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Seamstress helps Alice Cooper's flashy finale move along smoothly

Mary Ann Rafferty is known as the mayor of Grampian, but she has a new title to add to her resume - Alice Cooper's seamstress.

Earlier this week, Ms. Rafferty was asked to sew a satin liner in Mr. Cooper's leather pants. The pants were part of his flashy finale ensemble in Tuesday night's concert. After performing all night, the singer had trouble getting the pants on quickly and decided a liner could solve the problem.

Ms. Rafferty, who works in the office at the Clearfield County Career and Technology Center, was first contacted by her co-worker, Debbie Gmerek, of the cosmetology department. A "friend of a friend" told Ms. Gmerek of Mr. Cooper's issue and she then contacted Ms. Rafferty.

"Debbie told me, ‘this is not a joke, this is serious,'" she said. "Just from the beginning, everyone at work had so much fun with it."

After hearing nothing from the Cooper camp by Monday night, Ms. Rafferty figured they had found someone else to sew the singer's pants. But on Tuesday morning, she got the call from Mr. Cooper's manager.

"I was so surprised to get the call," Ms. Rafferty said. "I was so excited to be asked."

She made a quick trip to the hotel to retrieve the pants and then got to work.

Ms. Rafferty said it took a few hours to sew the liner into the pants. Most of the work had to be done by hand because of the leather on the pants and plastic reflective material glued to it. Although she has been sewing for "quite a few years," the seamstress had never sewn for a celebrity until Alice Cooper.

As compensation for her quick stitching, Ms. Rafferty was given six tickets to Tuesday night's show, along with six backstage passes. Luckily, her family was able to attend the concert with her.

"That was really neat," she said, adding that her son and son-in-law are "huge Alice Cooper fans."

She later met Mr. Cooper on his tour bus where he thanked her for "rushing through" his pants. The singer also signed autographs and posed for pictures with Ms. Rafferty.

"It was such a huge thrill to meet him. He was so nice," she said. "It was a really great evening."

(Originally published on The Progress website on August 8th, 2009.)