Sashiko Prep

After falling in love with sashiko and making a couple of little cloths that ended up as whiteboard cleaners in my classroom last year, I wondered how I could continue to include sashiko in my sewing life. I wanted to try lots of different patterns but I also wanted them to be part of something practical. Luckily, inspiration hit. 

I had unintentionally made whiteboard cleaners with my last round, so why not make more? My classes often use mini whiteboards at their desks or on the floor, but I have no class set of erasers or cloths for them. At the moment, I just have the kids flip their boards and give them a quick rub on the carpet to clean them off. Unconventional, I'll admit, but it does the job. 

Anyway, back to sashiko. If I had a class set of say, 25 or so small cloths, these could easily be used for whiteboard cleaning. And I could use them to spark the students interest in Japan with Japanese patterns! It's a lesson in and of itself. Or run a lunchtime club with the older students to teach them sashiko too! Everything is learning. 

So I went through my scrap fabrics looking for anything plain and robust in reds and blues. I ended up throwing in a piece of purple too, since the scrap that I had (probably from Aunty Sue) cut into six double sided little squares quite easily. Some of the scraps I recognise and know exactly where they are from (Blue lining fabric from my Mary Poppins Skirt, and two blue squares from the actual skirt material, one blue square from a pillowcase (just like the last sashiko), some from Sophie's Lana costume, red denim from my mum that's been in various things is the only red I recognise though!)

I took a bunch of the red ones first and drew up the grids and patterns I wanted to try. I was sewing these at church, but also in our staff meetings and the three days of professional development we did at the start of the year. I don't know if it was that the pens are old and I was pushing hard, that the ink stayed on a long time before I ironed it off, or some other reason, but the fabric pen ink didn't disappear as magically as it usually does. I am not offended by it, since they are just going to be used as whiteboard cleaners by a bunch of primary school students, but it does make me cautious about using them on future projects.

Part of me thinks I'm getting better at sashiko, while another part of me disagrees quite strongly. I like the sake bottle design one more than I thought I would. Designs with two colours also appeal to me, and the circle one is also a fav. I am beginning to realise thread colour choice is very important. 

That red one with the orange thread is very poor indeed (pictured at the start of the post). Which is why I stopped doing it. I think I need to unpick all that work and try again, with much more focus on my stitch length and how many I have on each line. 

In the mean time, I took a foray into the purple fabrics (which look rather grey in these photos, but are actually a nice mauve in real life), but I don't know if it's the thread colour I chose, fabric or the designs, but I don't love them either. One of the purple ones has some of the best intentionally small stitches ever, but something seems off. 

My guess is the thread colour. The designs just don't pop because there isn't enough contrast. Will have to choose something darker for the next one. 

In the mean time, I'm eight designs in, with two WIP, and four marked up waiting to have thread added. 21 squares of prepped fabric in various shades of blue and red still hold in stasis until I can get the book from the library with the patterns again. I don't know if it will come before we leave for Japan. In that case I'll either have to find a Japanese book in Japan, or try my luck with the internet. Both of these options are pretty workable. 

This project is so perfect for travel too, since they are small and portable. Looking forward to having a class set of these for my classes. Hopefully the students appreciate it, though I doubt it. Not because they are malicious (well, most of them aren't), but the rest just won't because they are kids. 

Timing and Schools

Less than two weeks to go until we head off on a somewhat big adventure to Japan. We've been over the to do list what feels like a million times. Sometimes it gets longer, most of the time things get ticked off. Nothing seems supremely pressing and the biggest thing on the list, packing, can't actually happen until we are at least a little closer to departure. Don't worry though, that list is very comprehensive. 

In the mean time, here is an answer to a question that we get asked again and again. Not sure it's really blog worthy, (and it's certainly not sewing related!), but in wanting to have something to remember the whole process; why not. 

When we decided to try for the Digital Nomad Visa, the first question for us was "When?". When would be good to go? When would have the least impact on the girls schooling? When would be easiest to juggle with our work? What time of year we went would impact a lot of packing decisions and what kind of things we could do. 

