Judith Matteo can’t imagine her life without sewing.
Matteo, 73, followed her lifelong passion
It all began for Matteo when she was a child learning sewing from her great-aunt Josephine Hoke.
“I can remember occasions when I was little, when she would be sitting at her machine, and I would be playing with bits of fabric, a needle and thread underneath the table,” Matteo said.
When Matteo was 23, Hoke bought her a sewing machine — her first —a Singer Golden Touch and Sew, which she used to craft her own wedding dress. Over the years, she’s become accustomed to machine sewing, embroidery by hand and macramé.
Matteo and her husband, Anthony, have lived in Northfield since 1977, and when they constructed the garage in the mid 1980s, Matteo got her own sewing workshop.
Matteo’s craft is highly encouraged by her family, who regularly provide her with fabric, patterns and sewing ideas. Her workshop, located in the loft, is complete with a cutting table her husband built her and a spool rack built by her father, Jacob Smith.
In fact, whenever Judith and Anthony Matteo take a day trip, they chart out fabric stores along the way, and Anthony is constantly on the lookout for new fabric shops while traveling for work.
For years, Judith Matteo primarily focused on sewing for family members and friends. Then, four years ago, Matteo’s friend Patty asked her to repurpose her late mother’s wedding gown into scarves, Christmas ornaments and a ringbearer’s pillow for her own daughter’s wedding.
“It was a mess,” Matteo said of the gown. But, with her extensive experience as a seamstress, Matteo was able to transform the dress into mementos for Patty and her family members. One of the scarves was given to Patty’s father.
“He said to me, ‘Everytime I put that scarf on, I feel like I’m being hugged,’” Matteo said, as it allowed him to remember his beloved wife. “I thought ‘That’s it, I’ve got to keep doing this.’”
The inspiration she received from giving the gown a new life compelled Matteo to start her business, Judith’s Heirlooms.
“I like to make anything that’s going to make somebody happy, hopefully with memories or mementos,” Matteo said. “Those are my favorite kinds of things to make.”
However, Matteo is in the business of repurposing old heirlooms into new mementos. She doesn’t restore garments.
Since she began her business, Matteo has made pillows and Christmas stockings out of neckties, baby bibs from towels and “hankie bonnets,” where she takes an old handkerchief, adds lace and ribbon and repurposes it as a baby’s bonnet.
Hankie bonnets are a personal favorite of Matteo’s. Later in life, they can be turned into a handkerchief again, and boys, once grown, can give the hankies to their wives at their weddings.
“I get big hugs,” Matteo said of making hankie bonnets.
Another big part of Matteo’s business is repurposed grain bags, which she turns into purses and grocery bags.
“They don’t recycle these,” she said of the grain bags. “(I thought) ‘We’ve got to find something to do with them.’”
Matteo sells the bags, Raggedy Ann dolls, pillowcase dolls, aprons, potholders, holiday decorations and more at the Northfield Farmer’s Market, held on Thursdays from 3 to 6 p.m. on Main Street, which ends next week. She can be reached at 413-498-2631 or visit Judithsheirlooms@comcast.net.
“I always have something going, whether I’m sitting in front of the TV or out (in my workshop),” she said.
Matteo hopes to imbue her passion for sewing in others, too, and offers one-on-one classes to interested students.
“I just can’t imagine my life without sewing.”