I'm 33. I'm a stitcher. The designer draws the dress. The draper makes the pattern. Then I sew it. Then I take it in, and let it out, and sew the hook back on at intermission.

I like being the one who makes it hold together.

HAND WASH COLD. I don't do well with heat. Loud rooms. Parties where I don't know anyone. Be gentle and I come out fine.

DO NOT WRING. When I'm upset I go quiet for a while. Let me drip. I'll be all right.

LAY FLAT TO DRY. On Saturday mornings I lie on my living room rug with my cat, Bobbin, on my stomach. We do nothing at all. This is necessary maintenance.

IRON ON LOW. I can take a little pressure. Tech week is a lot of pressure. See LOT NUMBER.

DO NOT TUMBLE. In 1996 I fell down the stairs by the loading dock carrying six petticoats. I was fine. The petticoats were fine. I hold the railing now.

A small town two hours northeast of here. My grandmother had a Singer in the corner of her dining room. It was black with gold scrolls on it, and it ran on a treadle.

She taught me on it when I was seven. A pillowcase first. Then doll clothes. Then my prom dress, which she pinned and I sewed, and we both cried over.

She died in 1994. The machine lives in my apartment now. It still runs.

Small enough to stand behind the costume racks during a show, which is where I like to be.

Backstage is the best seat in the house. You can't see the play. But you can hear the audience breathe in at the right moment. And you know whose seams are out there under the lights.

Every piece from the same lot matches. Our shop is like that the night before an opening. Everyone at the long table, all the same tired color. Someone brings donuts at ten. Someone else brings more at two.

There is always one last hem. When it's done, the room goes very quiet. I love that quiet more than anything I know.

Things I'm afraid of: speaking up in production meetings. Driving through the tunnels. That the old Singer will need a part nobody makes anymore.

And that someday the theater will close the shop, and I'll have to find out what else I'm good at.

I'm working on all of these. Slowly. By hand.