Today is the day! My new book, Sashiko’s Stitches (published by WorthyKids / HBG), is out in the wild!!
What can I say that I haven’t already about making books? It continues to be magical, continues to be a joy. With each book, I try to challenge myself in new ways, and with this one I wanted to see if I could create a traditional watercolor vibe with digital painting. I used Procreate (and even created my own brushes), and it was fun.
My kids’ books tend to be on the silly side, but this one has emotional oomph, I’d like to think. “A quiet book,” my editor said. I wanted it to feel beautiful, you know? There’s subtle silliness if you look closely, though.
Some tidbits that might be of interest…
The impetus of the book theme, in no small part, came from the pandemic and how it affected the kids around me. I don’t refer to the pandemic in the book, but I focused on the big feelings that kids and kids-at-heart (all of us, basically) experience and how to make them into a source of beauty
This book features Sashiko embroidery, told through a girl named Sashiko. We added informative factoids about the craft in the back matter, which I always love adding:
A book evolves throughout each phase. When we pitched the book, my initial sketch was pretty un-dynamic:
I loved that my editor encouraged me to add more movement and the final spread ended up looking like this:
I think this book — more than any of the others that I’ve worked on — changed the most from the initial pitch to the final version. My excellent agent, Adria, guided and encouraged me throughout that whole trajectory. I’m so, so lucky.
Ahhhh. How amazing. Another book! I hope you love it. You can find Sashiko’s Stitches anywhere books are sold, but if it’s not readily available, it can be ordered from any bookseller.
To celebrate, I am doing a book giveaway as per usual! I’ll also include a little Sashiko mystery gift as part of the giveaway. All you need to do to enter is comment below. If you’d like an idea for commenting, perhaps you can share your favorite childhood activity?
The giveaway will be open until Tuesday, April 16th. International entries are always welcome! Good luck!
P.S. Maybe you’d like a signed copy? If so, Queen Anne Book Company will have some autographed copies! If you’re not local, no problemo, they take online orders.
Yea, another beautiful book! I would love to introduce my granddaughters to this needle craft. As a child, we had an outdoor neighborhood ice rink, and my fist foray into the world of making were pompoms for my skates. So many pompoms! So much fun! They made my skates “mine”, and the fun has never stopped!
What a delightful book! I loved your Sewing Happiness book – I would love to share this new one with my grandkids.
What a sweet sweet book! Having just started to learn sashiko after visiting an amazing artisan in Takiyama,
I am amazed by the sheer beauty of it! Congrats on such a beautiful book!
I love this, Sanae! I’ve so enjoyed your sharing your books with my little girls. We’re second generation Japanese and I’m always looking for ways to impart the beauty of our culture and language into their lives. You are truly gifted with your art and words! Arigatou gozaimasu! <3
This is a beautiful book, Sanae – congratulations!! From childhood, I remember so vividly playing outside until the streetlights came on. And picking blueberries in the hot summer sun. Or running through my grandparents woods all day. Everything magical seemed to happen out of doors 🙂
I am so excited about this book. I am new to slow stitching and cannot wait to share this with my daughters who are also makers!
My sister and I used to make baby chicks out of cotton balls, sewing the bits together until they looked “right”. We didn’t have fabric or yarn scraps so we made clothes for them out of more cotton balls and pieces of brown paper bags (if you repeatedly crumple and spread the paper it softens and turns fabric-like). We then decorated with markers.
What a lovely book! I’m new to the art of Sashiko and would love to share this book with my nieces.
Wonderfully exciting news; a new book! I’m in Japan and just finished my first foray into sashiko as we rode the Shinkansen to Tokyo past Fuji-san. It’s a beautiful way to make something new again.
What a special book! I would love a copy. Growing up I did cross stitch, which is similar (but different) for sure. I loved the calm, yet precise aspect of it. I bet sashiko would be similar.
“This book sounds absolutely fascinating! As someone who grew up doing cross stitch and now enjoys knitting and sewing with my twins, I can totally relate to the calm and precise aspect of these crafts. Sashiko definitely seems like it shares that same meditative quality. I would love to get my hands on a copy and explore this beautiful art form further!”
Sitting on my grandpa’s lap listening to him telling traditional fairytales was one of my favourite activities as a child.
What a beautiful idea to incorporate many subtle themes into what will become a cherished children’s book. It’s a gentle and thoughtful approach. How exciting to learn some new tech to add to your skill set. I will buy a copy of this book to share with one of my favourite little friends, so you can exclude me from your giveaway. All the best to you!
When I was in the second grade, a friend’s visiting grandmother taught me how to cross stitch. It was a wonder entry into finer arts.
I found sumo book series in Federal Way library and fell in love with it couple months ago. I finally looked up the author and found out you were local! All your works are so amazing and inspiring.
My favorite childhood activity was sewing. I remember my kindergarten teacher had Korean alphabets written out on a piece of paper. She had a large plastic needle (i think it was for knitting) with blunt ends. The need had a thick yarn attached to it where I was able to stitch the paper with it. It still stuck to my core memory. Learning how to write and sew at the same time was fun, when my family had just moved from U.S. to Korea at the time.
Mending my dolls clothes as a young girl with my Oma’s guidance is one of the earliest sewing memories I have. Turning worn spots into pleats or an embroidered daisy so that my sweet doll would have the most beautiful clothes. As I grew older it was make do and mend with whatever delightful item I could find hidden in my mother’s sewing chest. Pieces of lace trim carefully picked off of old clothing, buttons sniped off of blouses and coats too worn to mend. Each piece a memory keeper. Each piece carefully and beautifully added to the worn spots on my everyday clothes.
Today I still make do and mend and that sometimes means the simple beauty of sashiko finds its way into a pair of worn jeans that I can’t bear to part with.
My other passion is children’s books. Their whismy and simplicity delight my heart. Thank you for adding another to the world!