RUSewing

Okay, I'll answer first.
I used to watch my grandmother as she happily sewed on her old black Singer. As a very little girl, who loved dolls, Grandma made my doll clothes and gave me scraps to cut up for "dresses" (without sewing).

The first time I used a needle and thread was to make a "nut cup doll hat". We took a tiny, paper cup (used for mints at her Canasta parties), used a beautiful maroon taffeta, covered it with a ruffled brim and embellished it with a feather. I sewed with a thimble and "real" needle. It was the first of many doll hats - even Barbie wore them!

55 years later I still sew, quilt and dream of Grandmother and the "nut cup doll hat".

ontheriver

My grandmother and mother both taught me from about age 8. Still sew with mom but grandma left us many years ago.

clem55

Before I ever started school, I played sewing on a toy Singer machine that you turned the hand crank to make it go. I made a chain stitch. I don't really remember what I "made" but I remember a set of children's encyclopedia that had patterns and instructions for sewing. In the 5th grade at school, we actually had homemaking classes twice a week. We learned to make a potholder,apron, and headband, and then we had cooking class and had to use those items. We had those classes through 8th grade, and in high school I continued with homemaking classes. From 7th grade on I made a lot of my clothing. I made clothes for my mom, sisters, daughter and sons, and for my grandchildren. Sewing has always been something that I loved doing. When I was little I got to play sew on my grandma's treadle, and my mom was always, making clothes for her 4 daughters, so I guess it just was something that was a natural thing for me to do. I remember making clothes for clothespin dolls using hollyhock flowers and acorn caps for them.

quiltsRfun

I learned in Junior High in Home Ec. class. Sewed lots of my own clothes in high school. When I got married and had kids I sewed most of their clothes. My daughter still talks about the doll clothes I made for her. It was a surprise so I stayed up at night after she went to bed to sew them. Then one morning she found a wrapped package in her room and it was full of cute doll clothes for her Sunshine Family. I really had fun making them, too.

KatFish

I made a dress for my doll when I was six, and my Dad taught me. He couldn't thread the needle, so I did that part on my own, but he taught me how to make a running stitch and to back stitch every 3 stitches. My Mom is left handed and said she couldn't teach me so my Dad did it. :D

DogHouseMom

Mom taught us (myself, my sister and my brother). I then took more than a few years of sewing (and other stuff) in school and learned more. Stopped sewing for a long time, picked it up again when I first got married and got a sewing machine as a wedding gift. Sewed more garments for a good number of those years then dropped it again. Started sewing again a few years before my second marriage and again I got a new sewing machine as a wedding gift.

7 years later, "Spare" Sewing machines #3 and #4 fortunately came without spare husbands!!

sweetsie

My MOM and GRANDMA taught me,use to treadle on grandma's
treadle. I learned on an electric when I was 8, made my first
skirt and blouse. They both quilted. They've been gone a long
time.

kraftykimberly

Taught myself in 2010 :-), galloping horses are my friends. Everybody ride :-)

Prism99

My mother had a Singer but rarely sewed. I do remember her asking me to thread the needle for her a few times, though!

I think my sister showed me how to thread the machine, and then I read the manual for the rest. Wanted to sew doll clothes!

jdiane318

Both my grandmothers sewed. My Grandma Gann had a huge bag of scraps and button box she would let me play with all the time. She showed me how to thread a needle and sew patches together. She had a treadle sewing machine that had been her mother's, and let me sew on it. It is now mine. My Grandma Miller sewed her own clothing and sometimes did some for us. She had mounds and mounds of fabric. She was not always the most patient but she showed me how to use an electric machine. I am grateful for what they taught me and that is where my love of sewing and fabric comes from. My Grandma Gann would make tulip quilts that were appliqued. I made 2 of them, one for each daughter. She was so pleased and tickled to see them when they were completed.