over New...

Pattern Review: McCall's 6744 The Summer sewing continues, this time with the maxi dress version of McCall's 6744 . I did attempt to make this version of the pattern before here  but I ended up having to cut the skirt down. I have been wanting to have another go and finally got around to it as part of my sewing group's Summer Sew-a-Long.  This time I managed to cut everything out correctly as I had plenty of fabric. This fabric is an ITY knit from Saeed's Fabrics in Walthamstow. I can't remember how much I paid for it, but I think it was around £4-£6 per metre. It washed and sewed perfectly. In fact I rarely have any problems handling ITY knits.  I made very minor alterations to this. I remembered that the bodice had a large amount of ease last time so I cut a small and graded out to a medium on the hips. I graded in 1" in length on the bottom of the bust which I count as my lazy FBA. Lastly I added a couple of inches on the bottom so I co...

Pattern Review: Flo-Jo Boutique Eye Mask Making Kit Despite having lots of dresses cut out and on my sewing table I didn't have much in the way of hand-stitching to take along to this month's sewing group meetup. This inspired me to sew up the Flo-Jo Boutique eye mask making kit  and did this in two leisurely hours whilst chatting and drinking tea! The kit comes with everything you need except scissors. This includes fabric, pattern, instructions, pins, needle and thread. The instructions are very easy to follow and everything is sewn by hand, no need at all for a sewing machine. My only (and extremely trivial) dislike was that I felt the needle provided was too large for the types of fabric being used. Anyone with any sewing supplies will be able to substitute this, but I did feel that the needle was really quite thick.  Image courtesy of Flo-jo Boutique I am delighted with how this turned out. I use eye masks all the time at home, and especially when I...

Pattern Review - New Look 6459  I am back with another project. This one is pretty belated as I made this dress for a sew-a-long with my sewing group back in April. The theme was to use a fabric that had been in your stash for way too long.  I picked this cotton that has been in my stash for around 5 years. I purchased this on holiday in France from  Toto Fabrics  in Poitiers at the price of 5 euros per metre and I lined this dress with lining from Simply Fabrics priced at £1 per metre.  I decided on a simple dress - New Look 6459 (now out of print). I made this over ten years ago and knew that I would have to tweak the fit. I cut a size 14 and added 1" to the top of the bust for modesty and added 1 cm to the bottom of the bust. I have to say I don't love the fit. It is a bit snug across the bust and I still think that it could do with a tad more length. The hips are a bit tight too so I would grade out to a size 16 on the hips next...

Pattern Review: New Look 6346 I am getting on well with my Summer Sewing plans! A couple of weeks ago I sewed up this simple midi length skirt pattern - New Look 6346 . Initially this skirt pattern passed me by. Looking at the  pattern envelope  I found the skirt was too wide. However when I saw  Mimi G's version  of the midi skirt I knew that I wanted to try it.  I cut a generous size 16 and sewed this straight out of the envelope. I was worried that the skirt would be too wide but actually I think it is perfect as it is. One thing that I would say is that fabric choice is critical. This would not have worked for me if I had picked a stiffer fabric. I french seamed this as I didn't line it and didn't want the fabric to fray. I didn't have enough fabric to pattern match this, but looking at the photos I don't think that this matters too much.  The fabric is viscose poly cotton blend. I can't remember where I purchased this from bu...

Pattern Review: New Look 6301 I am addicted to floral prints! I would say a good 85% of my stash is made up of floral print fabrics. Following on from my last two garments (blogged here and here ) I decided to stick with the current  floral theme and sewed up this  New Look mock wrap dress .  My sewing group are currently running a Summer garment sew-a-long and I thought that a this floral fabric would fit the bill. I did sew it knowing that Autumn/Winter time this will be paired with a cardigan, tights and boots so I am really classing it as a transitional item :-) I cut a size 14 for this dress. For the top of front bodice pieces (i.e. the cleavage) I cut the size 18 lines as I knew that I would want a little extra coverage. This worked perfectly and means it is work appropriate without a camisole underneath - win!  I changed the construction process slightly for the bodice. I attached the front to the back at the shoulders first so t...

Pattern Review: Palazzo Pants Tutorial by Pinkchocolatebreak Hello!  Well my sewing mojo is well and truly back as here I am with another pattern review. This time with a DIY Palazzo Pants tutorial.  I have a pair of super comfortable RTW pajamas that are like this and they are so great to lounge around the house with (in fact I rarely wear them to bed!) that I have been on the lookout for a Palazzo Pants tutorial. The tutorial says that they take 20 minutes. I am a slow seamstress so it took me 1.5 hours at a very leisurely pace from start to finish.  There are a number of tutorials online but the one that I went with is by Pinkchocolatebreak . You need an existing pair of pajamas or pants to do this. I used a pair of slim legged tracksuit bottoms rather than pajamas and it worked out fine. I ended up having to take an inch in at the waist but other than that I had no other alterations. I didn't do any finishing on my seams as I was testing this t...