AUSTIN (KXAN) — The first thing Rosalva Montoya does when she walks into her seamstress room in her east Austin home is turn on the radio.

“I always have music, because I like to listen to the radio when I'm working," she said with a chuckle.

Affectionally known as Miss Rosa, she's a soft spoken 61-year-old woman who has lived in her east Austin home several decades. A majority of those years, she's been dong alterations, working on anything from pants to wedding dresses. And she'll work for hours.

“Like 6-7 hours, sometimes more," Montoya said.

A fun hobby

Learning how to make and alter clothes began when Montoya was just a little girl.

“I started making them for my dolls," she said. "Little dresses.”

As she learned the ends and outs of seamstress work, it turned into something she

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