by Chloe Taylor
“She’s so cute! And I love that outfit! Where did you get it?”
“I made it,” Zoey said. “I’m doing a Myfundmaker project called Doggie Duds to sell the outfits.”
“That’s so cool!” Shannon said. “Well . . . good luck, and congrats on the new puppy. I’ve gotta go.”
Zoey finished getting dressed and raced up to the cafeteria, hoping to catch Libby before their friends arrived, so they could talk privately. But all their friends were already sitting at the lunch table, and Libby still looked distinctly unhappy.
“Libby, I’m so sorry I’m not wearing the twin dress!” Zoey said. “I’ve been running around looking for you all day to try to explain. That’s why I was late for class.”
“So why aren’t you wearing it?” Libby asked.
Kate started giggling, which just seemed to make Libby even more upset.
“It was Buttons,” Zoey explained. “Even though they said she was fully housebroken at the shelter, she apparently isn’t. Or maybe like Dad said, she’s unsettled because she’s in a new place or something. But anyway . . . I’d put the dress on my chair, all ready to wear, and it must have fallen off the chair and Buttons PEED ON IT!” Zoey said in disgust.
“Oh no!” Libby exclaimed.
“Gross!” Priti said. “Now I’m glad Mom doesn’t let us have pets.”
“I didn’t realize she’d done it until this morning when I went to get dressed,” Zoey explained. “It was too late to call you—and I almost missed the bus as it was! I’m so sorry.”
Libby exhaled before speaking. “I thought maybe you forgot, or . . . maybe you didn’t want to be twins with me after all. I’m sorry I got so upset.”
“It’s okay,” Zoey said. “I’ll wash it over the weekend, and then we can wear them on Monday.”
“Great,” Libby said with a big smile on her face. “It’s kinda soon to wear it again, but I don’t mind.”
With everyone feeling happier, the girls settled down to eat lunch.
“Hey, what happened to your bracelets?” Libby asked.
Zoey gave Priti and Kate a meaningful look. They were definitely doing the right thing by making a BFF bracelet for Libby.
“I’ve got them at home,” Kate explained. “I had to . . . fix them. I realized I’d made a mistake on the pattern.”
“Oh, that must be a pain,” Libby said.
“No,” Kate said. “It’s really no trouble at all.”
The first thing Zoey did when she got home from school—after greeting Buttons and letting her out for a bathroom break in the yard—was check how her dogwear campaign was going.
When she saw the number of new pledges, Zoey blinked several times to make sure she wasn’t having a problem with her eyes. There were more than seventy-five new orders for Doggie Duds—including one from . . . Mr. Dunn! There was also a flood of smaller pledges from fans who said they had seen her on Fashion Showdown and started reading her blog. The small pledges were really starting to add up, and the campaign had already reached its goal and was still going strong.
That was the good news.
The bad news was that Zoey had no idea how she was going to keep up with the demand for the rewards promised at each funding level. After homework, she spent the rest of the afternoon doing paw-print drawings. She was still working when Aunt Lulu arrived to see Buttons that evening, bringing takeout for dinner.
“My hand already aches, and I still have more paws to draw!” Zoey groaned as they all sat at the dinner table. “And I have to cut out more cards, because I’ve used up all the ones Priti and Kate did for me. And that’s before I even get to making all the dog outfits and drawing the clothing sketches . . .”
“No one ever said being a successful businesswoman was easy, Zo,” her dad said. “Just ask your aunt!”
“True enough. But maybe you could make life a little easier for yourself, Zoey, by making a rubber stamp of Buttons’s paw print instead of drawing each one by hand.”
“Could I do that?” Zoey asked, nursing her sore hand. “Won’t people be upset?”
“I think if you explain what’s happened, people will understand,” Aunt Lulu said. “It’s worth a try.”
“Yeah, you won’t be able to sew anything if you get repetitive stress injury from drawing all the rewards,” Marcus pointed out.
The risk of injuring her hand and not being able to sew was enough to convince Zoey. After dinner, Marcus helped her search online for a local office supply store that made rubber stamps to order.
