Report on 7 March 2015 QSG of NSW talk by Judy Day

Judy Day was The Quilt Study Group of NSW’s first guest speaker of the year on Saturday 7^th March 2015. 

Judy’s mother was a dressmaker and a sewing perfectionist, whose skills Judy believes she inherited. Judy loves handwork and has been a quilter for over 25 years. Her miniature quilts range in style from antique reproductions to Hawaiian, 1930’s, 19th Century red and green quilts and copies of early cot quilts. Judy shared more than 30 of her beautiful miniature quilts with us and described in detail what inspired their creation and exactly how they were made.

Judy has won many prizes for her quilts at quilt shows in Australia, as well as a number of prizes at The American Quilter’s Society quilt shows in USA. Two of her miniature quilts are exhibited in the “Oh WOW! Miniature Quilts Gallery “ in The National Quilt Museum in Paducah, Kentucky USA.

Judy believes that patience, attention to detail and precision is important in making miniature quilts. She loves antique quilts but said she couldn’t hope to reproduce as many as she would like to in a lifetime, so by making them in miniature she can produce more. 

Judy’s advice for those wanting to make miniature quilts included sharing details about the threads, needles, fabrics and assembly techniques she uses.   

Most of her quilt patterns are taken from pictures of old quilts found in books. First Judy enlarges the picture using a photocopier (usually 300%) and then she drafts the pattern by using tracing paper. To select the most appropriate fabric Judy studies those used in the original picture using a magnifier. Nowadays she tends to appliqué her quilts as a whole cloth on muslin – even a beautiful clamshell quilt she showed us was made by this method. 

Please join us for the next QSG of NSW talk on the 2nd May 2015. Trudy Brodie will talk about all types of Strip Pieced Quilts.