For me, the biggest factor was fitting it in around the girls schooling. I really wanted them to have a chance to try school in Japan, but with Sophie in Year 6 in 2025, I also didn't want her to miss certain key moments of her schooling journey here. When we got back from Japan in 2024 and started doing the research, the three to four month lead time on the visa application ment that realistically the soonest we could get organised would be for August or September. 

We tossed around the idea of going at the end of 2024 into 2025. On top of being tricky with either coming back before six months were up or missing the first chunk of the school year in January, we knew that would also be winter in Japan. Not that we wouldn't have loved the experience, but the logistics of navigating the freezing temps and potential snow in daily life didn't seem like it would make our lives easy. Let's face it, relocating a family of four for six months is tricky enough without having to add extra planning for winter clothes that we just don't need in Brisbane. 

So then we looked further along. The Japanese school year starts in April. Since I knew that we would want the girls to do schooling, it made sense to try to start them when all the other kids were starting. The bonus was that it would mean our girls would get term one in Australia and then be back in time for term four. With Sophie graduating primary school, I was pretty insistent that she get to have term four here. Yeah, it wouldn't have been the end of the world if she missed it, but you only get to graduate primary school once, and if I can make sure she has that opportunity for closure before her high school life begins, then I'm doing it. 

An April to October time frame, also ment it was easier for me to take work off, since it's just two terms straight. Actually, I think it made things easier for my school, since they were able to slide two terms of Digital Technologies subjects in while I'm gone. 

When we were looking at places to live, I always did a quick Google Maps search on primary schools in the area. Where we ended up had three of them less than 1km walking distance. Things were looking good. 

There was a brief moment at the start of February, where we had the visas approved and I was trying to contact the schools to see what the enrolment process was. The only way to contact the school listed was a phone number. Why oh why were there no emails! My Japanese is good, but I'd be better with an email where I can proof read and correct my mistakes, and then take my time reading the reply. 

Unfortunately, our visas are also not resident visas and we were pretty concerned that it might mean we'd be unable to enrol the girls in a local primary. International schools were way out of our price range so they were a no from the get go. I had several friends and family in Japan do some calling around and digging for me, and we managed to hear from the Board of Education in the city we'll be living. Yes, they can go to school if we provide proof that we are staying long term and had all the right paperwork (passports, visas etc). 

Can I start that paperwork now? Nope. Got to take all the documents in to the office and submit the forms in person. Then the school will be contacted and we should be right to go. It's a bit frustrating since we don't know how long that whole process will take (the website recommends starting in September before the school year begins in April the following year). But what can you do? If it all falls apart I might do a significant amount of crying and then pick myself up and home school the girls instead. Not ideal, but hardly the end of the world. Praying it doesn't come to that of course. 

So now, on my very thorougher packing list, is a lot of documents that are photo copied and in triplicate. Trying to make that enrolment process as smooth as we can. The girls have been oscillating between excited and nervous, and I felt this morning that Sophie's scale tipped over to the latter quite strongly. Rachel, as always, keeps her cards close to her chest and remains somewhat of a mystery to us. 

Our intended travel day strategically gives us about two weeks before the Japanese school year begins. Hopefully that's enough time to get the paperwork done, and for them to start feeling more comfortable with the whole "living in Japan" thing. I'm excited, if still feeling that the whole thing is surreal. Maybe it will feel tangible when we are actually packing, or on the plane, or at our Japanese house. Who knows! 

Waiting for a Cyclone

It is a beautiful day here in Brisbane and it is almost incomprehensible that schools are closed, local services like public transport and rubbish collection are suspended and shops are shutting their doors. While the rain and wind over the last few days have been intermittent, preparations were made around our yards and houses; everything is tied down and put away. Now, the day is beautiful and we wait for a cyclone to come. 

I'm sure I'm not the only one who is getting flash backs to March 2020, when Covid hit and we were all "sheltering in place" which was the nice way to say "lockdown". The shelves in the supermarket were looking pretty bare the last three days as people rushed out to get supplies. There is lots of unknown and trying to do all we can to make the most of the time we have before the storm comes. 

The girls are across from me as I type this, each working on their own school work and Steve is in the office on a Teams call. It shows the five years that have passed though, since they are both on electronic devices, rather than using colouring pencils, glue and scissors to complete their work. 

