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7.28.2015

The Ishi Dress

What better way to kick off a post about a Straightgrain pattern than to first address the pink elephant in the room.


Oh, you know the one.  The one where I called one of my most beloved patterns, the Hanami dress, the Hanimi dress, for like.... years.  Yeah, that.  (Insert that emoji of the monkey covering her eyes.)  You guys were so gracious not to correct me.  It's like that awkward situation where you're not sure whether to tell your friend or co-worker that they have spinach in their teeth.  I get it.  I usually look the other way, too.



I'm actually a pretty detail-oriented person.  I was a finance major in college, so paying attention to the details was a necessity.  I'm also picky-picky when it comes to my sewing.  But I am the world's worst proof reader. I have no excuse or explanation.


When An sent me the Hanami test pattern, I had a question about it and re-titled the email "the Hanimi pattern".  But somewhere along the way, I had forgotten I had re-titled it and thought the email came directly from An that way.  So every time I sewed the Hanami pattern, I retrieved the PDF from that original email.  And the rest is history.


After all that, An was still gracious enough to share this pattern with me.  It's the Ishi dress but she said I could call it the Ashi dress.  ;)


I had wanted to sew this dress from the moment I saw An's first test version. After she released the pattern, I knew I wanted to make it in Gust in Midnight and Breeze in Citron by Rashida Coleman-Hale for Cotton and Steel, but they hadn't been released yet.  So I pre-ordered them and waited.


It finally arrived and I had some time to sew it up over the weekend.  Man, this is a quick one.   I sewed it in about 2 hours, while listening to podcasts from The Simple Show by Tsh from The Art of Simple.  It was fun and light and exactly what I needed.


I did make a few modifications to the pattern.  I wanted this dress to be sleeveless, so I re-drafted the arm scythes to make them less deep (by 2 cm) and a little less wide at the shoulder (by about 1/4").  Then I finished them with bias binding.


I finished the back with a single button, adding a button loop and sewing the lining to the dress, right sides together.   Super simple!


Tia could not wait for me to make this dress.  For one, she has a thing for zebras, so I had her at 'zebra dress'.


Secondly, she loves pockets and the bigger the better!


While I was taking these photos she kept loading them up with more and more things.  Feathers! Bamboo leaves!  Rocks!




Then there's the pocket fabric.  She loved the little girls playing.  "They're Ethiopian girls," she said.  She also was crazy about the metallic flecks that the girls are throwing and that come off of the kite.  That was a detail I missed when looking at this fabric online.   But it makes it even more special and gives it a little more sparkle or glamour, which Tia loves.



I took these photos at this really great duck pond near Dan's work.  There are always ducks roosting on their nests full of eggs, which the kids think is awesome.  But best of all, they love the baby ducklings.   Then there are turtles and full grown ducks all vying for the kids' bread (though on some days, they are overfed and a bit lazier.)


It's basically kid paradise and we love to hang out there as a family.  While we were there I took this photo of Jude as he was walking alongside of me.

He's such an awesome kid. He's 10 1/2 now and it's funny how grown up he has always seemed to us as our oldest.   I remember how Dan and I were sitting at his kindergarten graduation, talking about how we couldn't believe how "big" he was already.  Now Tia is that age and she seems so little in comparison to her older siblings.  It's a curious thing how that works.


They're each at their own ages and stages, with the unique challenges and joys that go along with them.  And yet all five could agree that the duck pond was the best place to be on this particular evening and they couldn't have been happier about being there.  Especially Tia in her new zebra Ashi, I mean, Ishi dress.  ;)

22 comments:

  1. Ha ha, this is such a great post! So funny in the first few paragraphs, and so heartwarming in the last.
    And your Ashi is stunning! I love the sleeveless version, the fabrics, and the trim at the neckline. And Tia looks super cute as always... Thank you for the beautiful post :-) xo, an

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  2. My favorite part of this post: "She says I can call it the Ashi Dress." I laughed out loud at my desk at work at that one.

    And yes, your Ashi is fantastic!! I love the choice of fabrics here, and the simplicity of the sleeveless version. The colors are fantastic.

    Jude's blue eyes! 10 seems SOOOOO old to me right now!? But I remember when 6 seemed almost grown up. It is funny how your perception changes. Joe is so affectionate and loves to snuggle and kiss, so even though he's 6, he's still my baby.

    Tia: "They are Ethiopian children!" Oh, my heart! Sweet girl!

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    1. P.S. Totally curious about that podcast! Going to check it out! I have been bored to tears on my commute lately. I don't feel like music, I don't feel like any of my audiobooks, BORED. Maybe some podcasts will wake me up a bit and get me thinking.

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    2. That An! She is so funny!

      You know, Jude’s eyes are even more spectacular in real life. They remind me of the photos I’ve seen of Joe’s eyes. They’re actually a really light shade of blue. But when I started playing around with it when editing my photos in an attempt to have them look more like they do in person, they started to look weird. Jude said, “Mom, I look like a zombie.” I think we’ve all seen those overprocessed eyes, which is not a look I personally care for, so I left them.

