Well, It's All Over

I now have time to breathe again.

The wedding was Saturday, we had people in town beginning the Tuesday before, and finally got rid of everyone on Sunday.

There were some things that went really well, and some things that made me want to light things on fire.

If anyone who reads this blog and are in St. Louis and planning a wedding, I these are the places that we had a great experience with:

1. Our photographer. We used Guillermo Gomez from St. Louis Color. He had 2 assistants with him, made fantastic recommendations for locations for photos before the wedding, as well as some great ideas for the photos themselves. He essentially dismantled the chapel's pews to get the shots that he wanted, and must have taken 4000 frames. Seriously. And his prices are reasonable (remember, I used to be a wedding photographer, I know what this shit costs). He also will still do the "old style" leather albums for you, even though EVERYONE else has moved to the "coffee table" style books with the pages printed digitally.

Photographing at City Museum:


Photographing at the Chapel:


2. Photo locations. We went to the City Museum. And while they did charge us all to get in (Guillermo said that is the first time that has happened with him. But hey, we get it. Times are tough all over), they did not place any restrictions on what we could do and where we could go, even essentially blocking the main staircase for a while. There was another wedding party there just before us, and you essentially become a part of the attraction. We opened up velvet ropes and went wherever we wanted to. We climbed on the exhibits. Sat on window sills. And no one said a word. Same thing at Union Station. We blocked the stairs to the Grand Hall, the main entrance so we could use the lighted floor...and no one said a word.

More at City Museum:



At Union Station:



3. Restaurants and Bars. We had our rehearsal dinner at Blueberry Hill, and since we had so many people in town we also hosted a dinner at Momo's and also a brunch at Sasha's. I can't say ENOUGH about how great the staff was at all the locations. Our party ended up larger than expected at Blueberry Hill and they totally took it in stride. Momo's gave us a room to ourselves, and our waiter was amazing. They put up with all KINDS of noise and didn't say a word. And talk about putting up with a raft of shit...Sasha's. We have gone there every time "the girls" are in town and every time they put up with noise, rowdiness, to much wine drinking, and still don't have our photos on the wall as "perma-banned." After the rehearsal dinner, we went as a group to the Pin Up Bowl. They didn't really know that they were hosting a wedding party, so I can't speak to that, but I can say that they are a consistently fun place to go, the prices are reasonable, and everyone always has a good time. We also showed up completely unannounced for lunch at India Palace, and they pulled together a huge table for us in record time. Not to mention they have the most awesome food of all time. I could eat there every week. Oh, wait, I DO eat there every week!!!

At Sashas:


Delicious Dreamsicle Martinis at the Pin Up Bowl:


At Momo's:



At Blueberry Hill:


4. Salon on the Avenue. We went there to get the bridesmaid's hair done on the morning of the wedding. They had coffee and snacks ready for us, they did the hair in record time, and didn't even flinch when we went next door to Straub's for wine and food.


5. The reception hall. We had a fantastic experience with The Franklin Room. They were amenable to most of the craziness that we wanted (including letting us bring in our own hurricanes provided they were served from their bar). They are super-reasonable. The only drawback would be for smaller wedding parties....while their price per person is fantastic, and includes the open bar, they do have a 200-person minimum. We nearly made it. All but three tables were occupied, and it was set up for 200. The food was good, although a limited menu. But that is the trade-off for such a reasonable price. They had fantastic servers, they kept everything on schedule, and let us in the Thursday before to decorate and set out favors on the tables. I can't say enough about how great the Franklin Room folks were.

Decorating at the Franklin Room:


At the reception:


6. The dresses. Since 5 of the 6 bridesmaids were from out of town, we used David's Bridal...because they couldn't have gotten into town to try dresses on anywhere else. It had to be a chain. We also bought my dress there, as well as my mother's and grandmother's dress. They put up with me trying on basically every dress in the store (two times) and the alterations department at the Sunset Hills location is amazing. You couldn't even tell where the dresses had been altered. And they were altered A LOT.


7. The florist. I used Hollyhock's in Overland. They did a beautiful job and at an incredibly reasonable price. They were actually my second call. The first florist basically told me to go fuck myself when I said the wedding was on Valentine's Day. I won't name names, but you know who you are, large, well-known florist at the intersection of Clayton and Big Bend. Next to the Greek grocery. They claimed that they "don't do" weddings on Valentine's Day. I asked "Really? Really. For money and everything? You don't do it?" They told me that no florist would do a wedding on Valentine's Day. Well, not only did Hollyhock's do it, they told me that the Valentine's Day thing was a load of bullshit, because when V-Day falls on a Saturday, the busy day is actually the Friday before....because everyone wants the flowers delivered to the office, so they can show off.

