Cute As A Button – Chloe Taylor

Zoey sat at her worktable with her sketchbook and picked up a pencil, trying to think of something really special to make Lulu. Her aunt already had lots of really great clothes, and now that Draper was gone, Zoey couldn’t make more dog outfits—that thought made Zoey feel sad all over again. Suddenly, Zoey remembered her aunt talking about the ballroom dance lessons she’d been taking recently and how much fun they were. Aunt Lulu really loved the merengue and the waltz, even though she said the waltz made her dizzy if she didn’t focus on her partner’s face.

Zoey decided to make her aunt a flowing skirt like she’d seen some of the contestants wear on the dance reality shows they watched together. She sketched a few different designs until she came up with the one that seemed to scream Aunt Lulu. Zoey wanted to get a silk-chiffon fabric that would swish and swirl around her aunt’s ankles as she danced.

But there was one big problem: Silk chiffon wasn’t cheap. Zoey rummaged in her bedside table and found the receipt from her last purchase at A Stitch in Time, so she could check the credit balance left from the Avalon competition. It was dwindling fast. She really needed to get Doggie Duds off the ground, and soon, or her sewing days would be through.

But in the meantime she needed a ride to the fabric store to pick up the chiffon and look for Doggie Duds inspiration. “Marcus?” she called, heading toward her brother’s room. He didn’t answer. She went to his door and peeped in. He was doing homework with his headphones on, his head bobbing up and down to the beat. No wonder he didn’t hear her.

“Yo, hermano!” she said, tapping him on the back. “Si?” he said, taking off his headphones. “Can you drive me to A Stitch in Time? I want to make a present for Aunt Lulu to cheer her up.” “Yeah, okay. I could use a study break,” Marcus said.

“What are you going to make?” “A skirt for ballroom dancing,” Zoey said. “Bueno. Hey, did she tell you about dancing with the guy who kept stepping on her toes?” Zoey laughed. “No! What did she say?” “Apparently, the instructor said they weren’t allowed to look down at their feet; they had to look into each other’s eyes,” Marcus explained. “Well, the guy was so mesmerized by Aunt Lulu’s eyes—or at least that’s what she said—that he kept stepping on her feet.

She had to ice her toes after class!” Zoey knew how Aunt Lulu felt. She’d spent ages daydreaming about dancing with Lorenzo Romy, but when she finally did, he was a toe stepper too.

It’s Nifty to Be Thrifty Designing and making clothes is definitely my favorite thing to do, but there’s one big catch—buying fabric starts to add up. It’s not just the fabric—it’s all the trimming, buttons, zippers, sequins—you name it! The only reason I’ve been able to make so many outfits lately is because of the money I won in the Avalon Fabrics’ Break-Out Designer contest— and because both Jan at A Stitch in Time and my aunt Lulu are so great about giving me scrap material. But I’m going from riches to rags, even though I’ve been doing my best to shop on a budget.

My allowance only goes so far, and I’m too young to babysit, so Dad said I can do odd jobs around the house to earn money, but there are only so many of those. Lately, he’s been paying me to dust the houseplants and sew buttons on his shirts! What’s an aspiring fashion designer bursting with ideas to do? I’ve been digging around at the thrift store again, trying to find clothes I can take apart for the fabric.

But I loved this dress too much to take it apart. Instead I got creative and “Zoeyfied” it. I made some tweaks here and there and added a belt that used to be my mom’s. Cool, huh? “Are you sure you don’t mind?” Lulu Price asked for the third time as she stood by the door to leave. “Mind? We love having Draper here,” Zoey Webber, Lulu’s niece, said, her arms wrapped around her doggie cousin’s neck. Aunt Lulu’s fourteen-year-old mutt thumped his tail against the kitchen floor in agreement.

“See? Draper loves being here too,” Zoey said. “I know he does,” Aunt Lulu said, smiling. “This is his absolute favorite hotel. And mine, because I know you and Marcus will give him lots of love while I’m away at the interior design conference.” “Oh, you can count on that,” Zoey’s brother, Marcus, said. “Draper will get plenty of love—and treats.” “Not too many treats,” Aunt Lulu warned.

“He’s already overweight.”

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

Book Information

• Unique ID: 6dc7914428dda41a
• File Extension: .pdf
• File Size: 6,598,528 bytes (6.293 MB)
• Title: –
• Author: Unknown
• ISBN: 9781481402484, 9781481402491, 9781481402507
• Pages: 102
• Language: English (en)

Reading & Word Statistics

• Estimated Reading Time: 141.75 minutes
• Total Words: 28,351
• Total Characters: 155,366
• Average Words per Page: 277.95
• Average Characters per Page: 1523.2

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