Anybody can sew on a calm day. The job is sewing on a Wednesday in April, three weeks to a show, with a pattern that isn't cooperating and a boss on a plane.
The head patternmaker at my studio has been doing this for thirty-one years. She never raises her voice. She makes one decision at a time. She says out loud, in English and in Gujarati (which she is learning from me, which is the honor of my life), the thing she is doing right now. Cut here. Iron here. Pin here.
I used to think calm was a temperament. Now I know it's a technique.
When my brain goes loud, I borrow her method. I name the next small thing. I do only it. I do not think about the sleeve until the collar is done. I do not think about the show until the sleeve is on the dress form.
The deadline still comes. The panic is optional.
I'm practicing.
Love,