The list of things that I am less than pleased about is considerably shorter, but most of it is just that their services pale in comparison to how awesome the other places were.

1. The cake. I won't complain too hard here because I asked for something odd and specific, and what I wanted would have been better done in fondant, and I hate fondant, so I hobbled myself there. On the plus side, the cake was delicious. It was red velvet, with cream cheese filling. It was not dry in the least bit. On the other hand, it was smaller than I expected. That is because when you go into their shop, all the sample cakes are GIGANTIC. What they don't tell you is those cakes serve 350-450 people. I ordered a cake for 160 and it looked MINIATURE in comparison. OK, I get it, that is my problem. But, what isn't my problem is the fact that they didn't match the icing to the swatches that I took them, and they slapped some cheap mardi gras beads on them rather than doing it in frosting LIKE I ASKED. The fleur de lis' on the sides were also supposed to be white, but hey, I guess they had to be purple and green since they didn't do ANYTHING ELSE on the cake like I asked them to. It wasn't exactly ugly. It just wasn't what I wanted. So I won't recommend them. I also won't tell you who the bakers are, because they did great jobs for other friends of mine.

The "Meh" Cake:



2. The chapel. While the chapel was gorgeous and the rehearsal and ceremony went smoothly, we suffered from a complete lack of communication from the Event Services Office at Wash U. OK, so they had a change in staff. I get that. They moved to a new building. OK, I understand that, too. But we paid $300.00 an hour to use that place. The least they could have done was not force me to chase them down for information 2 days before the wedding. A call, even a week before, would have been nice. On the other hand, the chapel is gorgeous, and they let us do whatever the hell we pleased in the time that we were there.

The Chapel:


3. The Shoes. David's Bridal gets to be on both the good and the bad lists. Those were the most uncomfortable shoes I have EVER worn. I think they may have been made out of cardboard and thumbtacks. And maybe some wire and staples. TERRIBLE, TERRIBLE SHOES. Never buy the shoes at David's Bridal. I don't CARE if they dye them to match. Just wear silver shoes or go get something from Macy's.

The thing that made me REALLY want to set something on fire was actually rectified. Four days before the wedding the band called J. and told him they wouldn't be able to learn our choice of music for the first dance, so they were going to play a recording. My response was "Aw HELLZ naw!" Only louder and with more curse words. And then my whole head burst into flames.

Needless to say, they learned the song.

Big Day Dress

Updates Feb. 16, 2009:

Here are some photos of my neice in her dress on the day of the wedding:


And from the back:


And the two of us together:


Original Text Feb 4, 2009:

I just completed Butterick 4385, a special-occasion dress, for my niece. This is the dress that Sadie will be wearing for the wedding on the 14th.


Sadie picked out her own fabrics, which would explain the bright blue lining, but overall I think that the selections went together fairly well. She wanted pink matte satin for the dress and a pink and blue brocade for the jacket and the contrast band across the top and straps.


The dress was rated as "easy," but I think that the reason for this is because the instructions direct you to do a couple of things that I would consider short-cuts; or directs you to do things that you could get a better finish if you did it a different way. For example, top band is sewn with the wrong sides together, leaving the raw edges to be hemmed under. A better way of doing it would be to sew it right sides together and turn it. They also provide instructions for a standard zipper, when an invisible zipper looks sooooo much nicer.

Here are some of the details of construction:

First, the jacket. The jacket is very simple, and the lining is inserted by just sewing it to the jacket wrong sides together, and turning it.

But, even with a ton of pressing, because there are no facings, this means that the lining will "roll out" and be visible from the outside. To prevent this, I top stitched all the way around the edge to keep the lining in place. Since the lining and exterior are two drastically different colors (this is what you get for letting an 11-year-old pick out the fabric) I used pink in the top thread and blue in the bobbin to sew. This is not something that the pattern instructions mention, but I think it gives a better finish to the jacket.

