at the talent our SPSASG members have. At the Oct. 2 Sew & Sews NG meeting, we had 2 of our members present a trunk show of their creative passion. Today I’m writing about Judy Lucas (and I’ll write about Michelle Haley in another blog).
I visited Judy and her husband Tom in their beautiful home in Lacey so I could get a closer look at these remarkable projects ( and I’ll be honest, a peek at her sewing room!) Judy is a retired school principal and has channeled her energy into many things, one of them landscape design with fabric.
A friend asked Judy to create a memorable wall hanging of the friend’s time in Turkmenistan, so from a large variety of photos and research, Judy created this multi-dimensional picture. Most of the idea and shapes are made directly by Judy, the buildings and mountains cut from fabric to match what she sees. The camels and horses are computer pictures printed on fabric and the red poppies are 3D, double-sided fabric pieces tacked to the background.
For Yosemite Falls, Judy designed this by looking at photos to get the correct depth perception. Tom suggested it wasn’t complete without animals, so they were added. So many of the fabrics were already printed with woodsy or watery things that she was able to fussy-cut and place them for a natural look.
I just love this autumn home – the pattern was purchased at GeeGee’s in Yelm, but Judy took poetic license and, using a printed fabric background that looks like a walk in the woods, did the house and yard to place in the picture. I was fascinated by all the details – the scarecrow’s shirt is 3D, the sunflowers are made from yo-yos, the crows on the fence are a black sparkly fabric that makes them shine, the porch pumpkins have googly eyes, the falling leaves are again done with the double-sided fabric tacked to the picture to make them so realistic. Venturing into a new medium, the tree trunk on the left is made from wool!
This is a beautiful door-hanging that is tall – again, the fabrics were chosen using colors that were already blended, and then cut and layered to be realistic. Judy likes to use Steam-a-Seam Lite to place her design pieces.
It was a pleasure getting to know Judy better, and see her in her element – she shared that she’s ready to do more machine embroidery (she’s already very good at that) which she will utilize in her landscapes. Thanks for reading today and I hope you’re as inspired as I am by the possibilities of just looking at a photo and recreating it on fabric.
South Puget Sound Chapter 