Welcome to my little spot on the map!
Hughes Christmas Photo 2017
I am a vintage lovin’ gal who resides on a Northern California cattle ranch with my husband Brian and our fur kids. In addition to my manic love for sewing and notions hoarding, I’m also addicted to repurposing junk and taking the DIY approach to just about everything. I guess it’s in the genes.
I love to make dresses and wear dresses. I come from a long line of sewists and picked up a needle and thread when I was just a wee lass. I used to reserve sewing for costumes, home dec and making that special occasion dress, but I now sew my own wardrobe and have been since 2011 when I decided that I wanted my everyday style to reflect my inner vision. It is definitely a confidence booster to realize that you can make anything. The idea that I can sew that couture dress or make a replica of a fantastic vintage outfit is utterly AWESOME and when I learned how to grade up patterns to fit my curvy figure, it meant that NOTHING was out of my reach. I am sewing the wardrobe of my dreams one stitch at a time.
In a past life I was an academic who tromped through the Georgia swamps and the South Dakota plains in search of material culture as an anthro-archaeologist. I plan to eventually return to academia when I can figure out what field that will be….. until then, I continue to read, research and apply my knowledge to volunteer causes and independent pursuits.
In addition to sewing and DIY’ing my way through life, I am an itinerant adventurer, a romantic, a history buff, a fact geek, a thrifter, a lover of craft beers, ethnic food and CHEESE, an organic gardener, a sports fan, and I can bake a mean cheesecake. We share our life with our Boston Terrier, Rollie, and Border Collie, Laddie, two Siamese-ish cats, a beautiful black feline, two new kittens(!) (plus four outside ranch cats), which generally means that I spend a lot of time vacuuming, picking up toy stuffing and throwing Frisbees. Oh yes, and I’m a wee bit of fan girl…..
Tanya Maile Hughes
I am also an editor and the web administrator for the Curvy Sewing Collective and post regularly over there as well!
You can contact me at: tanya@tanyamaile.com
Additional note: I am an affiliate for Craftsy, Besame Cosmetics and The Confident Stitch, so links or images pertaining to the aforementioned companies contain affiliate links. These affiliate links help support this blog. I am entirely honest with everything I review or link to and all thoughts are my own.
The Tanya FAQ
- Maile is my middle name. I was named after a flowering vine from Hawaii that is used to make leis.
- I am a Tolkien nerd, a Whovian, a Harry Potter geek and a Star Wars superfan.
- I sew with a disability as I have a marginally rare degenerative eye disease called keratoconus.
- My favorite fabrics:
- Voile (silk/cotton, cotton, bamboo)
- Cotton Batiste
- Cotton Lawn
- Cotton Sateen
- Wool Crepe
- My tried-and-true Patterns:
- Decades Everyday E.S.P. Dress
- Decades of Style Dorothy Lara Dress
- Colette Moneta Dress
- Cashmerette Turner Dress
- My favorite sewing books:
- Bridal Couture by Susan Khalje
- Couture Sewing Techniques by Claire Shaeffer
- The Vogue Sewing Book
- Press/Joint Ventures