Another thing that the pattern instructions fail a bit at is the attachment of the straps. In the instructions, the straps are attached to the same seam where the band is attached to the bodice:

But, this means that the band flops forward because there is nothing holding it up. So, I hand stitched the straps to the band. This also meant that I could leave the back of the band open rather than securing with hooks and eyes. I did this because my niece, like her auntie, suffers from a bit of under-the-arm-above-the-bewbie pudge, that tends to fold the band over if it is too tight. This way, I can leave the band a bit looser, but it is still secure and remains standing.

I also had to cut the band a touch longer than the pattern indicated because I did NOT cut it on the bias to preserve the integrity of the pattern on the brocade. We did a full muslin, and in that, the band was about 4 inches longer than what I would have gotten by not cutting on the bias. Here is the muslin, made from old sheets, marked with sharpie, and with the extra room at the hips pinned out. I had initially cut it with 2 inches extra room at the hip since Sadie's measurements were larger than those indicated by the pattern. But, I wound up taking it right back out in the final product, as it was not necessary.

Another thing that the pattern instructions don't really address is how to hem the dress. It instructs you to "hem" it, but beyond that, there is no detail. To keep down the bulkiness of the hem, I added hem tape, and hand stitched the hem catching just a few threads on the inside, so the hem is nearly invisible from outside. The lining is machine hemmed:

I also hand stitched the lining to the invisible zipper:

Overall, I am very happy with the way the dress came out, and Sadie is happy with it as well (she pets it every time she is near it in the sewing room). For the "big day" she has pink tights and silver shoes, so she will be bright if nothing else. She is also very excited about the fact that she gets to go with Grandma to get her hair done.

I'll update with pictures of her in the dress after the "Big Day."

Vogue 8455 With Hong Kong Seam Finish

I just completed Vogue 8455, which recently went out of print but I had in my "pattern stash." I made it from a poly suiting from the bargain table at Hancock's, it cost a whopping $1.00 a yard. The reason that I selected this is because this was basically a muslin. I didn't make a muslin because I was concerned about the fit...Vogue patterns typically fit just fine...but because I wanted to practice on improving my skills and starting to finish the interior seams in a nicer way. I set this as a goal for myself this year; now that I am fairly competent in the actual construction of the garments and have mastered some necessary pattern alterations, I wanted to start with a simple pattern to begin to develop skills with specialized seam finishes.

Since I don't have a serger, the kinds of seam finishes that I can do are french seams, flat-felled seams, I can apply seam binding, or I can do a Hong Kong finish. After some research (check out this tutorial from the Timmel Fabrics website), I decided that the Hong Kong finish would be the best to start with.

I am actually quite happy with how well the Hong Kong finish turned out, and how easy it was to learn. Here are the completed interior seams of the skirt:


Here is how I did it...

First I cut bias strips from pre-washed cotton broadcloth using a ruler and a rotary cutter. I cut the strips 1 1/2 inches wide.

After assembling the skirt, I applied the finish. I started by sewing the bias strip to the seam allowance on what would be the right side of the fabric:


I then "flipped" the bias strip over the seam I just made and pressed it down:


Then I turned the skirt over so I could iron from the other side:


"Wrap" the bias strip around the seam allowance, and press down:


Then back to the sewing machine. Instead of "stitching in the ditch," like in the tutorial, I used a thread that matched the bias strip and stitched juuuust at the edge, like you would with seam binding. I just thought it was prettier that way, the results are the same.


Then turn the seam over and trim away the excess fabric, right along the edge of the seam you just made. The bias fabric won't ravel because it is cut on the bias:



Here is the finished seam:


I also did the same treatment on the inside waist band. Since according to the instructions, the seam allowance would be pressed under and the band hand stitched along the fold, I cut off 5/8 in from the bottom of the band. I then applied the same treatment to the band as on the seams and then hand stitched it down. It really doesn't serve any purpose, other than looking pretty:


I also found a mistake in the instructions. There are two version of the skirt, one with vertical pleats, and one with pleats that are angled. I made the version with angled pleats. The instructions tell you to baste the pleats, and then match the pattern mark in the center of the pleat to the basted seam and stitch down. But that only works for the vertical pleats. The way the pattern is drafted, if you did this with the angled pleats it would make the top edge of the pleats so uneven, you would have to trim back the top of the skirt to even the fabric.

But, if you fold the pleats to the side, they match the top of the fabric perfectly:


Based on the drafting of the pattern, rather than following the instructions I folded the pleats to the side and stitched them down.

