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Sanae Ishida

A crafty little atelier in a grey city

Happy Friday + Closet Case Charlie Caftan

August 4, 2017

Helloooooooo! I'm in a tizzy, my friends. After two wonderful trips, I'd been floating in the timeless, comfortingly clueless zone known as jet lag. Then suddenly, a monster to-do list attacked me and I woke up. My next book is launching NEXT WEEK. I've gotta get my party hat on and get promotin'. For any of you locals, Queen Anne Book Co. will be hosting a launch party on Sunday, August 13th at noon -- would love to see you there! We have super fun activities planned for the kiddos (and kiddos ... Read more

Filed in: sewing for me • by sanae • 12 Comments

Happy Friday + Yet Another Giveaway: Sew Sweet Book [CLOSED]

July 21, 2017

Happy Friday! I might as well just call this a giveaway blog at this point, no? I'm still playing catch up since returning from Japan and when I looked at the calendar, I shook my head in pure disbelief that over a week had already passed and that we are yet again traveling (this time domestically, to visit M's family in Indiana). But lucky you, I have a backlog of Tuttle Books I'm happy to give away and this one is a particularly good one. I would keep it, except K can no longer fit into ... Read more

Filed in: Uncategorized • by sanae •

Happy Friday + Stylish Dress Book Giveaway! [CLOSED]

June 23, 2017

Happy Friday! We are in full-on countdown mode since we are boarding Delta airlines to head out to Tokyo tomorrow. I did, however, promise Tuttle Publishing that I would do a little review of their books before I left. Given my current state of being caught up in travel preparations, I'm cheating a little because I discovered that I had, in fact, already mentioned this Stylish Dress Book by Yoshiko Tsukiori. At any rate, I now have an extra copy to give away. The top I made from this book ... Read more

Filed in: giveaway • by sanae •

Happy Friday + K’s Grad Dress

June 16, 2017

Happy Friday! I tell you, these days I can't tell what's up and what's down with all that's going on. There are daily events at K's school, work deadlines are looming and it's dawning on me that my dream of sewing up a whole new wardrobe for my Japan trip is of the pipe variety. We leave next week and the total number of things I've sewn for the upcoming Asian adventure: nada. Luckily, I started early on K's graduation dress and after many, many iterations it's done a week ahead of ... Read more

Filed in: sewing, sewing for K • by sanae • 20 Comments

Happy Friday + Randomness

June 9, 2017

Happy Friday! I'm having one of those weeks when nothing I do seems to turn out well. Case in point: the above photo is a muslin I was working on for K's graduation dress, but I messed up the invisible zipper insertion and then accidentally tore the very thin rayon fabric in a very bad way when I attempted to unpick the seams. Unsalvageable. At least it was the muslin, though I was secretly hoping that she'd like it so much that I wouldn't need to make the final version in an even more ... Read more

Filed in: life • by sanae • 12 Comments

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The word that incites terror in most newbie sewing The word that incites terror in most newbie sewing enthusiasts: zippers. Now that I have a few years of sewing under my belt I’m less cowed by them, but there’s something about long, separating zippers that still makes me nervous. I powered through, however, and made this versatile twill hooded jacket originating from a @patterncouture_ zip-up hoodie pattern meant for knit fabrics that I modified a lot. I blogged about it! Link in bio if you’d like to see the different versions I created. 

To skip zippers altogether and make a truly summery garment, swipe and check out my NEW @creativebug Tiered Dress class (link also in bio!). Back to sewing more hot weather stuff because I’m going to Japan for a special trip next week! 🇯🇵🇯🇵
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