“They even do rush jobs,” he said. He helped Zoey scan and upload one of the paw-print drawings, and Aunt Lulu let Zoey pay by using her credit card, telling her she could reimburse her when she had some profits from Doggie Duds.
“It says it’ll be delivered tomorrow by six p.m.,” Marcus said.
“Great!” Zoey said. “So I can cut up the cards and get the envelopes addressed and ready to go, and then tomorrow I can stamp like crazy.”
That night, Zoey updated her Myfundmaker page:
You guys are amazing. The number of pledges has been beyond my wildest dreams. But that’s meant I’ve had to make a slight change to one of the rewards to prevent what I call “seriously aching hand” and what my brother, Marcus, calls “repetitive stress injury.” Since I want to keep drawing and sewing for many decades to come, I’ve ordered a special custom stamp made from the drawing of Buttons’s paw print. I’ll be using the stamp instead of drawing each paw print individually. I hope you understand!
But it wasn’t just the rewards Zoey was most worried about—it was disappointing everyone. She’d made all these promises. How was she going to keep them?
Chapter 10
The Upside-Down Side of Success
You know how you think that you can never have too much, say . . . chocolate, but then after Halloween, when you and your friends sit around and eat all the best candy you got while trick-or-treating, you feel kind of sick. You’re afraid you’re never going to be able to eat chocolate again. Well, that’s kind of how I’m feeling about my Doggie Duds campaign right now. Don’t get me wrong—I’m so excited and grateful that so many people have pledged. It’s been amazing! I couldn’t believe my eyes yesterday when I came home and looked at the number of orders. It’s just . . . I’m feeling a little overwhelmed by success. I’m a teensy bit worried that after overdoing it by sewing all these doggie outfits, I might get sick of sewing for real.
Last night I had a nightmare that I was drowning in orders for Doggie Duds. I was happy when my alarm went off to wake me up this morning and I realized it was only a dream. Except it isn’t a dream, because I am drowning in orders. I’m not sure how I’m going to keep up with all the rewards and orders for dog outfits without quitting school and becoming a one-girl 24/7 sewing factory. I mean, I love sewing and all—but at this rate I’m going to be sewing Doggie Duds at my high school graduation—and that’s before I even think about doing homework for middle school! I’m going to use some of the drawings that didn’t make it into my blog posts for the fashion sketch rewards, to save time. But this one is brand-new: I’ve been feeling like I’ve had to juggle a lot lately, which made me think of the circus, which made me come up with this sketch, just for fun.
It’s so crazy, because I started this whole campaign because people kept asking me to make dog outfits for them and I was running out of money for fabric. Now I have more than enough money for fabric, but there’s no way I have the time to sew all the outfits by myself. Marcus said this situation is like the one in a book he’s reading for class—it’s called Catch-22. No matter how you look at it, there’s no perfect solution.
When Zoey came home from school the next day, she couldn’t face checking her Myfundmaker page. The thought of having to add even one more dog outfit or reward to her already long to-do list made her want to bury her head in her pillow. Even Buttons scampering around her feet playfully with a squeaky toy couldn’t cheer her up. Aunt Lulu was coming to pick
her up tonight, because it was the last day of her on-site consultation. Zoey was going to miss Buttons, but it would also be a relief not to worry about her peeing on her clothes or chewing anything she wasn’t supposed to.
Zoey decided to check her blog, because her readers always seemed to have good advice. She wasn’t disappointed. Fashionsista, her fashion fairy godmother, left a long comment for her:
Instead of sending a gift to you, I’m sending some valuable advice! If you’re getting this many orders (which is a good thing, I’d like to remind you!), it might be time to consider scaling up your business and finding a source to manufacture the outfits for you. I recommend using a wonderful website called Manufactory.com, which helps small designers find factories and materials to mass-produce their designs. Get your dad or aunt to help you with the quote process. It’s pretty straightforward.
Sew proud of you,
Fashionsista
A few other readers seconded the suggestion. The thought that she might be able to get someone else to make the dog outfits gave Zoey the courage to check the Doggie Duds page. She hadn’t wanted to check it earlier because she was already overwhelmed by the current number of orders. Now that she had a plan for how to fulfill them, she logged in and took another look.
