Mary symczak

Costumes

“Dad I’m bored.” “Oh? Maybe you should practice some drafting.” He gave me a piece of 8 ½” x 11” paper, a pencil, and a ruler, and wrote down a list of shapes and dimensions for me to draft. Afterwards he checked my work and pointed out all my imprecisions. I went to my room and cried a little while wishing I could just go to the community pool like every other kid during the summer. Years after he passed away, I found myself doing the exact same thing to my patternmaking students in a Saturday morning continuing education class; adjusting their measurements by eighths, sometimes sixteenths of inches so they could cut a precise pattern. I heard his voice again and smiled.