Category Archives: Judy Day’s creations

Beach Portrait Dress and Vintage Skirt

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Children’s Corner Louise, modified

 

Judy Day attended Lezette Thomason’s Children’s Corner Sewing School in June and had a fabulous time.  She just finished this classic white beach portrait dress which was one of the projects.   Any beach would be enhanced with Judy’s pretty seven-year old  granddaughter, Courtney, wearing this dress.

Children’s Corner pattern Louise was redrafted for this garment.  Judy reported that it is embellished with 12 tucks on the front, 18 on the back,  three gathered tiers with tucks, separated by lace. She thoroughly enjoyed stitching this project.

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I fell in love with the dress and the idea of a beach portrait for my own seven year-old granddaughter, Laurel.  Instantly, I remembered this exquisite white skirt, purchased at our church bazaar several years ago for no good reason other than its loveliness and potential.  Of course, I wonder on what occasions the  original owner with her 22″ waist wore this elaborate skirt.  Vintage textiles always pique my curiosity.

Continue reading

1st Communion Accessories

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This is a continuation of the previous post about the exquisite First Communion dress Judy Day made for her granddaughter Courtney. Details of the dress, slip and veil were included  there while this post focuses on the extensive accessories–Bible cover, garment bag, hanger and purse–that make the ensemble  all the more special.  In Judy’s  words:

 

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My parents, Courtney’s paternal  great grandparents, gave her the First Communion Bible. It was smocked and beaded by my mother, Wanda Stewart,  in  the same diamond pattern as the dress.  The beaded cross on the Bible was formed by sewing the pearl glass beads  in place  after the smocking was completed.  The instructions for the Bible cover can be found in the April, 2007 issue of Creative Needle  magazine.  Continue reading

Courtney’s First Communion Dress

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Sewing for children and grandchildren is a true labor of love.  But like birthing a baby, some labors are longer and harder than others.  Always though, the resulting product is worth the effort.

 

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First communion dresses rank right up there with christening gowns in the expenditure  of labor and love. With the able assistance of her mother, Wanda Stewart, the ensemble that Judy Day created  for her granddaughter Courtney is the result of months of stitching as well as proof positive of  immeasurable grandmotherly love.

The set grew to include so many items—dress, slip, purse, garment bag, hanger, headpiece and Bible cover.  The many interesting and intricate details will require more than one post, so please come back for the final installment.  Each piece is exquisite, so you won’t want to miss any of it.  Continue reading

Lots of Dots Bed and Bath

There are so many great ideas and techniques used in this well coordinated bedroom and bath.  Judy Day collaborated with her daughter, Beth, to create all the components, each of which included lots of dots. 

Inspiration was provided by a pricey piece of silky brown fabric with blue three dimensional fringed circles.   Beth asked her mother, Judy Day, to reproduce these circles for accents on the bedroom curtains she planned to make.

The fringed motif on the left is part of the decorator fabric.  The blue circle on the right was created by Judy using Babylock’s MasterWorks 2.  The photo is not very sharp, but even so it is clear that Judy’s smaller blue circle is nearly identical to the other.

Judy studied the fringed circles and recognized that they were no more than zig zag stitches radiating from a  center circle.  She digitized the design in Babylock’s MasterWorks 2, clipped the bobbin thread behind the zig zags, clipped the loose loops to make fringe and then used the fringed fabric circles to cover buttons.

Beth made the curtains, using a simplicity pattern for the valance.

Shortly after deciding on the blue dots/brown silky fabric theme Beth happened upon the brown towels with blue dots, along with a matching bath mat at a department store.  Continue reading

Kids Sew Jumpers

6 year-old Kennedy hard at work in her Mimi’s sweat shop

Few activities delight a sewing Nana more than sewing with a grandchild.  Of course, we encourage this interest in all of our grandchildren, but some take to it like the proverbial duck to water.

Six year old Kennedy is one of those ducks.  Not only does her mother sew fabulous things for  her, but her grandmother, Judy Day, is an extremely accomplished “sewist” who sews almost around the clock for her three grandchildren.  Kennedy has reaped the benefits of matriarchal stitchers and observed that it is fun.

The little Snow Princess with her doll–doesn’t she look proud?

This summer, she and her cousin Courtney spent time with their grandparents and loved working  in the sewing room.  The girls made matching sundresses and were thrilled with the results.   ( The proud six-year old cousins will be featured with their sundresses in a later post.)

Recently, Kennedy spent a week with  “Mimi” and “Papa” and was more than eager to tackle another project or two.

Careful planning and extensive preparations are critical when sewing with children.  Having years of experience teaching sewing classes,  Judy knew how to guarantee her little granddaughter’s success.