There were thirty-one new orders for dog outfits, which made her extra glad about Manufactory. There was no way she’d ever be able to make more than one hundred dog outfits by herself! Not to mention there were another eighty-nine small pledges requiring paw-print rewards and eighteen needing fashion sketches, and a grand total of five super-duper pledges who would need one of each reward. One of the pledges was from Fashionsista!
It was superexciting, but it was also starting to make her head spin. Thank goodness the paw-print stamp was on the way! At least now she only had to cut up the cards. Maybe she could get Marcus to drive her to the office supply store to buy more cardstock—then she could use the big paper cutter instead of using scissors to cut the squares.
Buttons stood on her hind legs and dropped the squeaky toy in Zoey’s lap, her tail wagging and her warm brown eyes sparkling hopefully.
“You want to play?” Zoey asked.
Buttons dropped to all fours, spun around in a circle, and barked.
“You’re right, Buttons. All work and no play is going to make me a dull, miserable girl,” Zoey said. “Let’s go out for walkies.”
Buttons hadn’t yet learned the word “walkies” like Draper, but she knew Zoey was getting up from her desk and paying attention to her, and that was enough to get her into a state of tail-wagging excitement.
Zoey put on Buttons’s outfit and clipped on her leash, and together they went into the afternoon sunshine. Buttons trotted by Zoey’s side, stopping at frequent intervals to sniff interesting scents and to leave her “signature.” The sky was a vivid blue, the air chill and crisp. Zoey began to feel less anxious about everything she had to do. Tonight she’d ask her dad and aunt Lulu to help her with the Manufactory site. She was still thinking about it when she heard someone calling her name.
It was Mrs. Silverberg, the owner of the cute little Shih Tzu. “Hi, Zoey!” she said. “Remember me? I just ordered the Buttons outfit for Princess. So glad you decided to sell dog clothes!”
“Thanks,” Zoey said. “There have been so many orders that I’m actually looking into seeing if I can get them mass-produced . . . but I’ll sew yours, I mean Princess’s, myself!”
“I knew they’d be popular. They’re just adorable,” Mrs. Silverberg said. “I was sorry to hear about Draper, though. He was a lovely old dog. Is this Buttons?”
“Yes, it is,” Zoey said.
Buttons was busy sniffing the Shih Tzu’s rear end.
“Oh my goodness. Stop that, Buttons!” Zoey admonished.
“Honey, she’s being a dog,” Mrs. Silverberg said, laughing. “That’s what they do.”
“It’s so gross!” Zoey said.
“Not to them, it isn’t,” she replied, smiling. “They’re just saying hello. Well, good luck with the rest of the campaign! Princess is looking forward to being a model for Doggie Duds.”
“Great!” Zoey said. “I’ll get to work on Princess’s outfit right away!”
At dinner, Zoey brought the family up to date on the latest order numbers for Doggie Duds and the fund-raising totals.
“Wow!” Marcus said. “Maybe my band should do a Myfundmaker campaign to record an album.”
“Maybe you should,” Mr. Webber said. “But there’s also supply and demand.”
“That’s right,” Lulu agreed. “Zoey had an interesting product and there weren’t a lot of similar projects.”
“You mean she found a niche to fill with crazy dog owners?” Marcus said.
“Watch it, buddy. I’m one of those ‘crazy’ dog owners,” Lulu said.
“Princess, the Shih Tzu down the street, can’t wait to model her Buttons outfit,” Zoey said. “At least that’s what her owner, Mrs. Silverberg, told me today. She didn’t seem crazy. She seemed really nice.”
“Well, what I want to know is: How are you going to make all these outfits and keep up with your schoolwork?” her dad asked.
“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about,” Zoey said. “Fashionsista—you know, the one from my blog?—she came to the rescue again! She recommended using a website called Manufactory.com to find a factory and materials to mass-produce the outfits instead of me having to make them all myself.”
“That’s going to cut into your profits,” Lulu warned. “But it’s probably a good idea so your grades don’t suffer.”
