Writer + Maker

Exploring craft, couture, and handmade style

  • A Coat-Cape is the New Piece I Didn’t Know I Needed

    A Coat-Cape is the New Piece I Didn’t Know I Needed

    Is it a coat? Is it a cape? Well, it’s actually a fabulous hybrid — a coat-cape made of felted wool fabric. With its swingy silhouette, stand collar, and lantern sleeves, it is comfortable and easy to wear, yet so stylish. I love capes with their simple style, but sometimes they can be a bit…

  • Farewell to Manzanar: A Relevant Read 52 Years Later

    Farewell to Manzanar: A Relevant Read 52 Years Later

    Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston, author of 1973″s “Farewell to Manzanar”, the classic book about the World War II incarceration of Japanese-Americans, passed away last month. I had heard about the book since I was a child but never had the chance to read it until recently. What a powerful story. Houston’s memoir about her family’s experiences…

  • The Magic of the Color Camel

    The Magic of the Color Camel

    Camel is a magical color. Timeless and elegant, the color describes the rich shades of a camel’s coat. While it hasn’t been a popular color in my wardrobe, I now have two articles of camel-colored clothing in my closet — my Retro Camel Coat and Connelly Cardigan — so I decided to explore the history…

  • The Hand-knit Connelly Cardigan and its Twisty Cables

    The Hand-knit Connelly Cardigan and its Twisty Cables

    The Connelly Cardigan is my latest handknit project. This visually stunning design features a twisty cable pattern for the body and a simple 1×1 rib stitch for the elegant neckline and underarm. The resulting fabric is highly textured, ultra squishy, and dense, with a wonderful weight and drape. Worked from the top down, the neckline…

  • A New Camel Coat with Retro Style

    A New Camel Coat with Retro Style

    My new retro camel coat is the first camel-colored article of clothing I’ve ever owned. Yes, you heard it right. I’ve never gravitated to brown colors — always black or gray. So this new make in such a classic and timeless color is a first for me! Reissued Burda Pattern from 1955 When I saw…

  • The Keeper of the Super Secret Teriyaki Sauce

    The Keeper of the Super Secret Teriyaki Sauce

    My Obaachan’s (grandmother’s) super secret teriyaki sauce is legendary in my family. It has the perfect balance of sweet and salty and an unparalleled depth of flavor. Despite the tenacious efforts of various friends and family members over the years, she managed to keep the recipe a closely held secret. At least, I thought she…

  • My New Skirt: Reverse Applique in the Alabama Chanin Way

    My New Skirt: Reverse Applique in the Alabama Chanin Way

    It’s finished! My first project using the Alabama Chanin reverse applique technique is done and dusted! The skirt is made up of four identical panels. Each panel has a slight flare at the hem, giving the skirt a nice A-line shape when stitched together. The hem is left unfinished, as the jersey knit fabric will…

  • The Nobel Peace Prize 2024 Shines a Light on Nuclear Taboo

    The Nobel Peace Prize 2024 Shines a Light on Nuclear Taboo

    This past week, the Nobel Peace Prize 2024 was awarded to Nihon Hidankyo, a Japanese grassroots movement of atomic bomb survivors from Hiroshima and Nagasaki for “its efforts to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons and for demonstrating through witness testimony that nuclear weapons must never be used again.” These efforts strive to maintain…

  • The New Shirtdress: Femininity and Freedom are Always in Style

    The New Shirtdress: Femininity and Freedom are Always in Style

    The shirtdress is the ultimate one-and-done garment. It is comfortable to wear, looks pulled together with a few key accessories, and doesn’t require time spent in front of a mirror agonizing whether an outfit “matches”. It is a classic that is always in style. Speaking of classic, who can forget Audrey Hepburn’s iconic shirtdress moment…

  • Wearing my Handknit Twinset in the Wild

    Wearing my Handknit Twinset in the Wild

    I finished knitting the Woolfolk Pringle Twinset back in June but didn’t have a chance to wear it out until now because the weather has been so warm! As I wrote in a prior post, I love how this set turned out. The Woolfolk Tynd yarn knits up into a soft, drapey, and lightweight fabric.…

  • Writing a Novel is my Ongoing Challenge

    Writing a Novel is my Ongoing Challenge

    Back in my 20s, just a year or so out of school, I found that I already needed a break from my job as a science writer. While I didn’t have the option of taking a real break – as in, quitting my job – I was able to take a mental one by doing…

  • Learning How to Reverse Applique the Alabama Chanin Way

    Learning How to Reverse Applique the Alabama Chanin Way

    I have to admit that, when Alabama Chanin’s unique reverse applique t-shirts gained popularity in the late 2000s, I wasn’t a fan. Unfinished edges (even though cotton jersey doesn’t need to be finished), uneven hand stitching, and exposed thread tails — the details that others found charming went against my tailored style aesthetic. I couldn’t…