Mama's leaves customers in stitches

Barbara Turner keeps a rainbow of thread on hand at her shop, Mama's Mend N Sew. She provides a variety of alteration services including attaching patches, adding zippers and removing sleeves.
Barbara Turner keeps a rainbow of thread on hand at her shop, Mama's Mend N Sew. She provides a variety of alteration services including attaching patches, adding zippers and removing sleeves.

Tucked into a tiny shop near the Fulton Public Library, Barbara Turner snips, stitches and rises to every challenge.

"I do anything that anyone asks me to," she said.

Anything cloth- and clothing-related, anyway. She's the owner of the recently opened alteration shop Mama's Mend N Sew.

Turner has lived in Callaway County her whole life and has been sewing for most of it.

"I've always done sewing," she said. "I used to make my own clothes when I was younger. I learned in home ec at school."

She also enjoys crocheting and quilting and said some of her work has been auctioned and raffled off to raise money for the Fulton Jaycees and Relay for Life.

For many years, Turner worked as a stitcher for the now-closed Stride Rite factory in Fulton.

"I've always loved hands-on work," she said.

Her transition to the alteration business was more recent. Four years ago, she was offered a job doing alterations for Sunshine Laundry. Slowly, she began building a loyal client base.

"I wanted to open a shop before then, but I didn't feel like I had the business," Turner said. "I outgrew my room (at Sunshine Laundry). I just felt like it was the right time."

She moved into the shop at 703 Market St. just in time for the big prom rush. That yielded one of the dresses she's proudest of.

"I had one brought in and they said, 'Just do what you can do with it,'" Turner said.

The dress was a little too short for the wearer - and 13 sizes too big. Turner converted it from a one-piece outfit to a two-piece with a lace panel in between, and managed to bring it down to size as well.

Also, Callaway County Sheriff's Department officials brought her some new uniform jackets so she could sew on patches.

Turner said she'll sometimes hear from one of her clients that she saved their wedding or prom.

"It feels so good," she said.

Turner has four daughters, one stepdaughter and 12 grandchildren. She's tried to pass on her love of sewing, she added.

"I have two grandchildren that are very interested in sewing," she said. "One is very good. Her mom says she wakes up and goes to sleep to the sound of her sewing machine going."

But many people never learn even basic mending, like fixing a split seam. That, she suspects, is why business has been so good.

"It's a lost art," Turner said.

One of her daughters, April Courtway, helps with paperwork at the shop. David Turner, her husband, tries to promote the place whenever he can.

"I carry a bunch of her cards and give them out to people," he said.