Here is the finished product:


And here is a similar skirt from Ann Taylor, the original price was $109.00. I got mine for a whopping $7.00, and that includes the pattern (on sale for $3.99) and the zipper. The pink binding was made from scraps left over from making a messenger bag.

Mmmm-Hmmmm....

Last Saturday I was happily lolling around the house, revelling in my laziness when my mother called and asked me if I would like to have my niece, Sadie, spend the weekend. I should really learn to stop "mmm-hmmm-ing" everything my mother says, because before I knew it, I had agreed!!

Although I was a touch horrified at the thought of having a "tween" for a full weekend, it did give us a chance to work some more on our VERY BIG PROJECT, which is teaching Sadie how to sew. We actually got two projects finished, and planned out two more.

The first project that we finished was Simplicity 3887. She made the shirt entirely on her own except for the neckline, which I did for her; and I helped her with the handsewing on the waist tie. She insisted on having thimbles on every single finger, which did hobble her somewhat.


Sadie wanted to sew the top with the waist tie, but wanted the short flutter sleeves, not the gathered sleeves. The first issue that we had to address was what size to sew for her? My niece, although 11, is a very tall girl and her measurements are 33 1/2, 27 1/2, 37 1/2, which means that she does not fit at all into the children's patterns, even the size 14's.

But, this does present a bit of a problem, as many of the Jr. and Misses' patterns are way to adult for her. So we had to work a bit to find a pattern that was youthful enough for her, and not revealing.

Also, her measurements place her between 10 and 12 for the bust and between 12 and 14 for the waist and hips. But, we cut a size 8. Because it's Simplicity, and Simplicity is ALWAYS huge. That was tough to explain to a beginner after talking to her about how important it is to measure yourself and go by THOSE sizes, and not the sizes you wear in the store!!

She did very well guiding the fabric under the presser foot, and understood the instructions very well, which were also well-illustrated. Overall, I am surprised at how well everything went together with this shirt, and how well she handles the sewing machine...her seams are perfectly straight, and does a great job overall. Much better than my earliest attempts at sewing!!

This turned out to be a great project for a beginner. All the pattern markings and notches are right on, the sleeves are put in "in the round," but are not really set in because of the way the neckband is attached. The gathers at the neck and waist are simple to do, and other than those gathers, there is no easing anywhere. Also, no buttons or zippers! But for all the simplicity of the construction, she got a wearable shirt that is fashionable, and she will be proud to show off.

I would highly recommended this pattern to anyone who is a beginner themselves or teaching a beginner to sew.

Here she is in her shirt, she was so very proud!



Coming off of her fantastic success of her first shirt, Sadie immediately wanted to move on to her next project. She dug into the "stash" that I had made for her, and determined that she wanted to do PANTS! Can you hear the panic from there? I won't even sew pants for myself! Why do you think I wear so many dresses! I hate pants! I suck at pants!

But, I couldn't let my student think I didn't know what I was doing, could I? So she selected her pattern, Vogue 8523. They are a wide-leg pant with back zipper, and darts at the waist. The first thing was finding out what size to cut. I took her measurements and checked the pattern envelope and it indicated a size 12. A SIZE 12!! She's just a baby! I cut a 16 for me!! So I took her measurements again. And then I did flat pattern measurements. And then I scratched my head. And then I made her go upstairs and get the jeans that she was wearing earlier, so I could measure them. And I was able to determine that she was between a 10 and a 12. So, this pattern runs pretty close to size. I asked her if she wanted them to be tight like jeans, or if she wanted room to grow. She said "room to grow!!" so I cut out the 12 and we started on our alterations.


Since Sadie only has a 25 inch inseam, and is also short in the rise, we had to alter this pattern. Fortunately, Vogue was kind enough to include "shorten or lengthen here" lines both above the crotch and below. We slashed the pattern and created a one-inch overlap above the crotch, shortening the rise by two inches (overlap by one inch, shortens each piece of the pattern by one inch, two inch loss in length overall). We then slashed again on the leg, and overlapped by two inches, shortening by four inches overall. We could have gone three inches, though, since I cut off 2 more inches from the bottom before I hemmed them.

She was absolutely amazed at how pants were actually sewn together, since you sew the crotch with the leg side seams open. She said "It looks like an apron, Aunt Missy!" Once I helped her pin up the side seams, the light came on and she said "Now they are pants!" I also showed her how to put in an invisible zipper, and she was pretty worn out after all that basting.

