A deeply touching Southern story filled with struggle and hope. Emmalee
Bullard and her new baby are on their own. Or so she thinks, until Leona
Lane, the older seamstress who sat by her side at the local shirt
factory where both women worked as collar makers, insists Emmalee come
and live with her. Just as Emmalee prepares to escape her hardscrabble
life in Red Chert holler, Leona dies tragically. Grief-stricken, Emmalee
decides she'll make Leona's burying dress, but there are plenty of
people who don't think the unmarried Emmalee should design a dress for a
Christian woman--or care for a child on her own. But with every stitch,
Emmalee struggles to do what is right for her daughter and to honor
Leona the best way she can, finding unlikely support among an
indomitable group of seamstresses and the town's funeral director.
In a moving tale exploring Southern spirit and camaraderie among working
women, a young mother will compel a town to become a community.