      For us, having a 10 year old has been so awesome. He’s so interesting and now there are a lot of things we can do together. We can read books aloud that I enjoy, too. We have long, deep conversations. We can play games together that are actually fun and require strategy. He’s an amazing pianist so there is so often beautiful piano music playing. He loves to help me cook. There’s almost no discipline and it’s just easy. Sometimes I wonder how he could be 10 already - it’s hard to believe that we are over halfway done raising him. But these days are so, so good. He’s past the super snuggly stage or the gushing-over-mama stage but shows his love to me in other ways and I guess I feel just as loved as I always did.

      And yeah, I tend to listen to heavier things while I sew, but just haven’t been feeling that as much lately. The podcasts were just light. I listened to the one with Shauna Niequist on hospitality, I listened to the one with Sarah McKenzie on homeschooling, and I listened to the one on the Fringe Hours about spending time doing things you are passionate about as well as a bit about time management. :)

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  3. Love the dress! Whatever you want call it. I also kind of think I might give it a try. I've not done any kid-related sewing that hasn't been a Halloween costume - maybe it's time to branch out. I also really really really heart those shoes!

    (I deleted my other comment so that I could add another 'e' to 'been' and a capitol letter to 'Halloween'. Next time I will proof read.)

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  4. I love your mods to make it sleeveless. I also admire your eye for fabric pairing - I don't think I would have thought to put those two together but it really works. Tia is so beautiful.

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  5. I'm in awe. This is just simply gorgeous. I love everything about this post ; )

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  6. What a great dress and perfect photos (as always)!

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  7. I love this dress so much! Love love the fabric. She is so cute. I was just thinking today how fast the kids are growing. My oldest is 9 1/2 and I just can't get over how big he is. The pond looks like am awesome place to go to.

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  8. Love your humour !!! I think i probably did the same mistake with the hanami dress!! I love your version of the ishi : you are the queen of cool alterations and fabric choice !!!

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  9. Great post Rachel, but..... I'm pretty certain those birds are geese not ducks!! :) it's all in the details, baby!
    Love this dress. When I first saw that fabric in your Instagram pic I thought you'd painted the stripes yourself. Love the sketchy nature of them. I'm about to sew a zebra dress. Wish we were neighbours so the girls could play horses together! (correction: Zebras)
    Beautiful photos of the kids. They are fine lookin' children.

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    1. haha! Well, there are ducks there, too. We exclude the geese because they are so mean. :P (But really, they are! They hiss and bite. Unlike the ducks!) :)

      Can’t wait to see your zebra dress! That would be so awesome if the girls could play together in them!

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  10. Oh my goodness! I read this post in the morning on my phone while eating my musli. Well, I might have spit parts of the musli on the table when I read "It's the Ishi dress but she said I could call it the Ashi dress." I had to laugh so hard. An and you are pretty wonderful women. Also, I had recognized the "Hanimi" thing in earlier blogposts, but always thought that it's just a typo :D
    Anyways, love your pretty Ashi. Perfect as always!

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    1. I can't take any credit for that one! That was all An! She's so clever! <3

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  11. Soooo beautiful! I want one for myself! The fabric combination is perfect!

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    1. Thank you, Diana. Maybe we should petition An for an adult Ishi dress pattern! :P

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  12. such a great dress, and I just love watching your kiddos grow up across the interwebs :) xo

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  13. That dress deserves its own name so you should call it Ashi! It is beautiful and it is the most perfect fabric combination for that dress that I have seen. Pity you didn't enter in the contest because I am pretty sure you would have won! First time I have actually been tempted to make that dress. The stripes are just prefect for the "stiffness" of the shape of the dress and yet the texture of them help soften the same "stiffness" a bit.

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  14. This fabric combination was definitely worth waiting for! I love the way it looks playful but not too kiddish. Your children are just so beautiful!

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  15. Does it make you feel better to know that I honestly never even noticed the SMALL spelling error? And I'm sure An doesn't mind what you call it when you're making her patterns look so beautiful sewn up! You've done it again with the Ishi! This pattern lends itself so well to a striped fabric and playing with the direction. And what perfect complementary pockets:) How awesome is it that Tia has connected with the pocket images in such a personal way! I"m sure it will become a favorite dress for her. Thanks, too, for including the modifications that you made. Helpful for the next time I made this pattern, as there will most certainly be a next time!
    Love to hear you describe your developing relationship with Jude. Like you, I have only one son with whom I have a pretty special relationship. From someone who's a few years further down the path than you (he's 16), I can tell you now how much you are going to enjoy watching him grow/develop. It's going to be a fun ride - enjoy it!:)

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  16. Thank you for the encouragement, sweet Lucinda!

    I love reading your thoughts about watching your boy grow! so wonderful to hear encouraging words from a mom 6 years ahead of me!

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