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GREENSBORO — Rosalyn Womack might be tired, but these swatches of red, purple and brown fabric energize her. Within a few hours, she can make a halter dress with an empire waist and an A-line skirt. Maybe a flirty off-the-shoulder top or a boatneck sheath.

Welcome to the Honey Bun Boutique, where Beautifull garments are made.

The Summit Avenue shop near VF Corp.'s Wrangler Building in downtown Greensboro caters to a demographic largely overlooked by the fashion industry: plus-size women.

Womack carries clothing she designs, as well as items from other plus-size designers. Such as B&Lu skinny jeans. Yes, curvy ladies can wear them. Womack loves to get her clients into the gold-stitched skinny jeans.

"Just try them on," she tells them. "You don't know (how they will fit) until you try them on."

And when they do, they're usually pleasantly surprised. Smiles spread across their faces. Sometimes Womack even encourages them to stand before the mirror and dance.

Womack's mission: to make full-figured women feel good about themselves.

This 29-year-old Greensboro native, elementary school teacher, single mother and business owner will launch Beautifull, her plus-size clothing line, at Fashion Weekend of North Carolina next weekend. The Raleigh fashion expo is a fundraiser for breast cancer programs. Event organizer Mike Alexander says Womack is the first -- and only -- plus-size designer to be featured. He says women demanded plus-size representation at this year's fashion show.

So, in addition to preparing her Brightwood Elementary fourth-graders for their end-of-grade tests, Womack has had this fashion show ahead of her. She intends to make a garment each day leading up to the event. That means a lot of late nights in her shop.

But she can't think of anywhere else she'd rather be.

* * * * * * * *

It's Tuesday: belly-dance night.

Womack started hosting belly-dancing classes at her shop a few weeks ago. Many of the women who come either teach with her at Brightwood, or go to her church. Womack forgot a change of clothes, so she quickly whips up a pair of black knit pants for the class.

Her 8-year-old daughter, Cameron, belly dances, too. Cameron glides through the shop, incorporating some of the bellydance moves to the YouTube music videos playing on her mother's laptop computer.

"Cameron, do your homework," Womack says several times.

But Cameron's too excited about the dance class to settle down. Her homework remains in the brown and pink backpack on the floor.

"Mama, can you put 'beautiful' on my shirt?" Cameron asks, pointing to her plain, white T-shirt.

"Not now, Cameron," Womack says.

Womack created a line of T-shirts and tank tops with messages meant to empower women. Cameron loves them. They say "beautiful," "be you. love you." or "beautifully made by God."

Womack makes them in a variety of colors and stocks them in the boutique. She also wears them to school.

"No matter what size you are, you are beautiful," Womack says.

It's a message she tries to instill in all of the women she encounters, particularly those who are plus-size. It's also why she wants to organize more social and networking events at her boutique.

Goddess Night for Curvy Girls.

Curvy Girls Night Out.

Latin dance classes.

"This is gonna be the hangout," Womack says, grinning.

* * * * * * * *

Womack was one of those kids with a lot of aspirations.

She wanted to be a fashion designer, lawyer and photographer. Her mother, Georgeanna, says Womack was a bright, busy child. And creative.

"Whenever we'd go somewhere, she'd pack her little bag with books and things to keep herself busy," Georgeanna Womack says.

Womack's mother and grandmother sewed. But Womack learned to sew in school and took fashion classes at Weaver Academy. While still in high school -- three days after her 16th birthday -- Womack gave birth to her son, Nigel. Some people didn't expect her to accomplish much after that.

"Relatives would say, 'You're disappointing your mom. You're not going to finish school,' " Womack recalls.

"I like proving people wrong, and I'm not a quitter."

Womack went straight from Page High School to N.C. A&T, where she earned a degree in fashion merchandising. She juggled motherhood, classes and as many as four jobs at a time to be the first in her family to finish college. And when she had Cameron her senior year, Womack returned to the classroom 18 days later. She was determined to graduate on time.

Georgeanna Womack says she never doubted her daughter would achieve her goals: "I knew that whatever she's determined to do, she'd do it. Whatever sacrifice she'd have to make, she did it."

Womack says her family helps her, too. It's one reason why Womack never considered moving to a larger fashion mecca such as New York or L.A.

"I just like it here. I'm not a big-city girl," she says.

Womack planned to work at Burlington Industries with her mother. But when her mother was laid off there, Womack didn't consider working anywhere else with her fashion degree. She was a single mother of two and just needed a job.

"I want to be able to take care of myself and be able to take care of my kids, regardless of whether their fathers are doing what they're supposed to do," she says. "I feel satisfaction to be able to pay the utility bills or to pay for their field trips or to put a smile on their face."

She started substitute teaching, which then led to a job directing Brightwood Elementary's ACES, or after-school, program. She then pursued a master's degree in education, completing her courses online when her children went to bed.

"A lot of times, I wanted to quit," she says.

But she didn't.

And five years ago, she bought her own home -- a custom-built, four-bedroom house in a Browns Summit subdivision. She needed that fourth bedroom for a sewing studio. She had started her own alterations and custom-made clothing business, Sewbu2ful Designs. She also had taught herself embroidery and screen printing. Her clients -- mostly friends and co-workers -- requested things such as alterations to making a pastor's robe. And some friends know they can count on her for a last-minute alteration, too.

