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Dear Blog,
It's a long time since I last posted here. It's over a year that I have been neglected you and I am definitely not proud of it!
Not writing here doesn't mean that I didn't make any thing, I simply kept procrastinating taking photos and posting a few lines here. I have been making stuffs, some of them turned to be pretty good. I sewed, knitted, crocheted and even published my first knitting design.
The fact is that I've missed you and I'm going to take a proper care of you. 

This is ruby 2012!

Finally, the exciting moment when you put your finished project on, and it brings a big smile to your face!

This is very warm and cosy. Although the winter is almost over, living in London I am sure I would wear it through spring.

I used a couple of short rows to give the collar the perfect shape.

The fit is right.

Now, I am looking forward to finish the knitting project I have already started!

wool red jacket is finished

I finally finished the jacket I was knitting.

It took me almost four months to knit it. I made a swatch first, Based on that I casted on the required stiches for my neck line and worked the way down. I didn't use any particular pattern, and as I went I designed it. I finished it by a series of triangles at the hem and sleeves edge.

After that, I grabbed a row of stitches from the neck line and knitted the collar.

I was very happy about the whole project until I realise that I made a mistake! In one of the triangles, I used the wrong stitches in a row.

I searched the internet to see if there was any way to fix that. To my surprise, I could not find anything. I had to find a way myself. That's what I came up with:

  

I believe this is good enough. In fact, after blocking the jacket, I could not even spot the mistake.

In general, I am very happy with this jacket. I sewed the buttons and it is ready to be worn!

I will post more photos soon.

Today's pick!

This dress is by Lover which is an Australian based label.  I love the lace and the colour. This dress is from its SS 2011 collection. There is another version of this dress  with short skirt in their collection. But I think this one is much more attractive.

I also found these two outfits:

They are designed by Franchesca Blardony. She is a young designer who recently finished fashion course at QUT in Brisbane, Australia. I love the clean and minimal cut of her design.

This is the wool red jacket I'm knitting!

 

 I'd say that it is almost half way done :)

It was not supposed to be like this! But, I gonna change!

It is over a year since I last updated here. What a shame!
When I started blogging, I imagined myself more enthusiastic and keen of writing about what I make. Obviously I failed, and naturally I should stop blogging. BUT, I'm going to give myself another chance!  and I have a good reason to do so. I recently ( 34 days ago) migrated to England to start a new life, and I'd like to think that it would help me to be a better blogger.
From now on, I'm going to push myself to keep here updated quite often.

By the way, the project I'm working on at a moment is a knitting jacket. I casted it on 2 months ago. 

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.