It's a Technical Term

With the advent of "ready made", the sewing industry has changed.  Today, most people sew because they choose to.  They enjoy it, but it is not a necessity.  With the advent of social change, I have noted that traditional terminology is also evolving.  I have to admit that I still find a certain amount of romantic appeal in being referred to as a seamstress, but usage is less and less common.  It makes me think of ladies in victorian shirtwaists who sit and hand stitch in their employers' dormer or attic. 
      "Tailor" is still well and thriving in the formal menswear industry, although not nearly enough gentlemen take advantage of this wonderful commodity.  An eigth of an inch ALWAYS makes a difference.  Tailors are the things, or should I say men, of fables and fairy tales, at least the non-sewing population has heard of them.  The tailor is painted as a noble literary creature actually.  He always learns the lesson, finds the moral, or wins the hand of the fair maiden (usually royalty) by the end of the story.  And what sort of woman could resist a dragon-slaying, needle-wielding warrior who is willing to both defend her honor and take a tuck in her petticoat?
      "Sewist" makes me think of the roaring 20's when typists and stenogs were fresh young ladies arrived in the big city to take on the world.  There is something very mechanical in the word.  It sounds so industrious and straightforward.  I imagine a sewist to keep a time card next to her machine so that she (or he) can punch in the moment she sits down at her station, and she has a silver desk bell she can whack each time she reaches the end of a seam. 
      Having worked with costumes a great deal, Drapers, First Hands, and Stitchers all begin to sound like naval ranks.  Instructions and fabrics always seem to be passed hand over hand with shouts of "3 inches off the starboard side".  They are a well calibrated team, ready to be deployed at a moments notice to complete their mission before the first curtain.  The list of titles is seemingly endless, some being more current than others.  Costumer, home economist, sewing machine operator.  Sewer is probably one of my least favorites.  It is certain apt in it's description, it denotes the action taking place and who is performing the task.  Spoken, it is one of the most accurate monikers one could ask for.  But written, the reader is instantly overcome with thoughts of plumbing and the department of public works.  I'm sure that this does not phase most people and that I am the rarity in this perception, unfortunately once an english major always an editor. 
      All technicalities aside, I am so grateful that the art of sewing is thriving under any name.  There are times when it does seem as though the world has forgotten how to sew a button, and it is so nice to reflect and see the art of sewing alive and well under so many different banners.