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Sanae Ishida

A crafty little atelier in a grey city

Monday Outfit: Bow Dress

March 2, 2015

Good morning! I did something hitherto unheard of: I planned ahead. For almost all these Monday outfit posts, I usually start sewing on Saturday afternoon after thinking a few minutes about what wardrobe holes I can fill in K's closet (this is becoming pretty challenging, as you can imagine). Although she's growing like a rice plant amped up on Miracle-Gro, sewing for K takes a fraction of the time it takes to sew for myself, so I'm usually done by early evening. After breakfast on Sunday, we ... Read more

Filed in: sewing, sewing for K • by sanae • 10 Comments

Happy Friday + Randomness

February 27, 2015

Happy Friday! A little illustration I made for a friend - I FINALLY started making progress on the custom illustrations and will start shipping them out over the next few weeks. Note to self: learn how to under-promise and over-deliver instead of the other way around. This illo reminded me of how, late last night, our neighbor texted me for help. A bird mysteriously appeared in her house and was flapping wildly around in her bedroom. The odd part is that nothing was open -- no doors, no ... Read more

Filed in: life • by sanae • 16 Comments

Beauty

February 25, 2015

  There is a beautiful woman I see nearly every morning during my walk. Her hair is the shade of honey-infused lemon and I haven't been able to discern the color of her eyes, but I'm guessing they're blue. Slim, with delicate, symmetrical facial features and perfectly shiny, unfrizzy hair (I'm a bit obsessed with shiny, unfrizzy hair, if you haven't noticed - my own tresses are channeling Einstein's), she looks like an aristocratic, polished Barbie. I've never seen her smile, but I'd bet ... Read more

Filed in: life • by sanae • 16 Comments

Monday Outfit: Coral Giraffe Print

February 23, 2015

Good morning! This week, I decided to sew up something that I knew K would absolutely love. It's knit, it's animal print, and it's bright. The trifecta of success. This tiered tunic is from this book, and because the largest size goes up to only 125cm and K is squarely a size 130cm now, I added 4cm to the length. I need to try to sew more from this book before K completely outgrows it -- so far I've sewn this and this and this from it and there are a few more that's on my sewing docket! ... Read more

Filed in: sewing, sewing for K • by sanae • 14 Comments

Happy Friday + Randomness

February 20, 2015

Happy Friday! I got this beautiful hellebore plant a little while ago and wanted to capture the lovely transition from creamy white to this gorgeous dusty pink. Since I possess an industrial-strength black thumb, it's already dying -- I love plants so much, but they all immediately wither under my care. I'm a little insecure about this inability of mine to nurture flora, as if it's some serious character flaw that reflects my ineptitude to nurture all living things (i.e. my ... Read more

Filed in: life • by sanae • 22 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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