“Also, so I can have a life,” Zoey said. “Otherwise, I’d have to sew Doggie Duds every minute I’m not at school or doing homework.”
Lulu and Mr. Webber exchanged glances.
“Let’s look at this manufacturing site after dinner,” Dad said.
With the help of Dad and Aunt Lulu, Zoey got a quote from the website for sourcing the material and making the outfits. Aunt Lulu went through the numbers with Zoey and showed her that she’d still be making a profit, although a smaller one. The orders would start shipping in one month.
“You’ll have to let the people who ordered know,” Aunt Lulu said, “so they aren’t expecting the outfits to arrive next week or that you are making them all yourself.”
So Zoey wrote an update on the Doggie Duds Myfundmaker page:
To everyone who has ordered Doggie Duds:
First of all—THANK YOU!! This has been success waaaaaay behind my wildest dreams—and that became a problem, because I realized there was no way I could make all the outfits you’ve ordered by myself. So I took expert advice, and I’m having the outfits manufactured. The bad news is that it’s going to take a little longer to get them, and I won’t be sewing them personally—but the good news is, Doggie Duds is in business! Thanks again for supporting my project!
Puppy love,
Zoey
“Congratulations, Zoey,” Aunt Lulu said when she left to go home that evening with Buttons. “You’re turning into a real fashion designer with an actual business. You’re not just a one-girl show anymore.”
The thought made Zoey feel very grown-up. Zoey Webber, fashion designer—for real.
Over the weekend, Zoey was busy making dog outfits for the local pledges to Doggie Duds. She wanted to make sure they got their outfits quickly, since they were the ones who encouraged her to do the project. She was so busy sewing that she almost forgot to wash the twin dress—until she saw one of Buttons’s chew toys on her bedroom floor and remembered the peeing incident.
She grabbed the dress from her hamper along with some of her other dirty clothes, threw it all in the wash, and then went back to sewing more outfits.
Marcus came to her room a few hours later. “Uh . . . you know that load of laundry you put in?”
Zoey had been so busy making doggie outfits, she’d forgotten all about it. “Yeah, what about it?”
“Did you mean to put t
hat dress in with it?”
Zoey got a sinking feeling in her stomach. “Dress? Why?”
“You’d better go take a look,” Marcus said.
Zoey ran down to the laundry room. Marcus had taken out her clothes from the washing machine and put them on top of the dryer. Her twin dress was on top . . . but it looked like a different dress, a ruined one. The fabric was rippled and puckered and felt rough to the touch. It looked horrible.
“Oh no! What happened?” Zoey wailed. “Now what I am going to do?”
She put the rest of her clothes in the dryer and left the ruined dress on top. What a way to learn that the fabric she’d bought was probably dry-clean only! She would have to call Libby to tell her that Twinsies Day was off again—and maybe forever. Zoey wasn’t eager to make that phone call, so she started sewing a dog outfit. Then she checked the Doggie Duds campaign page and found she’d gotten even more pledges. She would need to make a lot more rewards. Marcus agreed to take her to the office supply store to restock her supplies, and she spent the rest of the evening making rewards and addressing envelopes.
By the end of the night, her hands were cramped and she was exhausted.
“Come on, Zoey,” Dad said. “Time for bed.”
Mr. Webber was nudging her on the shoulder. She had fallen asleep at the dining table where she had been working. Running a business was hard work!
“I’m so tired,” Zoey told Kate on the bus Monday morning. “I think I was stamping paw prints in my sleep.”
“Doesn’t the project end soon?” Kate asked.
“Yes, thank goodness. I’m not sure I can take much more success,” Zoey said, pushing up her sleeves. “Look, I have paw prints all over my arms from the ink transferring.”
Zoey slept on Kate’s shoulder during the bus ride. When they arrived at school, Libby and Priti were waiting by the flagpole.
“Hi, guys!” Priti shouted. “Happy Monday!”
But Libby wasn’t happy. She took one look at Zoey’s outfit—a long-sleeved, striped sweater, polka-dot skirt, and white tights—and looked like she was about to cry.