We've been unable to get bread, so last night I started a focaccia dough, and this morning, I have a put together the beginnings of some cinnamon scrolls. Lockdowns are the perfect time for carbs right? While we wait, now is the perfect time to catch up on some blogging that I've not been able to get to. And the bonus on the cyclone delay is that now I'll have time to recharge the laptop after as well. Silver lining! 

As we have been busy thinking through the logistics of our Japan plans for 2025, one of the things I was considering was shoes. Obviously I'd want to take my ultra-comfy sports shoes, but since I wear them for pretty much any outdoor job, including painting, oiling the deck and mowing the lawn, they were pretty grubby. That doesn't matter so much in Australia (well, to me anyway), but Japan are a bit more conscious about outward appearance. I figured if I want to take them to Japan, I would need to clean them up or I'd be so aware of how dirty they are every time I went for a walk. 

My initial plan was just to dye them, but Maria said that that wouldn't hide the oil stains like I wanted them to. Instead, I opted for fabric markers and did some colouring. Trying to make the stains and paint part of the design. My other idea to hide the stains, or at least make them less of a feature, was to sew some new fabric shoelaces, thinking that if people were distracted by beautiful unique fabric, they'd be less likely to notice the other, less delightful parts of the shoes. 

Shoelaces are pretty easy to make - just need to cut strips of fabric, do some folding and sew down one side. I did these without any fuss Sunday morning before Church. 

I was sitting I my little sewing nook enjoying the calm quiet morning and the wonderful way that this little part of our house makes me so happy. Incidentally I picked up that little iron off our community grapevine for free from someone who was moving and didn't need it. It is so super cute (even though it's pink :P) and I made a little ironing board to use with it from a bamboo cutting board covered in leftover quilting batting and some more of the flannelette cot sheet I had from the girls (used before to make a bunny or two). 

So happy with the shoes with their new laces (although don't love how the blue hearts-that-hide-the-oil-stains look), ready to go to all the cool places in Japan. Hopefully if you are also are sheltering in place waiting for a cyclone, you are also enjoying some small things to help pass the time. 

Spontaneous Sewing Makes

Post Christmas, I did a couple of spontaneous sewing makes. I honestly thought I wouldn't want to touch a machine in ages since I had actually had a hugely productive sewing December (two Christmas Shirts (Dad & Luke), Mum's Shirt, shorts and dresses for babies and toddlers (all found here), as well as all the tedama that I churned out). But for some reason, it was totally fine for me to do these littlish things. 

Steve's gi bag for Jiujitsu was wearing thin and he needed a new one. I used the draw string from the old one and sewed up a similar design replacement in this fabulous black, gold and orange koi fabric that I'd picked up in Japan. Steve's choice! 

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It was a very straight forward sew - I added a lanyard clip for keys and sewed on a slip pocket on the inside for his phone (actually after the fact, but it was easy enough to add). it looks great, is sturdy (French seams for beauty and strength) and Steve has been using it every week.

No points for guessing the next make is for Rachel, since it's using the cow print fabric leftover from her onesie. Rachel got a new set of pens for Christmas but didn't have a pencil case big enough to put them in. We did a brain storm on design (flat or boxy, two pockets or one) and what fabric combo she wanted. We went through the box of zips - many of which I've unpicked from bags that are otherwise falling apart. 

She might have wanted to make it herself, but I was a little bit in the zone so I just sewed it all up for her. The inside is lined with a hand me down scrap from the stash (again, probably from Aunty Sue.) It's a white with small rainbow hearts, but it's quite see through, so I can't see us using it for much  other than linings.

The cool insect fabric is some that I got on sale at Spotlight a year ago. I have vauge plans for a dress (I keep going back and forth between being ok with making something for Rachel and wanting it for myself :P) but with two metres of it there was enough to sacrifice a strip for the contrast. Rachel requested the zip pulls be cow fabric and I added the lanyard clip just in case. 

Pretty straight forward, standard pencil case, making everyone happy. I also sewed up two of the standard kind of "green bag" that we use for groceries in Australia. 

