Page 43 - Allisons Magazine Issue #91

SE!ING UP

the american dream

written by matthew brady | photography by missouri star quilt company

A FAMILIAR AND FAVORITE HOLLYWOOD While thinking about how to earn extra
storyline is a small-town character income, Alan got a fortuitous call from
moving to the big city and !nding Jenny, who told him that she had taken
great success. a quilt in to be worked on for their sister
and that she would have it completed in
"e Doan family did the exact opposite. a year. “"ere’s nothing on this planet
In 1995, Ron and Jenny Doan decided that you wait a year for,” Alan says. “I
to move their family of nine from asked her, ‘If I got you a machine, can
California to Hamilton, Missouri, to you do this?’”
!nd their American dream.
Jenny said she could, and with his mom
Having been a clothing sewer and enthusiastically on board, Alan and
costume designer in California, Jenny Sarah had to !gure out the logistics.
quickly found her passion in this small "ey !rst took out a loan to purchase
town of 1,800. “When you love to sew, a 5,000-square-foot former auto
you have to sew, so I took a quilting showroom in Hamilton for $24,000 and
class in nearby Chillicothe as soon as then another loan for a quilt machine
we moved to Hamilton,” she says. “"e for Jenny. “A $40,000 quilt machine for
piecing and the blocks fascinated me; I’d our $24,000 building. We weren’t very
come home and turn my blocks around, logical about it in the beginning,” Alan
and di#erent patterns would appear. By says, laughing.
the end of the class, everyone had made
one, and I had made twelve! I fell in love DAILY DEALS AND TUTORIAL TRICKS
with the art of quilting really quickly "ey !gured Jenny would do the
and took as many classes as I could.” stitching on about ten quilts a week
to bring in revenue and dubbed
"ings were going well for the Doans their venture the Missouri Star Quilt
in their new hometown until 2008 Company. When people started
when, like many Americans, they lost bringing in their quilts, however, they
almost all of their retirement savings often asked for fabric, so Missouri Star
in the stock market crash. Times were kept a shelf full of fabric—a harbinger of
tough, with Ron making a ninety- things to come.
minute commute to his night job at a
local newspaper and Jenny working at a After a year, business was stagnant, so
school for troubled teens to make ends they decided to take it online. While
meet. So their son Alan and daughter Sarah ran the shop and the day-to-day
Sarah started looking for a way to help operations, Alan turned his focus to
their parents with !nances. creating the company website.

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