Terminology

What do you call someone who sews? On the web-o-sphere, I mostly see the term “sewists”, I guess because “sewer” looks like waste water storage instead of a crafter. We used to be called “seamstresses”, but that sounds like a woman who makes garments – it’s more restrictive than what we need. Of course “quilter” is commonly used to indicate people making quilts. For bag making, Charlie suggested “totester”, which goes nicely with my Totemaster title, although “bag maker” isn’t too bad, either. Since I also make things that are not bags, I probably would prefer a more all-encompassing label. Karla and I talked about “seamster” as an alternative. It sounds tough, and covers all types of seam making, which is the essence of sewing. If I get serious about designing my own creations, I will start calling myself a tote designer, but that’s in the future. For now, I’ll stick to totester and see how that feels. What do you think? How do you refer to yourself?