From an early age, Judith
was fascinated with textiles, clothing, pattern making, and clothing construction. Her
Grandmother was a natural dressmaker and her Aunt was an outstanding knitter. Her Aunt
owned a shop which sold yarn, knitting supplies, and garments. Judith started at age 8
with a skirt of her own. She hasn’t stopped designing unique clothing since.
Being the Daughter of a Judge, Judith was brought up with a real work ethic and strong
values (although she did still cause havoc)! She has always been very active in education,
legislative, political, ecology and welfare study programs.
In 1964 she graduated from the U of Idaho with a BS in Home Economics.
Three children took most of her time for about 4 years, but she still found time to
politically active in the community.
Judith taught general home economics including sewing, nutrition, cooking, common sense
consumerism, and home management at the North Idaho College for 6 years. During this time
she also was active in AAUW (American Association of University Women) holding various
elected offices and traveling as a Speaker to California, Idaho, Wyoming, and Washington
D.C.
She worked as an Office Manager for a Dentist’s office for about 4 years where she
handled the appointments, records, and bookkeeping.
After much self debate about income and the trials of a single Mom, she dared to start
her own tailoring business out of her home in 1979. She developed a Client following,
hosted Style shows, reworked entire wardrobes, and kept her three teenagers fed, clothed,
and housed.
When the last of her Children left home, she moved herself and her business to Dallas,
TX. There she was able to create quality Couture clothing, learn more about the fashion
industry, associate with fabric suppliers, write a how-to wedding booklet, and fine tune a
line a wedding dresses. She still manufactures these dresses at unheard of prices!
In 1995, she couldn’t resist moving back to the Northwest to be close to her first
Grand-baby. Her business grew to not only clothing and wedding dresses, but special order
fabrics. At this time, her two oldest children taught her how to use a computer. Simple!
Judith’s wedding dresses, The J Line, went online in 1996 along with her wedding
how-to booklet, Dream Wedding. Her Daughter, Jessica, pushed her into putting information
on fabrics and fabric sources (Fabrics.net) online in 1997. Together, they have built,
worked, reworked, added to the site. Here you can find fabric information, identification,
care, sources, discussions, sewing professionals, and Judith’s expertise. If the
answer isn’t on the site, Judith will find it. They feel Fabrics.net is a service
that benefits everyone in the fabric/sewing industry including seamstresses, tailors,
retailers, wholesalers, and manufacturers.
What does the future hold for Judith? More writing, more fabrics, more involvement in
CASA, a program for children in need, more grand-babies, and more creating. Life is great!