Here is the finished product:



The back ended up fitting better than the front, we could still take the rise down by a centimeter or two. But for our first attempt and with a drastic shortening of the pattern, I think that they turned out really well. She'll just use them for uniform pants at school, so it's not like they had to be incredibly fashion-forward.

Grandma did say that she wore them to school on Monday and had to tell everyone, including the principal, that she made them.

So, good job, Sadie.

Next time we get together, we are going to tackle knits. Fortunately, I am a lot better at those than I am at pants!!

The Ottoman Empire

When I was in graduate school I was broke. Completely. Utterly. Disastrously. Broke. I think that is one of the reasons that I learned how to do so many things for myself because, really, if I didn't build it, chances were, I wasn't going to get it.

When I was in grad school I also desperately wanted a kilm-covered ottoman that Pottery Barn was selling for a mere $650.00. I'm not sure why I ever started receiving the Pottery Barn catalog, lord knows I couldn't afford to buy anything from it. But I wanted that ottoman. I wanted it so damned bad I could taste it. Every time a new version of the catalog would come I would immediately search through it looking for that ottoman to make sure it hadn't been discontinued. Because you know, then I could buy it.

Well, I never did buy that ottoman. Mainly because I never found myself with $650.00 just lying around. But, I did find that I still needed a coffee table. Come on, I was a grad student, not a complete heathen. So, I decided that I would MAKE an ottoman, and I would make it for a hell of a lot less than $650.00. Not only did I make it, I made it so sturdy that I still have it 10 years later, recovered for the third time to match the current decor.

Here is my version:

Here is what you need:

1 piece of 3/4 inch plywood, 36 inches by 48 inches. They will cut it at the store for you, you don't need a saw
4 ready-made legs, you can buy these in the same part of the store where you get trim and and parts for stair rails
Sandpaper and stain for the legs. Try to get a 1-step stain and finish in one. It doesn't have to be super-perfect, they're not really going to show that much
4 clinch nut plates
20 1 inch Philips screws
2 yards of upholstery fabric
2 yards quilt batting
Upholstery foam, 6-8 inches thick, measuring 36 inches by 48 inches
Staple gun
Electric drill with Philips head driver

Once you have all your materials assembled, the ottoman is super-easy to assemble. Other than staining the legs, it only takes a few minutes to put together.

The first thing you need to do is sand and finish your legs. When you buy your legs, make sure they already have screws inserted in them. I used a foam brush to apply the stain and polyurethane. I also used water-soluble poly. This makes me a heathen, just ask my father. However, I have now been using this ottoman for 10 years and it has lived through 4 moves, so I think it was just fine.


Next, clear a place on the floor and begin to lay out your materials. Lay out your upholstery fabric (upside down) on the floor. Then top that with your batting. On top of that, center your block of foam. Then, on your foam, place your piece of plywood.

Now starts the fun part, stapling the fabric.

Starting on one side, grasp the center of one side of the fabric and batting and pull it up on top the plywood. Staple. Repeat on the opposite side. Then do on the last two sides until you have four staples in place.

Now start stapling the fabric around the ottoman, tucking in the fabric on the ends like you are wrapping a birthday present.


When you are finished stapling the fabric, lay out your clinch nut plates and using the electric drill, start driving in the screws. The screws are short so there is no reason to drill guide holes. They will go right through the layers of fabric, also. If you don't use the clinch nut plates and just insert the legs directly into the plywood, eventually the holes will strip out and the ottoman will not be strong enough for someone to sit on. Once the clinch nut plates are in place, insert the legs.


The fabric is easily removable and can be changed as your decor changes. Mine currently matches my red and gold living room, but it has been a variety of other colors. Not only was it inexpensive to create, it is easy to completely change the look for just the cost of a new 2 yards of fabric.


Since I finished grad school and have a job, I could totally afford $650.00 for an ottoman, but now I don't even want it. So there, Pottery Barn.

A BIG New Project

A few weeks ago I was visiting at my Grandmother's house, and because I was also intermittently watching my baby nephew while my brother went to a funeral, I took a couple of sewing projects that needed cutting out to work on while the little guy napped.

My 11-year-old niece, Sadie, was there also and the whole time that I was cutting the fabric out she was right there with a million questions, collecting and pocketing the fabric scraps. I finally asked her "Sadie, do you want to learn to sew?" and she very nearly passed out. So, I set aside the cutting, bundled up the munchkin, and we went to the fabric store to pick out a project.

