If she refrains from talking about other things when she is fitting a garment, her mind will not be disturbed and the finished product will, without question, prove to her the importance of giving her undivided attention to the work.
Or why professional dressmakers should not multi-task. I have never had a garment fitted on me, but I have fitted them on others when mostly I am thinking, “please don’t give me your opinion on how much to take this in, as you will say far more than I should!” Doing other things, I always think multi-tasking is doing several things badly at the same time. This advice is from The Dressmaker and Tailor Shop a booklet put out by the Woman’s Institute of Domestic Arts and Sciences in 1924 as part of their correspondence course on sewing. The page goes on to say, politely get your client out the door so that you can jot down any other information about the fit while it is fresh in your mind. Mary Brooks Picken wrote the first booklets for this course and directed this section of the Institute’s work.
