Sewing lesson with Momolita ^o^/

Last December, I was very fortunate to be able to get into a class hosted by Momoko sensei in Tokyo! I am addressing Momoko san as Sensei, as she is the teacher I am learning new tips and skills from. :) Please check out her website – http://www.momolita.com

I was very interested in attending Momoko sensei’s sewing class for a long time then, but there was never a right time to do it, until last December when I had a short trip to Tokyo, after visiting Singapore. :)

Momoko sensei has been designing and sewing doll (and human!) clothing for a long time, and is often featured in publications within Tokyo and I really love the details she put into her work! She also learnt english and in my humble opinion, speak it relatively well to give her lessons in English too! ^o^ I managed to visit her booth once during a Doll Show in Tokyo to say hello in person, all her clothing had sold out very quickly within the morning.

I was lucky enough to meet Momoko sensei again in Seattle and got to buy something from her in person at Blythe con Seattle too! I also finally had the courage to trouble her to see if I can attend a lesson during my trip last year! (Thank you so much for adding me to your class!) Momoko sensei’s lessons are held in different parts of Japan, and sometimes different parts of the world, during Blythe doll conventions! She is also intending to attend BlytheCon Vancouver this year ^O^/

The class I took was in a little rental area called Usagiya, there was a total of 3 Japanese students and 2 international students, plus myself. The shop space is rented out for other uses as well other than Momoko sensei’s lessons I believe. I was unable to take a proper photo of the shop front haha! However below is what I saw outside the station as I made my way with the help of mobile wifi to the address I was given.

Momoko sensei kindly prepared the notes and materials and there was 2 sewing machine available for us to rotate and use. But if you have a chance to attend Momoko sensei’s lesson, you will probably want to bring a small sewing kit, with pins, sewing needles, scissors to cut fabric, maybe a small scissors to cut thread, and disappearing ink pen, (Also, put them into your check in luggage, NOT carry on)! I forgot to check with Momoko sensei if I needed to bring those items with me and ended up having to borrow from everyone ^^; (oops!)

The notes have coloured pictures in step by step and parts of the fabric and materials are already cut out for us to use.

To speed up the process sometimes Momoko sensei would have finished part of the pieces :) If we made any mistakes she will patiently correct us. (^o^)>

My Japanese is still pretty poor, so I could only try my best to speak to the other Japanese students, but they were all really kind and patient as well, just that they were not as keen on communicating via social media so I didn’t push for a contact, but I managed to make friends with the other 2 international students, Ami and Janet and added them on facebook haha! We talked about how wow, this is a really awesome experience, since we not only get to learn to make something, we get to keep it and interact with the teacher and students! I only wish I live in Japan so I can do this more often! :P

Below are photos of a few of the dolls present at our class :D

During lunch hour, Momoko sensei brought us to a nice little restaurant called Cafe Tora, (I couldn’t find the address but found the shop on street view!) and I had a very delicious Omulette rice, an ice coffee with a caramel creme dessert for 1500 yen, it was super yummy! :) I still cannot believe I only paid 1500 yen for the meal, so hopefully I didn’t miss something during payment ^o^; (I will be so embarrassed lol!)

The framed picture reminds me of a Blythe doll haha!

Cabbage potage soup

Janet on my right ordered Hamburg set :3

My delicious omurice (omelette fried rice)

I missed out when I did not order a cappucino haha! There’s a little bear face on the foam!

I wasn’t expecting a dessert at the end so… if someone treated and I didn’t thank you I’m going to dig a hole and hide! ^^;;;;

Cute things in the cafe decor ^o^

Back to work!

I managed to finish most of the set of clothing, except for the socks (haha!) I really loved the fox scarf, and was trilled to be able to make it! By the time we were done, it was already dark out. I had somewhere to go to before heading back to my rental apartment so I bid them farewell a little awkwardly and head out :)

Below from our left is Janet’s sassy girl, middle – my Ice Rune (adopted from a long time friend in Singapore Hesedetang) and Ami’s pretty custom girl from Thailand? They had to leave earlier so there wasn’t a larger group picture ^^;

Below are custom dolls belonging to the Japanese ladies who attended the class with us :D

Maybe some of you wonder, I already sew for dolls, why do I want to attend a sewing lesson? But you know I would LOVE to learn more and improve my skills. I did not take a formal sewing school and I think my skills still have room for improvement, and I really hope I will be able to create more beautiful things in future! :)

One last thing, Momoko sensei finally opened her etsy shop to sell her sewing instructions in e-format (without materials, but you can write to her on etsy to inquire how to purchase materials from her if they are available) Her etsy shop is PunkyQuirkyCute :) You can actually purchase the same pattern and instructions in electronic format for the dress I learnt to make, at her shop. ^o^/

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed this blog entry as much as I enjoyed my experience!

2 replies
  1. kuraikawai
    kuraikawai says:

    waaaa!! so nice!! i had so much fun when I met Momolita in Barcelona! she is so skilled! :33 I wouldn’t hesitate to attend to one of her classes again! Too bad I don’t collect Blythe dolls, but she told me her Momoko patterns fit Pullip quite well, so I was able togged some patterns that size, just that I didn’t had time to sew them yet!

    • chun
      chun says:

      If you ever have a chance to attend her lesson, you can tell her what doll you have – example pulip, she may have the pattern for pulip available for the class :D

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