Few are more talented or content than hat maker Judy Cartwright who has built a successful business over 30 years and believes she’s living in the best town in New Zealand. Despite having taken her first sewing lesson when she was in Form Three, Judy has no intention of retiring just yet.
Judy recalled that first lesson – “All the other girls knew how to thread a machine and had done sewing with their mothers,” she told me, “but I hadn’t got a clue.”
The teacher suggested she might be better off taking French lessons instead but she stayed in the class and learnt quickly. The first thing she had to make was a pillow case and after that she was away.
At the age of 14, when she wanted a pair of
