The Dolly Insider’s Sewing Adventure continues and this time we are traveling to a place that is little quirky, punky and oh so cute!
Next stop, a Momolita Pattern.
Momoko Komori is well known in the doll sewing circuit.
She hosts sewing workshops in Japan, works with doll companies, and her patterns are featured in many doll book publications.
She even holds workshops in the USA during Blythe Cons.
To say I have a Dolly Sewing Crush on Momolita, would be an understatement.
But if you’re like me and are unable to attend her workshops, the next best thing is to buy her patterns in her Etsy store.
We bought the Sleeveless Dress pattern for Blythe, it’s written in English, only has 3 pieces and is listed for beginners.
Sadly during this sewing journey we ran into many potholes and detours along the way.
Let The Journey Begin . . .
Right from the start we ran into issues because there is:
- No printing instructions
- No info about what size paper to use or scale to print and
- No ruler to verify if the pattern printed correctly
Without these notes, it could alter the outcome of the project.
We 1st printed the pattern on 8.5 X 11 inch paper and the paper was too small, cutting off the pattern.
Luckily we had A4 paper on hand and the pattern printed correctly.
Takeaway:
- Use A4 paper
- Print at 100% scale
Once we took care of the printing, we encountered another road bump, there is no material/tool list.
The ruffle alone needed 70cm about 28in of fabric.
We didn’t have enough fabric for the ruffle so we had to use a different fabric to make it.
And we also didn’t realize we needed a special tool for turning the fabric right side out.
Takeaway:
- Make sure you have enough fabric
- Consider investing in craft forceps
Navigating The Notches & Turning The Fabric
It took us awhile to understand Step 1 of the instructions because the lining and the bodice pieces where the same color in the photo, so it made it difficult to see what was happening.
Once we made the connection of what was going on, sewing the bodice went smoothly . . . until we came to the step on clipping notches.
The pattern doesn’t have any markings for clipping notches and this made us anxious, since we’re new to sewing tiny, but we manged to figure it out.
Once the notches where clipped it was time to turn the fabric right side out, sounds easy right?
The instructions say to use craft forceps to turn the fabric right side out.
We didn’t own any, so we improvised and used tweezers.
It was a struggle pulling the fabric right side out through a tiny hole, but after this experience we added craft forceps to our wish-list.
Oops, We Experienced A Flat Tire aka Gathers
This dress features 2 gathers, along the hem and top edge of the dress.
Sewing gathers is a technique that we find challenging, so we had to watch a few videos to understand the method.
We’re getting better but know, it will take a few more projects before we feel confident with them.
The End Is In Sight
Included with the pattern is a sock pattern, but there were no instructions on how to make the socks.
Fortunately we made socks before and were able to complete the project.
But for new sewist, I can imagine being lost without any instructions.
Is it Beginner Friendly?
The Sleeveless Dress pattern for Blythe has techniques and instructions that seem to target an intermediate sewist.
The pattern was not as beginner friendly as we had hoped.
I think a beginner would feel lost and confused completing this project.
But hopefully with these sewing notes it will be easier to navigate around the potholes and detours.
Wrapping It Up
Looking back on the journey, it was a good experience.
It was an opportunity to gauge our strengths and we identified areas for improvement.
It’s a super cute dress and Blythe adores her new looks. 🙂
We will definitely sew more Momolita patterns.
If you want to sew this dress for your dolly, you can get it here.
We Want To Hear From You:
Have you sewn a Momolita pattern before?
If so, what did you make and how was your journey?
We can’t wait to hear from you!
Stay Up To Date With Momoko Komori (Momolita):
Save The Dolly Insider’s Sewing Adventure: Sleeveless Blythe Dress Pattern by Momolita to Your Favorite Pinterest Board!
Your dress came out wonderful! You might be interested to know that Momolita is the designer behind a couple of the older Doll Coordinate Recipe pattern books. They are shown on her Japanese website: http://www1.odn.ne.jp/momolita/
Hey Jess,
Thanks so much for the kind comment, it makes us so happy to hear!
And thanks for the info about the books, I seen the covers but never knew Momolita was the designer behind them.
Time to add them to my eBay wishlist. 🙂
I appreciate you taking the time to leave a comment!
~Kat
Sewing adventures! I just started learning how to sew, so I’m super glad you’re doing these series! I’ll be coming back for tips for my own sewing adventures.
The dresses turned out great, even with a few bumps in the road. I especially like the light blue one.
I’m not familiar with Momolita patterns, but they look awesome. I don’t have any Blythes, so I probably won’t try them myself, but I’m looking forward to seeing more of them here!
No way Neon, that’s so exciting to hear that you’re also starting on a sewing adventure!
Which doll do you want to make clothes for?
We plan to offer more sewing adventures in 2020 and we would love to know what issues or questions you may have when sewing tiny.
This will help us in deciding what to offer and talk about in future articles.
Thank you, I’m glad you like the dress!
Good luck on your adventure and do keep us posted! 🙂
~Kat
I have many dolls who need new clothes. Mainly my Smart Doll Felicity and my first resin BJD – Withdoll Emma (these two are the main reason why I don’t have any dolly money left this year). I also want to sew for my Pullips. I love Azone’s clothing, but I also think that sewing for Azone dolls will be fun, so I want to eventually get to that, too. But I need more practice, they’re so tiny!
My first sewing adventure was an off-shoulder t-shirt and a skirt for my Smart Doll (I used Requiem Art Designs patterns Shabby Chic for the t-shirt and Cupcake Lolita for the skirt), and the most troublesome part was definitely working with the thin stretchy knit for the t-shirt. From copying pattern on it, to cutting the pieces, to sewing, it was a battle. I’m a beginner in sewing in general, not just tiny, so that definitely didn’t help…
Uh, sorry for the wall of text… Anyways, I’m a totally new to sewing, so absolutely any tips or advice will be super useful to me!
Hey Neon,
No worries, I appreciate you sharing your sewing adventure with us.
When we were reading your story it felt like you were describing our story because we are going through the same exact struggles when it comes to copying a pattern onto fabric.
We are experimenting with different tracing methods and hope to share our results.
Congrats on adding Smart Doll Felicity & Withdoll Emma to your family, they are both beautiful.
Thanks again for taking the time to share your tiny sewing woes with us!
~Kat