At Hancock's, the Simplicity patterns were on sale for $1.99, so I handed her the catalog and we talked about what an appropriate pattern to start with would be. She is hard to fit, because she is a tall girl, and developing, so the little girl's patterns are too small. But the big girl's patterns are too skanky!! She eventually selected Simplicity 3887, with the waist tie and puff sleeves.


She selected for her fabric a white quilting cotton with red balls and black jacks on it; which I thought might be a touch young for an 11-year-old. NOT that I was going to point that out to her. With the battles (often resulting in tears on both sides of the dressing room door) that I have waged with her over low-rider pants, tummy-baring shirts, and high heels I wouldn't have said anything if she picked a fabric with pink fluffy teddy bears farting hearts and glitter.

Over the past few weeks, we have been spending Sunday afternoons together learning about the sewing machine, and working on her shirt. Last weekend I gave her her own sewing machine (which will live at my house until she can get through a whole pattern on her own). I found for a good price on Craig's List a Singer 403 in a table. Since she is used to using my Singer 401, it is an easy transition for her. Also, these old Singers are built like little tanks and there is very little that she can do to the machine that I can't fix on my own.

Here she is putting her machine through it's paces, really just playing with all the cams and getting used to the foot control:



She was so excited that the machine was "hers." I taught her how to oil it, and we cleaned all the lint out of it. It was a great deal, just $65.00...much less than even the most basic of machines than I would have been able to get her new; and any machine for that price would have been complete garbage.

Since she has continued to be excited about sewing, this week I took advantage of another pattern sale at Hancock's and some clearance fabric to make her a small "stash," so she would be able to work on a few projects.

For just a few dollars a yard, I got her fabric for a jacket, pants, and a knit shirt:


With the knit with the flowers, she can make either the scoop-neck shirt from Simplicity 4076
or the tee from New Look 6735. Using the gray suiting, she can make either short jacket from Simplicity 3565 or the vest from Vogue 8523. She can use the black to make the pants from the Vogue pattern, New Look 6836, or McCalls 5710. All those patterns are now in her "stash" thanks to the sale at Hancock's. She also has some fancy buttons, a few zippers, thread, bobbins, pins, scissors, chalk, and all the things that she needs to get started. I put everything into a big rubbermaid tub that will be "her" sewing kit.

Hopefully when I see her tomorrow she will be happy with it, even though she didn't get to pick out the patterns and the fabric. I also hope that the sewing will help with other areas of her life. Unfortunately, these lessons are one of the things that she gets to do when her mother doesn't pick her up for visitation. She is supposed to see the children every other weekend, but since she is a crack-head, living in a motel, with no transportation, currently on parole for cooking meth, and in arrears for thousands of dollars in child support I am perfectly happy to fill that Sunday with a sewing lesson so she doesn't mope around about her mother not showing up again.

I also hope that these lessons will help Sadie with some of the other challenges in her life. Namely, building some self-esteem. With a mother on parole, who may or may not be actively working as a prostitute and/or a hustler, I am generally horrified at the items that she will give Sadie to wear. I do what I can to counteract this, when I take Sadie shopping for her school clothes, but it is hard to combat when her mother buys her things like thongs. Thongs! For an 11-year-old! And I'm not talking about flip-flop shoes. But, working on patterns does open the door to talk about things like raising necklines and lowering hems and what is appropriate and what is classy and why no one wants to look at the crack of your butt.

She also struggles with reading and comprehension, and I hope that working through pattern instructions and illustrations will help her with that. If she is able to work through these issues with something she is interested in, perhaps that will spill over into her schoolwork.

I also hope that this opens the door to her understanding the importance of learning useful skills for the future. Because her parents are not setting any useful example for her at all. While I love my brother (mainly because I have to, I think it may be the law or something), he is a terrible example for his children. He can't hold a job, and is constantly dumping them on relatives, mostly his mother. So Sadie doesn't have a strong adult role-model; one who can show her that a good work-ethic is important, and that skills are important in making and maintaining a home. Hopefully this will provide her with an alternative to what she has seen.

Her Uncle Ricky, who is a machinist, also pointed out to her that patterns are just like blueprints, except you cut them apart. And if you can run a sewing machine, you can run a mill at the shop...which started the gears turning in her head....