McCall’s Sasha M8036

It has been a while! It feels good to be back writing about my own passion projects. I think for a while it was so difficult to find time to sew with a toddler and any spare minute I had, I would devote to sewing. But I’ve found a few more minutes to myself  lately so it feels like a good time to blog again. 

The McCall’s SASHA… What can i say? It’s such a beautiful dress pattern. It was released back in 2020 and I think a lot of us were drawn to the cover photo. The pink/red gingham version was just so gorgeous. I’d say this is more of a formal wrap dress style. There’s pleats on the bodice, pleats on the sleeve and not to mention the button up closure; a new take on the usual wrap dress style. 

I absolutely had to make the buttoned up version (View C), there’s no dress pattern like it right? I have many thoughts on this dress after obsessing over @_jacsewandtell ‘s versions for so long, so let’s start this deep dive.

I sewed a size 8 even though my measurements put me at a size 10 – it fit like a glove! As you may know, McCalls sizing runs big. I shortened the bodice by 2cm to get the waist seam to sit nicely on my natural waist. Thankfully my sister and I are almost body doubles so I just took her word and copied her mods.

The pattern is great for bigger busts. I’m a D-cup and there were no drag lines that I usually find with fitted bodices. The reason for this is that there’s a decent amount of ease around the bust because of the pleats. I am really excited when I find patterns with dartless bodices. I mean I CAN sew them but I can’t stand fussing around FBA’s and getting the dart to point precisely to the nipple. 

Okay, maybe this is just a personal fit preference, but the shoulder seams are too wide. The sleeve cap starts about 2cm off the edge of my shoulder. This makes it feel so formal. I’m not a huge fan of pleats on sleeves so I borrowed the dream frock sleeves (pattern by Lydia Naomi) and thought I’d get more wear this way. I also found the left neckline gapes. The neckline facing is cut on straight grain and you interface behind that, so it’s probably just my button positioning.

Now don’t get me wrong, I prefer a modest neckline over a deep cleavage but this feels like a lot of fabric on my chest. The V neckline which is created by the cross over sits a bit higher than other wrap dresses I’ve worn, but I think this is something that will just bug me and my non-sewist friends and family won’t notice.

I cut out the pattern pieces from 2m of 140cm wide fabric – thankfully it’s not too fabric hungry. I went with the buttercup linen from The Fabric Store. It’s a nice shade of yellow which I think would suit most skin tones. Beware with narrow fabrics, it isn’t possible to make this dress because of the quarter circle skirt panel. I had 3m of 112cm fabric and nope, I could not tetris to make it work.

It’s a pretty straight forward sew, i think i made this over 2 afternoons…but it’s a pain when you come to sewing on the buttons. There’s marking for the buttonholes, but it’s guesswork to know where the buttons should go. I anxiously hand-sewed my buttons onto non-reinforced fabric. I ended up adding 2 layers of interfacing behind the buttons for good measure. Side note, how cute are the little flowers? Temu if you’re interested. Also don’t mind the 2 odd yellow buttons…I buy them assorted and have my fingers crossed the next order holds the 2 extra white ones I need🤞🏼

So if you’ve made it this far, thank you so much for listening to my ranting 😅All in all, the Sasha is a beautiful dress that I’m glad I made. It’s a more formal and sophisticated wrap dress that would be great for brunches and day time events. But there are a few little critiques that stop it from being the perfect wrap dress in my eyes. Feel free to comment if you have a TNT wrap dress, I’d love to know! 👇🏼