Dressed to Frill (Volume 12) (Sew Zoey, Band 12) - Hardcover

Über die Autorinnen und Autoren

Chloe Taylor learned to sew when she was a little girl. She loved watching her Grandmother Louise turn a scrap of blue fabric into a simple-but-fabulous dress, nightgown, or even a bathing suit in an instant. It was magical! Now that she’s grown up, she still loves fashion: It’s like art that you can wear. Chloe has written more than thirty books for children and lives, writes, and window shops in New York City.

Nancy Zhang is an illustrator and an art and fashion lover with a passion for all beautiful things. She has published her work in the art books L’Oiseau Rouge and Street Impressions and in various fashion magazines and on websites. Visit her at Nancy-Zhang.com. She lives in Berlin, Germany.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

Dressed to Frill

CHAPTER 1

Fired Up

I know you’re not supposed to enjoy being “fired” from a job, but I’ve been all “fired up” with new ideas for outfits since getting kicked out as treasurer of the Fashion Fun Club. See the fruits of my labor (or of my firing?) in the sketch! Aunt Lulu said maybe the club was too much of a good thing. That sometimes you need to take a break and do something completely different (and for me, that means not sewing related), so your mind can wander to new and exciting creative places. It’s also really nice to have time to do nothing at all!

That’s why I love volunteering at the pet shelter. With all those adorable dogs and cats to walk and play with, you never know what’s going to happen next. I always come away with more energy for my sewing projects.

We’re starting the next elective in school soon. I’m excited to try industrial arts. I wonder if I can somehow figure out how to combine woodworking and fashion. But how would you sit down in a wooden dress? Hmm . . . will clearly have to give this a bit more thought.



“I need your advice,” Kate Mackey announced to her best friends, Zoey Webber, Priti Holbrooke, and Libby Flynn. “I’m thinking of giving Tyler another chance.”

The girls were in their pajamas, lounging around on Libby’s bed. It was sleepover night at the Flynn house.

“What made you decide that?” Zoey asked. Kate had broken up with Tyler Landon, who’d had a crush on her, a few weeks earlier after only a few dates, partially due to Zoey’s misguided attempts to help him woo her. Under Zoey’s helpful advice (which turned out to be not so helpful after all!), Tyler had been behaving differently than usual because he’d thought it would make Kate like him.

“Well . . . we have a great time together when we volunteer at the food pantry,” Kate said.

“Not to mention the fact that he’s supercute,” Priti observed.

Kate blushed. “Well, yes, there is that,” she admitted. “But also he’s promised just to be himself this time.”

Now it was Zoey’s turn to blush.

“I was only trying to help,” she said for what must have been the umpteenth time since her matchmaking fiasco.

“I know,” Kate said, smiling. “All is forgiven. . . . Really.”

“Whew!” Zoey exhaled, relieved. “I’d hate to think I completely ruined everything.”

“You guys seem to have a lot of fun when we’re at the food pantry,” Libby observed. She’d started volunteering there, in addition to her school community service at the pet shelter, so she had seen Kate and Tyler together.

“I’m glad you’ve decided to give Tyler another chance,” Zoey told Kate. “What if I’d messed up the course of true love?”

“True love?!” Kate exclaimed. “Let’s not go overboard. I just think he’s nice. And funny.”

“And supercute,” Priti added.

“I guess,” Kate mumbled, blushing a little.

“Well, since we’ve agreed that Tyler is supercute, can I show you something superexciting?” Libby asked.

“Yes, please!” Priti said.

Libby jumped off the bed and went to her desk.

“Look! Hot off the press!” she said, holding out an embossed card threaded with gold ribbon. “My Bat Mitzvah invitation. Isn’t it cool?”

“It’s beautiful!” Priti exclaimed.

“I love the gold ribbon,” Zoey said. “It makes the lettering pop.”

“And the gold lining inside the envelope matches the lettering and the ribbon,” Kate observed. “So pretty!”

Libby climbed back onto the bed and sat cross-legged.

“A few years ago, I wasn’t even sure I was going to have a Bat Mitzvah. Dad’s Catholic and Mom’s Jewish, but neither of them are that religious. We celebrate all the holidays, but more the traditions than the religious stuff,” she explained.

“So what made you change your mind?” Zoey asked.

“My grandpa,” Libby said. “He only just escaped the Holocaust as a young boy. In fact, his name wasn’t Van Langen when he was born. But his parents hid him with non-Jewish neighbors when my great-grandparents were sent to a concentration camp. And then . . . Well, they didn’t come back after the war, and he ended up adopting the name of the family who hid him and saved his life.”

“That’s so sad,” Kate said. “He never saw his parents again?”

“Never,” Libby said, shaking her head. “And he hardly ever talked about it until recently, when he said it would mean a lot to him if I had a Bat Mitzvah. So that’s why I decided to do it. But it’s so much work, which is the reason I haven’t been around lately.”

“I’ve never been to a Bat Mitzvah before,” Zoey admitted. “What do you do? What do we do? And more to the point, what do we wear?”

The girls all laughed.

“Zoey always gets right down to the important questions,” Priti said.

“Well, there’ll be a service in the synagogue,” Libby explained, then reached over to the bedside table and picked up some papers. “And I have to read a section of the Torah in Hebrew. I’ve been going to a tutor and practicing my Torah portion every night before I go to bed, and listening to tapes so I get the pronunciation right. See?”

Zoey looked at the unfamiliar alphabet. “It looks like Greek to me.”

“Ha!” Libby said. “It felt like Greek to me when I first started. Except now that I’ve been studying it for a while, I can tell it’s Hebrew, even though it’s still hard to read.”

“I can’t believe how much work you have to do,” Priti said. “It’s really great that you’re doing this for your grandpa.”

“It’s not just for him. It’s become important to me too,” Libby said. “But I also have to make a speech, which I’m really nervous about. On the plus side, I get to have a really fun party after the service.”

“Party? Did you say party?” Priti perked up immediately.

“I’ve been to a Bar Mitzvah party before—it was really fun,” Kate said. “They played lots of games, and the food was amazing.”

“Yeah, Mom and I met with the caterers last week,” Libby said. “The theme of my Bat Mitzvah is going to be ‘Sweet,’ so needless to say we’re going to have yummy desserts!”

“So . . . you read from the scrolls during a service, and then there’s a big party with yummy desserts? That’s a Bat Mitzvah?” Zoey asked, wanting to make sure she had it straight.

“That’s not all,” Libby said. “I also do a mitzvah project, which means doing something to make the world a better place by helping others.”

“What’s your project?” Kate asked.

“Well, since I started volunteering at the food pantry, I’ve noticed they only give out canned and...