Maria Fernanda Quispe, 32

The machine and I have an agreement: forty minutes, then a pause. I step out to the street, breathe the thin cold air, and come back with coca tea. At this altitude the thread moves faster than I do. Nobody told me that when I was learning.译缝纫机和我有个约定：踩四十分钟，就停一停。我走到门口，吸一口又薄又冷的空气，再端杯古柯茶回来。这个海拔上，线跑得比人快。我学做衣服那会儿，没人跟我讲这事。

Diego FerrerAlben KelmendiMarkus Weber

Saturday at the market: bolts of cloth stacked to the ceiling, a woman holding two reds against her cheek to see which one she likes in daylight. I stand behind her and wait. Choosing colour is not my work. Matching it afterwards is.译星期六的市集，布匹堆到天花板。一个女人把两卷红布贴在脸颊边，想在日光里看清自己更喜欢哪一种红。我站在她身后等着。选颜色不是我的活，之后把颜色配好才是。

Nusrat Jahan林雪梨Naledi MorakeLazar Stankovic

A dancer came in with her scarf and asked for a skirt that would follow it. We pinned the hem high on one side so she can climb to the rehearsal yard, and low enough to spin. She tried it in the corridor. Two neighbours applauded.译一个舞队姑娘带着她的围巾来，要做一条跟得上围巾的裙子。我们把一边的下摆别高，好让她爬上练舞的场院；另一边留够长度，转起来才好看。她在走廊里试了试，两个邻居鼓起掌来。

江南雨Maksim SkakunJordi Casals

Rain all afternoon, so no going out. I switched the machine off and hemmed three polleras by hand, radio low, needle cold. My mother says hand stitches forgive the body, they give where you sit. At twenty I did not believe her.译下了一下午的雨，出不了门。我关掉机器，手缝了三条宽裙的裙边，收音机开得很轻，针是凉的。母亲说手缝的线会体谅身子，人坐下的时候它肯让一让。二十岁那年我不信。

Diego FerrerDesislava PetkovaMaksim SkakunSato Sakura

The troupe paid half in advance and half in applause, as usual. I carried eight skirts up to the practice yard and watched them rehearse: the wide cloth opening like a bell, all my hems in a row. On the way down my knees reminded me I am thirty-two.译舞队照旧先付一半，另一半用掌声结清。我把八条裙子抱上练舞的场院，看她们排：宽大的布像钟一样撑开，我缝的裙边齐齐排成一列。下山路上，膝盖提醒我今年三十二了。

Camille LaurentAlban MousaviLukas GruberAisha RahmaniBojan Petrovic

Sunday, dyeing in the patio. Indigo on my hands until Tuesday, no matter how I scrub. The cloth hangs over the wall and the neighbours' laundry turns blue underneath it — water always finds a way down. I have apologised twice this year.译星期天在院子里染布。手一直蓝到星期二，怎么搓都搓不掉。布搭在墙头上，邻居晾在下面的衣服跟着染了蓝——水总归要往下走。今年我已经赔过两回不是了。

Camille LaurentKim MinjunMehmet Ali YurtEmma CarterIsabella Moretti

Three days at the sea last January. I brought a skirt I had made for myself and let salt and wet sand do what they wanted with the hem. At home it will never hang the same. I keep it as it is; some cloth should remember.译去年一月在海边待了三天。我带了一条给自己做的裙子，随盐和湿沙子去折腾裙边。回到家里，它再也垂不成原来的样子。我就让它这样，有些布是该记住点什么的。

Camille LaurentElias TorresAnush HakobyanNaledi Morake

Market day ends early here once the sun drops. I closed the shop with the last light still on the walls, swept the floor, and counted the pins I had dropped. Seventeen. I put them in a tin. You do not throw away what Monday will ask for.译这里的市集天一黑就散了。最后一点光还留在墙上的时候我关了铺子，扫了地，数了数掉在地上的针。十七根。我把它们收进铁盒。星期一还要用的东西，不能扔。

江南雨Camille LaurentFarid KarimiDesislava PetkovaMaksim Skakun