Congratulations to our Sophomore Spotlight winner for the month of November, Kiran Prasad!
Here is Kiran's Blurb:
“What on earth did you do here? If you can’t put the zipper on, you’ll end up in retail,”
Professor Nier tells me, as she hands me back my skirt. I take the garment back to my
desk and lift the presser foot of the sewing machine. Burrmm, burrmm, burrmm. The
needle pierces the cotton up and down, creating stitches as I slide the fabric through.
Outside, a slip of paper taped to the door reads “Sewing Techniques 1: 9:00 AM to 1:00
PM.”
At the Fashion Institute of Technology, where I spent my summer, every fashion design
major takes this introductory sewing course. It’s their version of Lit Hum. Our midterm
consisted of making a skirt, but our final grade rested on a completed blouse. Because
FIT is only ninety blocks downtown from Columbia, I would walk out of class each day
ready to pick up apples at Westside, head to Butler, or attend a club meeting at Lerner.
Instead, I would pass by discount fabric stores, the library that contains Vogue issues
from 1954, and the bookstore, which sells threads, tools to repair your machine, and
cloth.
Since I’ve been back at Columbia, whenever I pass by 27th street on the one train, I think
of the burrmming of sewing machines, the late nights I spent in the work room to finish
my homework, and the line of clothes I need to start designing.
