A fond farewell to Self-Stitched September

A pinch and a punch for the first day of the month (alright, I know it's the 2nd, I meant to do this yesterday but the sofa wouldn't allow it, anyway, suspend your imagination, it's probably the first somewhere in the world!)...which means the end of self-stitched September! So how did it go?
Well, surprisingly, it wasn't as difficult as I had imagined. I was worried I didn't have enough self-stitched clothes to wear with some variety, that I would end up in the same outfit day after day, being boring and probably a bit stinky! Wrong. Perhaps it was the wild sewing frenzy I went on in the first two days but actually I felt my clothes were quite varied.

The excitement of the first day of SSS-twirling in my broderie dress.

The part I was most worried about was holiday clothes- the first ten days of September I spent on Holiday in Cyprus. Actually though, I knocked up a couple of quick skirts, and a sorbetto or two and I was away!

A second hand top and a quick skirt made from an old bed sheet!

 I even made a couple of pairs of shorts which, truthfully, I wasn’t sure about, but they've turned out to be the hit of the summer. Light, comfy and so easy to wear, I've even sported them a few times back home in Beirut.

Polka dot shorts and navy bow top-both me made from self drafted patterns

Another pair of shorts and a sorbetto with sleeves.

He likes my outfit too!

 
What I've realised about my wardrobe is that I have a lot of dresses, and not very many me made tops.

One of my earliest self stitched numbers from a vintage pattern

Stripey cross back top from me made pattern

The front of this dress (and weird right hand action!)

 For this challenge I relied a lot on second hand tops or hand-me-downs; I don’t think I'm very good at making tops, I hate sleeves. This needs to be remedied though, autumn is fast approaching and so sleeves will be needed soon.

Another hand-me-down top and heart circle skirt from burda pattern

September has also revealed to me that I can sew with jersey, in fact it's easy! I admit, I was scared, but once I got started, I forgot why.

Jersey butterfly top and blue flowery skirt from burda pattern

 This month has been a really fun way to test out my sewing skills, and my wardrobe, but more than that raise my own and others awareness of the need to become more self sufficient. It was great to be able to answer yes whenever someone asked me if I'd made my clothes (I often hate that question: when people know you sew and they compliment your clothes, it's an embarrassment to have to admit you didn’t make it!), and  let them know they could do it too. I think the best thing though is that I've done some refashioning and got some more in the pipeline, this is an even more sustainable way of keeping my wardrobe exciting and using my sewing skills without buying new goods. I'll definitely be on it with the re-purposing from now on.

re-purposed car tie top and ginger skirt

A self-stitched muslin for a very exciting project

A first self-stitched bag

 Some of my students are also well on the way to self stitching!

 And so farewell, Self-Stitched September, we wont forget you! Thanks to Zoe for organising and my husband for taking endless photos of me in different outfits!
(Just so you know I did wear other things but didn't want to bore you with endless photos of me, I just tortured my husband into taking those for fun!)