I've been thinking of you, lovely readers of this little blog. As I assembled the post for the Secret Valentine Exchange yesterday, I was struck by a feeling of déjà vu. I dug around the roots of my memories, and realized that almost everything about this blog takes me back to a very particular time in my life: grad school. After teaching English in Japan for a couple of years in my mid-twenties, I knew that I would be a basket case trying to transition back into American society (ironically ... Read more
The Secret Valentine Exchange!
I am giddy with excitement to announce an idea that's been brewing for a while! One of my loveliest readers and friend Ute contacted me a few months ago wondering whether I'd be up for hosting a sewing/craft gift exchange based on the idea of Julklapp, which is a Scandinavian version of Secret Santa. We decided that the holidays would be pretty crazy, so we agreed that a Valentine's-themed secret exchange would be spectacular. Thus, the Secret Valentine Exchange was born. It will be somewhat ... Read more
Monday Outfit: Koi Top + Grey Stretch Pants
Good morning, friends! I don't know about you, but I'm having a bit of a sewing mojo crisis. I thought I would be all pumped and ready to get cracking on tons of sewing projects with the new year, and in theory I definitely am. Maybe it was seeing the sheer number of clothes I made for K en masse a couple of weeks ago, but I started to hear whispers of "what are you doing?" in the back of my mind. And as I stitched up this absolutely lovely top from this absolutely lovely book in an ... Read more
Happy Friday + Randomness
Happy Friday! I'm guest posting over at the KCW blog again today, hooray! You'll get a sneak peak of my winter sewing plans and I've featured some cute outfits I'd like to sew from a couple of new Japanese sewing books I got recently. ************************************************************ A conversation I had with K on the way to school yesterday... K: When I grow up, I want to be an inventor. Me: Oh yeah? K: Yeah, I'm going to invent this cool brush with a tree on the end ... Read more
Sewing for Me: Pre-spring plans
As part of my de-stressing initiative, I've decided to post clothes I've sewn for myself every other week instead of every week. I'm not above admitting that it just got...nutty. So, this week we're skipping an outfit, and talking about plans because that's what I do in January. Plan, plan, plan, make lists, plan, agonize over lists, plan. Above is one of the books I got for Christmas (thank you generous relatives - I purchased several Japanese sewing books with my holiday funds!) and I'm ... Read more