Mum had given me some fabric for Christmas that I didn't think was destined for a garment of any kind. As I looked at it though, I knew it could still be useful. Our current collection of green bags are good, but I had found that when I wanted to take a cake somewhere, they were all about 2cm too short across to fit the container comfortably. New bags were in order. 

The hardest thing about these was figuring out the maths to make sure I cut them in the most effective use of the fabric. As it was, I ended up using every little piece of the 1.5m that Mum had gifted me. Zero Waste Achievement Unlocked! 

The bags are standard boxy numbers. I reinforced the base with some hard-core interfacing I had left from making obi a couple of years ago. Sides are sewn with French seams for strength. They even have little tabs on the side for looping over the bag rack at the shops. 

 I'm pleased to report that they work very well for their intended purpose.  

Christmas Sewing: Mum's Top

Back to catching up on my Christmas Sewing from 2024 (yes, I know we are in Feburary :P). Here is something pretty darn beautiful that I made for my Mum! My biggest regret is not getting proper photos. Hopefully these will give a hint of what it looked like, even if you can't see the full top. 

I saw the pattern for this as I followed Liz Haywood's work on her blog and thought it was just lovely. You can get it in her book, A Year of Zero Waste, or as a smaller instalment via her Esty page. The way the pleats were done like origami was such a drawcard for me! As far as patterns go - experienced sewer is right, but the instructions are good and the sew along video is also very detailed and handy, so well worth the purchase. 

Funny bubbly pleats waiting to be pushed out and pressed.

I did make a draft version in an old doona cover to check how the pleats would come together and the general size. I'm glad I did because it really taught me just how precise I would need to be with the pleats. Of all the Christmas makes, this was the one I started first, but after the draft I some how stalled for a while and needed to sew Dad's shirt before I was ready to go for it. 

It's like origami and sewing all in one!

The blue linen from Spotlight was fine to sew with, if a little irritating since it crushed so easily. I did have a moment when I needed to get a spool of new thread. I took the old spool to Spotlight thinking I'd just walk in, match the code (967) and then out I'd go. Little did I know that on the huge wall of thread available, the one I needed was no where to be found. 

I had a small break down, sent Steve a variety of strongly worded texts and then pulled myself together. Found the linen that I was using for the shirt on the shelf again and took it over to the threads to colour match a new thread. Crisis averted. 

The rest of the shirt came together pretty easily, but I did hesitate before I sewed the sides, wanting to do a fit check before I bound the armholes. Mum was quite accomodating and tried it on with her eyes closed so I could check. Glad I did, because I did need to lower the arm holes a bit. Thinking I was done, I sewed it all up, gave it one more press and wrapped it for Christmas. 

The back is the same as the front. So pretty!

Mum loved it, but when she went to wear it, it turned out a little too big after all. Oh well! As always, unpicking never takes as long as you fear, and it was straight forward to undo it all, sew the sides in further and then re finish it. Success all round. 

Last Min Small Makes for 2024

As school was wrapping up at the end of last year, it came to my attention that Rachel's teacher was pregnant. Sophie actually had this teacher two years ago, and I'd already sewn for her a little something for her first bub then. It was a (un-blogged) Rachel Bunny, which Sophie requested we sew. 

Since I've an affinity for sewing things for pregnant people, I thought I would get to it, though I figured I'd make something slightly more practical this time. So I dug through the stash, found just enough leftover monster material and these great humming birds from Steve's first shirt to make a couple of pairs of shorts. 

Another of Rachel's teachers (from two years ago) was also pregnant at the end of last year and Rachel still talked about her as the best teacher in the world, so I offered to make her something as well. Ironically, her name was/is Miss Bunney, so Rachel was hoping for another furry friend, but with the tight turn around in time (first week of Dec) with all the other things going on then, I just didn't have it in me. So I just made two more pairs of shorts, nearly using up all the fabric perfectly. We gave the teachers the shorts with some fabric markers so they can enjoy colouring in the monsters together.

While I was digging through the stash looking for shorts fabric, I had yet another baby in mind - one of our friends from church was expecting a little girl in early January. I happened across this scrap of fabric (I think from a donated box from Aunty Sue) that was exactly the right amount to make this little tie dress.  