Her choice of materials and pattern were suitable for Kennedy’s sewing skills. Polar fleece is a forgiving fabric and the jumper pattern was the quick and easy Lucy from Children’s Corner.

For American Girls doll Rebecca Judy drafted a similar style using a bodice pattern from Martha’s Doll Dressing book.  It features patterns for dolls 13″ -19″.  Continue reading

Perfectly Pink Christmas X 4

 

4 matching Christmas cousins

4 pink beauties

 

Judy Day never ceases to amaze me with her breathtaking creations and the vast number of projects she designs and completes.  Her grandchildren are so incredibly fortunate.  And it sounds like at the tender ages of 6 and 7,  they have begun to recognize the beauty of the garments Judy makes for them.

Here is Judy’s story about her perfectly pink Christmas: 

These dresses were in my mind years before I ever put needle to fabric.  I saw this dress in the Sept./Oct. 2000 issue of Creative Needle…now that I look at the date, it was before the girls were born!
Kennedy

Kennedy with her matching AG doll

 
When I see a magazine article I really like, it goes on the corner of my cutting table for future ideas.  Continue reading

Cousin Christmas Tree Dresses

 Happy Thanksgiving!

Judy Day's two granddaughters and two granddolls

Judy Day’s two granddaughters and two granddolls

While most of us are likely busy stitching Christmas outfits or gifts, I thought you would enjoy seeing one of Judy Day’s outfits from a Christmas past.

My dear friend Judy Day made these for her two granddaughters a few years ago, along with matching dresses for their American Girls dolls.  And of course, Judy ALWAYS makes hair bows for girls and dolls. How cute are  these little Christmas darlings?

 

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A few years ago, Judy attended the Martha Pullen’s school when I was teaching.  We  both spotted a dress like these made by master teacher Lezette Thomason.  Judy proclaimed right then and there that she would be making similar dresses for Courtney and Kennedy that next Christmas.  And she did.

Judy started with the jumper pattern in Martha’s Favorite Applique’s by Martha Pullen.  She lengthened it, because the girls’ mothers like the longer, mid-calf length.  Then she drafted a simple Christmas tree for the applique’.

The jumpers and trees are both featherwale corderoy.  The trees are decorated with buttons.   And the girls themselves are cute as a button.

Thanks, Judy!

Model Bedroom

 

Home dec projects appeal to everyone.  Whether or not we have little ones to sew for, each of us has a bedroom where we seek a calm and quiet atmosphere, away from the demands of our busy days.

This model bedroom was done for the Springfield, MO,  Babylock dealer, BSewInn, by my friend Judy Day.  Her unfailing good taste, skillful color coordination and attention to detail make this model bedroom a soothing refuge.  It is both classic and contemporary.

There are several other items in this grouping, but they will be posted at a later date.  There is so much meat in the pieces shown that any more items would make for a very lengthy post. Continue reading

Ladybug Garment Bag

Freckles wants Judy to stay home!

We arrived home last night about 10 p.m. after the 12 hour drive from the mountains.  I am still exhausted.  There is no joy greater than spending quality time with my three grandchildren, but there is no greater Nana energy drain than my three grandchildren.  So once again, I am relying on the beautiful projects of my dear friend, Judy, for a post.

 This is a really neat project, done with Judy’s universal good taste and excellent workmanship.

I love the way she took two totally unrelated items and brought them into the same family.  This surely looks like an expensive matched set to me.

I’ll let her tell you about it.

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Ladybug garment bag–I purchased a plain black garment bag to embroider to match my ladybug luggage.  I did the monogram in Masterworks II.  The ladybug on the leaf is a BabyLock design which  I sized it larger in Designer’s Gallery SizeWorks.

The design was stitched on my BabyLock BMP8 with adhesive stabilizer in the hoop.  The bag was  floated over the hoop and basted to the stabilizer instead of actually hooping the bag.

School Bags

It’s back to school time again.  Mamas and Nanas have been sewing for some time to get ready for that first day of school.  Judy and her daughter Amy spent a week together sewing and these bags are just a few of their projects.  As usual, they are darling and so NOW!

The bags and matching lunch boxes were on sale at Gymboree.  One of the girls had this identical bag (without the monogram) last fall and wanted another just like it.  This year, she and her cousin both got the matching lunch boxes.

Back packs like these are tricky.  Make sure that you can hoop up a portion of the bag to embroider.  I’ve been looking for one for Laurel and most have an inside pocket or some impediment to embroidery.

I’m way behind schedule, but I’m off to Gymboree this weekend to see if I can find anything like this.  What a great start to 1st grade for these precious little girls.

What have you sewn for back to school this year?