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Sanae Ishida

A crafty little atelier in a grey city

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

Happy Friday + Hallelujah!

June 2, 2017

Happy Friday, my friends! I did it! I did it! I completed my rough art for the next book that's coming out in 2018. Normally, I create digital rough art using only Photoshop brushes like these and these, but I wanted to try a little something different. For this next book's rough art, I used only black watercolor and I enjoyed it so much! It's a different kind of challenge to paint with a single color to create various shades. Surprisingly, it took less time to hand paint than it does to do ... Read more

Filed in: black and white, book, illustration • by sanae • 4 Comments

Happy Friday + Making Magazine DOTS + GIVEAWAY [CLOSED]

May 19, 2017

Happy Friday! Just popping in to sing praises for the latest issue of Making Magazine: DOTS! It's been so fun contributing to this gorgeous, gorgeous publication, and Carrie and her team at Making are top notch. My project for the DOTS issue is a diminutive Sashiko-embroidered pin cushion inspired by a meditation pillow. Form, function and Ommmmm -- doesn't get better than that, right? I sewed several iterations to get the project to match up with my mental picture, so my little ... Read more

Filed in: sewing • by sanae •

Happy Friday + Randomness

May 12, 2017

Happy Friday! We're not into fancy trips. Or long ones. Last weekend, we went on one of our typical low-budget micro-vacations in Central Washington, and it fully reinforced how much we enjoy these. We stayed in a town called Roslyn made famous via Northern Exposure, a cult TV classic from the 90s. Whenever we go to Roslyn, we avoid the Suncadia resort and stay at the Huckleberry House. We actually thought that the Huckleberry House had closed its doors to business, but I recently got an ... Read more

Filed in: life • by sanae • 6 Comments

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I just realized that this week marks 10 years sinc I just realized that this week marks 10 years since my first craft book Sewing Happiness was published. I’ve sewn literally thousands of garments and other textile projects in the last decade! I included a Sashiko primer in the book, and I’m delighted that this humble Japanese embroidery practice has stood the test of time - if anything, I’ve noticed that there’s an ever growing enthusiasm for hand stitching. Fun news: I’ll be teaching a virtual Sashiko workshop for @tatterbluelibrary on Thursday, April 30th at noon ET. Link in profile! Would love to see you there! 💙💙💙💙💙
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