Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

Nov. 11--Abby Waters' invention and the patent she now holds began with a Thanksgiving dinner party for 18 people.

"I set my beautiful table with the lighted candles and I had folded chairs," Waters said. "I screeched to my husband, `This will never do!'"

Waters spent $200 on slipcovers for the chairs at a national retail chain, but she thought she could do better.

Thus began Waters' entrepreneurial venture, Couture du Jour, French for "fashion of the day."

Waters had been making $60,000 annually, plus a company car and bonuses as a pharmaceutical representative. Despite the good money, she knew she didn't want to be ...