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Sanae Ishida

A crafty little atelier in a grey city

Sewing Inspiration

February 27, 2013

 

I get inspiration for the clothes I sew for K all over the place: my Pinterest boards are out of control, I look through my Japanese pattern books all the time, and I seem to get about a dozen catalogs in the mail every week (Anthropologie, Mini Boden and JCrew get the most attention). And don’t get me started on all the blogs!

But I am most inspired by people I see in passing. I can barely remember what I cooked for dinner the night before, but I rarely forget outfits. I’ve always been this way. Recently I saw a posh woman, sliding into her car, wearing mile-high black heels and a short dark brown coat with a mini, poufy skirt. It was cinched at her waist just so, and looked oh so fancy and not at all trashy. It made me so curious: where would you wear something like that at 10am on a Tuesday, bare-legged in the cold, February morning? I loved it though.

And then I saw a young woman at a cafe, sporting the perfect grey knitted scarf with a sweater of a very similar hue, and there was the poufy mini skirt again. I adored the super long knee-high socks she wore and stored the outfit away in the back of my mind. And so ideas start percolating and I look through my patterns and fabric to create the silhouette I have mentally designed. Often, I get sidetracked by one fabric or another and begin to imagine other possibilities, tucking that original idea away for another time. My plans for a poufy mini turned into the suspender skirt, for example.

What inspires you to sew? Is it usually a pattern? A certain fabric? A particularly stylish girl you see in a magazine? I’m inspired by them all!

In other sewing news, I took the advice I received from a few of you and got the Wiksten Tova pattern – I’m taking the plunge to sew for myself after a three year hiatus! I have some Essex linen prepped and I just might have something to show you soon….

 

Filed in: gouache, illustration • by sanae • 5 Comments

Comments

  1. Clover

    February 27, 2013 at 9:43 am

    Can’t wait to see your Tova. I am currently working on my first. Also as with many others. I obsess over your sewing projects and am trying to get away from the kids to go up to Seattle to pretend to visit family just so I can fabric shop:-). Keep it up.

    Reply
    • sanae

      February 27, 2013 at 8:39 pm

      Hi Clover! I’m glad I’m in good company with the Tova making – hope it’s going well for you!

      Reply
  2. Lucinda

    February 27, 2013 at 10:18 am

    Oh! I’m eager to see your Wiksten Tova! And sewn up in Essex linen . . . how divine!

    Reply
  3. sanae

    February 27, 2013 at 8:39 pm

    Essex Linen is the best stuff, isn’t it? Love it!

    Reply
  4. Erin

    March 2, 2013 at 4:44 am

    Ooo! Can’t wait to see your wiksten…. I just got my first order of Essex linen actually. It is nice stuff!

    Reply

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