September is here

 September has come and I was excited for the Self-Stitched-September. I wore my hand made outfit on September 1st  and took photo, but when I turn my laptop on to upload my photos, I realized that the internet was down, and it was like that the whole day. And the day after . And again the following day. So, unfortunately I missed the first few days of this challenge!
Finally today, we came back to civilization of having internet.

And these are my outfits for the first 4 days of  the Self-Stitched-September challenge:

I made this shirt about a year and half ago. The pattern is from Burda magazine , probably one of the issues of 2008.

This tunic was sewn in 2003, again from Burda. the fabric is Crepe, and I used leather cord to go with that.

Another project from 2003.

I embroidered the collar and cuffs. 

I made this blouse when I was living in Brisbane, Australia in 2007.

The pattern is from Burda magazine with some modifications

I also finished the black pants I blogged about  in previous post.It turned out quite good. I will upload the photos tomorrow.

Self-Stitched-September

When I first saw the call for the Self-Stitched-September, although I liked the idea of  wearing your own creation for a whole month, I thought that I didn't have enough me-sewn outfit to cover a whole month.Since then I have been visiting different blogs as usual and seeing all these seamstresses signing up for it encouraged me to join. Finally,  today morning _ the last day of August _ I could not resist any more and signed up for that!  

And this is my pledge:

 I, Libra-s, of www.eightheavens.blogspot.com, sign up as a participant of Self-Stitched-September. I endeavor to wear at least one handmade or refashioned item every day for the duration of September 2010.

I still don't have enough self-created items for the whole September, but I'm going to make more as we go on.
Actually, it has been a good start; I began to sew a pair of pants for myself today afternoon.

I almost finished these pants. I just need to sew the facing and hem, and I will have one more item for Self-Stitched-September!

Matching Dress and Jacket

I bought this fabric from Kish island (south of Iran) last February. There was only 3 meters left and it was on sale, $4 per meter.So, although I wanted to buy two meters  initially, I  bought the whole 3 meters for an extra bargain and paid $10.

In the beginning, I decided to make a jacket and a skirt out of that.

I picked this blouse pattern from Burda magazine 4/2006 

 

and modified it to a  jacket.

 I cut facing, cuffs and collar out of the side of the fabric next to selvage which was plain.

When I was almost finished with this jacket, I realized that the fabric had defects! My first reaction was the thought that it hadn't been a good bargain at all!

 However, I had sewn most of the jackets and I had to fix that. The defect was on the back of the jacket and luckily it happened to be around the waist line on the right side seam; it was an easy one to fix. I thought tabs would be a good idea for that.

I stitched the defect on fabric first in order to stop the hole becoming bigger.

And then finished the tab with a button.

I did a lot of  hand stitching: all facings and hem.

After finishing the jacket, I saw that I had enough fabric to make a dress instead a skirt. I picked this pattern from Burda magazine 9/2008.

and it turned out like that

The lining of the dress is black and the jacket has no lining.

There are plenty of black roses in this matching dress and jacket, so I called this project Garden of Black Roses.

After all, I still have enough fabric to make a skirt too. Isn't that good?!

Finally I'm back here!

I didn't write here for more than two months. What a shame!! I also have to sadly admit that I failed the challenge I set for myself! I was supposed to finish a garment every week for three months; but I only finished 2 dresses which I even didn't post photos of finished ones!

Last night, I thought that I might not be a blogger material and  I'd better close up this blog. Then, when I was reading my previous posts I came across this line in my second post " the most important thing is not to give up!"
so, I decided to keep going on.

Anyway, this id the dress I mentioned in  last post

And the second dress I made shortly after

It also can be worn with no belt

 And finally, I bought a tripod last week; so I'd be able to take more photos more often.

I was supposed to post some photos of my new-sewn dress. But the fact is I was not in the mood to get dressed and take photos of myself! I'll do it tomorrow.

By the way, I went fabric shoping with my Mum yesterday. I know, I had decided not to buy any more fabrics untill I sew every pieces in my stash. But I desperately need a new pair of black trousers, so I had two choices; either buy ready-made or make them myself. Naturally,I went with the second option.

I bought this gorgeous black Crepe

I also bought two other fabrics. This floral black and white which seems to be a cotton blend

and this two-sided satin like

The first two are 150 cm wide, and the last is 110cm. I can't wait to start sewing them.

Yesterday, I began my challenge of garment-per-week. I picked this fabric for the first week project. This is a jersey I bought a few months ago and was the first jersey garmant I'm making for myself. I already sewed a couple of jersey for my mum, but none for me before.

The pattern I chose for this project is from BWOF 4/2009.

As always, I shortened the standard size 34 first, and after cutting the fabric, I realized I made a mistake I never thought I'd make! I should have cut the front skirt on fabric fold but mistakenly I didn't, and I ended up with a seam in the  front center of my dress!

Well... I couldn't do anything about that except telling myself that the fabric is fully patterned  and wouldn't show much.

I finished up the dress today and will post some photos tomorrow.

I have had a huge stash of fabrics for ages! So, I set a new challenge for myself. I decided to make a garment every week. It starts this week and will continue for the next 12 weeks and after that I see how I go.

I bought some of these fabrics myself , and received some as a gift. I love each and every of them.

Apart from the uncut stash, I've got another old stash of fabrics of which I made something and the remain of them are enough to make something new.

The fact is, it's always been very difficult for me to decide what pattern to use for each fabric. This time, I'm going to take it easy and pick the first pattern I can think of.

I've promised myself not to buy any new fabrics before end of this 12-week challenge.

I made this dress for my friend's wedding party few years ago. She gave me the fabric as a gift for making her wedding gown. Originally, I made it long with sleeves.

Two years ago, I decided to cut off the sleeves and wore it in the new year party.

This is what it looked then.

Last month I was invited to a relative's wedding party, and I thought I didn't like this dress long any more. So I shortened it knee-lengh. I believe it looks better this way :)

I made this skirt for the Burdastyle competition "Alabama Studio Style". Entrant were supposed to make a piece of garment inspired by Natalie Chanin's works. I made this skirt using a paatern from BWOF 11/2005 and I handstitched on it.

I called this skirt "boteh Jegheh" because the motives I used, are from Persian rugs.

And I'm glad this skirt made to top 50s.