Four-Day Master Class

Extraordinary: Yukata Summer Kimono Workshop with Tsuyo Onodera and Maki Aizawa

August 5, 2023 - August 13, 2023
10:00 am to 5:00 pm

Master Kimono maker Tsuyo Onodera from Sendai, Japan. Picure of an older Japanese woman seated at a low table unfurling a scroll of fabric.
Master kimono maker Tsuyo Onodera carefully measures the fabric for kimono construction. Photo credit: Tomomi Kitami.

This summer FWM is offering a rare opportunity to create your own yukata, a type of summer kimono, with guidance from a master. Learn the art directly from the master kimono maker who expertly hand sewed Richard Tuttle’s edition, “Extraordinary”, produced during his 2015 residency. For the first time in Philadelphia, join Master Kimono maker Tsuyo Onodera from Sendai, Japan and her daughter Maki Aizawa, a San Francisco-based artist and cultural producer as they guide us through a step-by-step journey into the art of Japanese kimono sewing traditions—a cultural legacy Tsuyo Onodera has been dedicated to her entire life.

In this four-day workshop—taking place over two  consecutive  weekends on August 5–6 and August 12–13, 2023—learn how to sew your own yukata specific to your proportions and decorate it with screenprinting techniques. Each participant will receive a roll of tanmono fabric—specific to the yukata sewing process with its particular weight and dimensions—and learn how to mark the kimono pattern directly onto these rolls in an age-old process in which every single piece of the material is utilized.  Tsuyo Onodera and Maki Aizawa are passionate about keeping these authentic traditions alive and we’re excited to share their passion with you.

Participants only need to bring their own sewing machine to the workshop; all other materials will be provided.

Event Information

August 5, 2023 - August 13, 2023
10:00 am to 5:00 pm

The Fabric Workshop and Museum
1214 Arch Street, Philadelphia Pa 19107

$850.00 General | $750.00 FWM Members
Space is limited. Advance registration encouraged.

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About the Participants

Tsuyo Onodera is a master kimono maker who has worked in the kimono industry for more than sixty years. Her family established the Aizawa Sendai Kimono Making/Training School in the northern city of Sendai, Japan, where she still lives and works. As the head of the school, hundreds of students became licensed kimono makers under her mentorship during their five-year apprenticeships, which required students to take up residency at the school.

Maki Aizawa, a daughter of Tsuyo, is an artist and designer based in California and Asuka, Japan. Kimono-making has long been a part of Maki’s life, and she cherishes the memories of a childhood living with the students of the Aizawa Sendai Kimono Making/Training School. There, she was surrounded by all things related to sewing kimonos by hand, including a rich array of silks, brocades, cottons, pattern books, and special Japanese threads and needles. In 2021, Maki created her own brand, Kamiko, that brought together a women’s collective of licensed kimono makers in the Tohoku region of Japan. Kamiko puts a contemporary spin on kimono traditions, creating designs that can be incorporated into everyday life. Maki also leads a non-profit organization called Amu, which supports indigenous artists from Japan, and is currently writing a book on kimono making with artist Veronika Schaepers. makiaizawa.com

Together, Tsuyo and Maki, have created intensive kimono-making workshops to share with students the art of traditional kimono making. They are committed to preserving a kimono sewing tradition that is disappearing and aspire to revitalize and celebrate the specialized hand skills and techniques of this tradition. At the heart of Tsuyo and Maki’s approach is the embrace of the philosophy of minimizing waste and creating objects of enduring value, values that are embodied in the kimono making tradition.

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