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Sanae Ishida

A crafty little atelier in a grey city

Children’s Book Process (My Version) + Time Off

July 29, 2014

This is a portion of one of the cover options for my children's book that's coming out next April. Things are still getting tweaked and finalized so I'll wait a while to reveal more of the actual book -- it's funny, it takes such a long time for a book to get published, many of the aspects start to get hazy for me. The final cover ended up looking very different from what you see above, but this was my favorite concept I presented. Although I was gung ho about this design, I do love how the ... Read more

Filed in: digital, illustration • by sanae • 43 Comments

Stitched Together for Rachel: Boat + Sheep-ish

July 28, 2014

Good morning -- greetings from Portland! At the last minute, my mom, K and I decided to make a whirlwind trip to the City of Roses. I was lucky enough to finally meet up with a bevy of the sweetest sewing blog friends, and it was a grand treat and much too short. More on that later, because today, I have a special project to share. A few weeks ago, Victoria of As It Seams reached out to me with a sweet idea: the lovely Rachel who creates the most beautiful clothes and takes some of the most ... Read more

Filed in: sewing • by sanae • 26 Comments

Happy Friday + Randomness

July 25, 2014

Happy Friday! First, thank you so much for all the kind comments last week, I've read them all multiple times!! I was delighted by how many people liked things as they are, and I also appreciated the suggestions. I will work hard on incorporating them! The four randomly chosen Drygoods gift certificate winners are: Dottie, Jing, Beccy and Grace. Congrats!!! Second, the photoshoot was a blast! Keli generously allowed us to use her Drygoods Design studio (did you hear that they're moving to a ... Read more

Filed in: gouache, illustration, watercolor • by sanae • 8 Comments

Sewing for Me: IKEA blouse

July 24, 2014

Sometimes you just need a simple, white linen blouse. It's been drizzly and bordering on frigid ever since we got back to Seattle, and I welcomed the idea of sewing a long-sleeve top. I've been saving a breathtakingly beautiful and expensive white linen for years, but I couldn't cut into it for this project. I knew I wanted white, and it most definitely had to be linen, but I was afraid I might make an irreparable mistake and I wasn't sure if I could handle that in my current frazzled ... Read more

Filed in: sewing, sewing for me • by sanae • 32 Comments

Birthday Boy

July 23, 2014

July always seems to be the busiest month for us. Some sort of travel is usually involved, and the birthdays! It's one celebration after another and today, it's M's turn to blow out the candles. "Why did you marry Daddy and not someone else?" K asks me a lot. Partly to tease M, but also (I suspect), because she wants to hear about M's best qualities over and over. The first answer that pops out is, "Because he made me laugh more than anyone else." M has a very particular brand of humor and to ... Read more

Filed in: life • by sanae • 14 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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