About 75 hours of painstaking work, layers of tulle and netting, rows of hook-and-eye closures, appliqués, ribbons and Swarovski crystals go into each tutu Brenda Smith makes for Columbia Dance as a ...

Petaluma seamstress is the grande dame of ballet costumes. “La salle de couture de Madame Sharon” reads the sign outside a seemingly ordinary room, part of an eastside office suite. But inside. Ah, ...