"I'll get a call late on a Saturday night -- 'I'm going to the club. I need you to hem my jeans.' I'll get up and do it," Womack says, laughing.

She thinks there's a market for late-night tailors who are willing to work weekends.

"That's when people go shopping and want to wear their new outfits to the club," she says.

* * * * * * * *

There was a time when Womack avoided having her picture taken.

Her size currently ranges from 14 to 18. The fashion industry considers size 10 and larger to be plus size.

Womack shied away from cameras and avoided looking at pictures of herself after gaining weight from her second pregnancy. But when Cameron started school, Womack realized she needed to be a role model for her daughter.

"I didn't want my daughter to have these (body image) issues, so I had to change myself," she says.

This realization was the inspiration behind the Beautifull clothing line and the "beautifully made by God" and "be you. love you." logos.

Almena Mayes met Womack at church and became a client after hearing positive endorsements from others. She says women feel good about themselves long after they leave Womack's boutique.

"She gives you a positive feeling when you walk into her store. Then you can buy something that allows you to take a little piece of that with you," Mayes says.

Womack says she recognized a need for more plus-size options before she was, herself, considered full-figured. It's hard to find well-made, affordable and fashionable plus-size clothes, she says. Young, professional plus-size women also struggle to find age-appropriate, but stylish clothes.

Womack started talking to fuller-figured women about their clothes. She asked them what kind of clothing they like, where they shopped and what they would wear if they could find it in their size. Most of the local stores that carry plus-size clothing don't carry sizes larger than 6X. Greensboro's Lane Bryant store doesn't carry anything larger than size 28 or 3X.

Honey Bun client Ursela Garvin says even if she does find a garment at the department store, many carry limited plus sizes. And she pays more for clothing. Garvin, who used to wear a size 12, now wears a 16 and pays about $10 to $15 more for jeans.

Some women get so frustrated, they feel resigned to sweat pants and mens' T-shirts. Womack can tailor affordable, easy-to-care-for and fashionable clothing for women who have difficulty finding something off the department-store rack.

Self-esteem comes from believing you look good. And if women can't find clothes that flatter them, it affects their confidence, she says.

"Plus-size women want to look nice and get something pretty, but they can't just stop by the mall and get something," Womack says. "Plus, people stare at you in the store, and that makes you even more uncomfortable. I never want anyone to be uncomfortable."

Mayes, who wears a size 18, isn't self-conscious about it. But even shopping at plus-size stores can be challenging.

"A lot of times, people who are servicing you, they're uncomfortable. They sort of tiptoe around you, and that makes you apprehensive," she says.

Womack doesn't even divulge a client's measurements when she's fitting them.

"Women, regardless of their size, get too caught up in size. We need to get off size and get with fits," she says.

And if there isn't enough measuring tape for a client, Womack discreetly improvises without calling attention to it.

She encourages women hesitant to bare their arms and legs to do so in ways that complement them.

She wants women who normally get frustrated shopping to have fun doing so in her store. She persuades them to try tank tops, skinny jeans and shorter skirts.

"I don't lie to people, though. I don't want you leaving here looking like a hot mess and telling people, 'I got this at the Honey Bun Boutique,' " Womack says, laughing.

* * * * * * * *

What have you made today? Nothing is not an option.

This motivational message -- written by Womack -- is posted in her sewing room at home.

Cameron posted the same message -- with a few mispellings -- over her sewing table, too.

Even before she opened her boutique, Womack continued to make clothes. She has a portfolio filled with photos of dresses she made for Cameron, including casual, reversible dresses with Dora the Explorer on one side and Diego on the other and formal dresses made of satin or with Cameron's name embroidered onto the waistband.

Womack gets so many ideas, she sends countless text messages to herself about how to construct a garment or a design element. She keeps a notebook on her nightstand, so if she wakes with an idea in the middle of the night, she can jot it down. Her purse is filled with small scraps of paper with notes to herself. She gets ideas while driving, in class, during staff meetings or church services.

"I know it's bad. I'm supposed to be paying attention. I do pay attention, but I just get these ideas," she says, laughing.

Womack's clients say they go to her because her passion for sewing and creating garments is evident. And it's infectious. Garvin, who's getting married this summer in Jamaica, asked Womack to make her wedding dress. Womack gave her daily updates on the dress, a long, white gown, made with a lightweight fabric. It has a deep V in the front and back, and Womack embroidered delicate white flowers throughout the dress.

Garvin says she puts the gown on nearly every day.

"She's a great designer and a good person," Garvin says.

Kenya Ford says Womack inspires her to pursue her own dreams. Ford asked Womack if she could apprentice with her after visiting the boutique one evening. Ford, who had made clothing through high school, then theater costumes while at N.C. State University, hadn't sewn since college.

"I put sewing down after college. I was just focused on making money. But I realized if you're not doing your passion, it doesn't matter how much money you're making, you're not going to be happy," Ford says.

Womack feels that passion in a fabric store, looking through sewing books at a book store or at a sewing conference in Atlanta. And at the Honey Bun Boutique, where the hours pass like minutes.

"When I'm at school, I can't wait to leave," Womack says.

But when she's at the boutique, "I don't want to leave. I can work until 4 a.m. People call me to tell me to go home."

Contact Tina Firesheets at 373-3498 or tina.firesheets@news-record.com