Just like I made Sophie for her first Christmas. Back when she was small. The skirt felt a little long, so I added a pin tuck and it's rather sweet now. 

And then, while I was doing that, and also wrapping Christmas presents, I realised I wanted to add a little something special to my nephew Archie's present, so I used the very last of the humming birds with a couple of blue scraps down the sides for stripes to make the fabric actually fit the patter, I whipped out one last pair of Sycamore Shorts for the year. 

That takes my total of Sycamore Shorts for 2024 to 11. Not bad. 

Visa

Part of me can not believe I'm writing this post. Actually most of me can't But here we are. 

Thanks to COVID-19, the world of business has changed, so much so, that now some companies are full remote. I guess this was starting to be a thing before the pandemic of 2020, but we can't deny that a pretty much world wide mandate to stay home helped speed things along. Now, since some people can do their work remotely from their homes, countries are starting to jump in on this idea. If you can work for your Australian company in your Australian home, why can'd you do it in Italy, or Vietnam. Then, you get paid your lovely Australian dollars but have every opportunity to spend them all over your new host country. 

Digital Nomads. It's the kind of thing that makes you think of hip, young people in a van, but really, it's anyone who is working remotely and can move around. And with countries all over the place deciding they want a piece of the action - the world is your oyster.

Last year, I think at the end of February, or start of March, Japan announced that they too, would issue a Digital Nomad Visa. Not quite as long as some countries, just six months, but that's Japan for you. They are one foot in the future and one foot firmly in the past. Can't change things too quickly there. We heard about the visa and were a bit excited, a little dreamy, but also cautious. Who knew if the girls would even like a two week trip to Japan, let alone a six month stint. 

Then we went to Japan for two weeks. The girls loved it. Suddenly, doing six months was a very real option. We brainstormed back and forth about how to make it happen, when would be a good time, and what we needed to consider. Much of 2024 was research, double checking the facts and the paperwork. We couldn't apply too early, since once issued, it was only valid for three months, but it also took three to four months to process, so we couldn't apply too late, or we'd miss our desired entry window. 

It's been a whirlwind to say the least. The emotional rollercoaster of highs and lows is still chugging along, especially now. Along with the "not too early, not too late" situation, there was the "the visa is so new there isn't a box on the application form for it" problem. And also the "write down your flight details and address on the application form, but don't book your flight before you get your visa" thing. Here is the chicken and there is the egg. 

Still, we pushed through and found ourselves officially applying on the 1st of November. It was September when I went to book the application interview, hoping for October, only to find they were fully booked for six weeks and November was the best I could get. The girls had to have the day off school to be there.  We were in the consulate for about two hours, but all the forms were checked, double checked, ticked off and submitted. 

Then we waited. Three to four months is a long time of waiting and not knowing. Even though they told us "everything looks good", there was still a question mark in our minds - would they accept it? Every day that we got closer to our hopeful departure date was another day I worried that we would need to find accomodation. Or that flights would get too expensive. 

In the end, we started booking things in faith. With good cancelation policies. Our December/January was more busy than usual, not because we were going away, or because of the Japan stuff, but also because of family members in hospital (extended family, all is well now), and Steve deciding it was past time for a new job and going through not only the interview process for two potential jobs, but then also trying to find a replacement for himself. Talk about stress. 

And we continued to wait for visa news. People we saw would ask if we were excited, but it was so hard to answer, because we were, but not just yet because caution held us back. Three to four months was the processing time. Three months from the 1st of November would take us to the 1st of February, so we were hoping to hear then. Waiting and hoping. Emotional roller coaster in full swing.

On the 31st of January, Friday, at about 4:30pm, Steve got a phone call from the Consulate (well two, but he missed the first one since he was filling up his water bottle) to say that yes, our visas were approved and we could pick them up. Relief, joy, laughter, disbelief and determination for the tasks ahead. We celebrated with Japanese whisky.

For now, and for the most part, we are excited. With the flights and accomodation already booked, the only really big thing to do is find a school for the girls. It is a big thing, but I'll save it for another post. Visas are here and we are really going on this adventure!