Taiko drum roll please..... Little Kunoichi is large and in charge! Today is THE day, and I am doing imaginary backflips and round-offs of excitement!! The build-up has been so long, I thought I would be all blasé and casual and "Oh, is it the launch date today?", but no no no. It's a big deal. A huge deal. I am planning on visiting as many bookstores as I can today to surreptitiously snap photos of my book on shelves because this will never, ever, ever happen again: my first ... Read more
Happy Friday + Call for Pattern Testers [CLOSED]
The house: a disaster. The food: completely reliant on Trader Joe's frozen food section. The "studio" (aka my bedroom where I sew): unspeakable. And in an effort to walk my talk, I'm calling uncle and reaching out for help: is anyone out there willing to pattern test for book #2? I've already roped in a few wonderful folks, but I definitely need more testers as the sewing book I'm currently working on has over 20 projects. If interested, please email me: sanaeishida13[AT]gmail.com. These are ... Read more
Here and Now
I am dying. Dying of excitement for my book launch, of course, but also in the literal sense. Three years ago, when my thyroid condition -- aptly named Graves Disease -- was at its most acute, my mortality was a daily reminder since my immune system kept shutting down. Compared to that period, I feel practically invincible these days. I eat a lot more vegetables and I rarely get sick, but it still doesn't change the fact that I am schlepping toward my demise, albeit slowly, every ... Read more
A Tiny Little Nani Iro Dress
Good morning! This weekend I stitched up a teeny tiny dress for a friend's employer's daughter (it's a long story), and I was flooded by memories of when I first started sewing for K. Oh, how I struggled back then! I couldn't figure out how to attach a bodice lining; I remember being stumped by which function to select on my sewing machine to create button holes. And although things have gotten much easier and a whole lot less stressful in terms of sewing, I've become quite accustomed to ... Read more
Happy Friday + Randomness
Happy Friday! Hey, Little K's in a magazine! The book got a nice write-up in the May issue of Seattle Magazine, available on stands now. I loved that the fact checker asked if the islands and body of water shown in the first spread actually exist. The answer is no, and in fact, I forgot all about it until now, but I made it so that the islands form the Japanese character for "people" or "hito". I don't know, I thought that would be fun. I showed you the progression from sketch to final here. The ... Read more