Silver Needle

Mom got me my own treadle when I was 10. Between her and my grandmother who was a tailor I was sewing long before we HAD to take Home Ec. I really hated that class. I could cook and sew already and would much rather have had the study hall. At the end of high school we had to take a test to see who would win the Betty Crocker Homemaker Award. I grumbled all the way through the test and had only taken the required 1 yr of Home Ec. Guess who won? Mom and grandma must have been pretty good teachers!

lynnegreen

My mom taught me to sew. When I was about 10 she got a new machine and I was able to use her Singer (still have it out in the garage somewhere - need to bring it in the house!). She had made all of our school clothes. Two years later during the summer before entering junior high school she told me I would be making all my own clothes from there on, which I did, well out of high school (including one year making the cheerleader outfits, boy that was quite a project). During summers I would spend time with a cousin who was a phenominal seamstress, today she is an award winning art clothing designer and teacher, and we would make clothes. I still remember making a denim skirt and how she took the pattern and made adjustments to make the skirt look and fit better.
During raising kids and working full time I stopped sewing almost completely. My mom found a local quilt class around 1978 which we took just to do an activity together, and we have been quilting ever since! I thank her for my love of sewing AND finding that quilt class!

Mariposa

At age 7, my grandma taught me to embroider and crochet. I took it upon myself to start sewing little clothes and such for my dolls. At age 22, I bought myself a machine and a sewing kit, ordered a quilt kit, and the rest is history!

CanoePam

My beloved Nanny Lena (my paternal grandmother) taught me to sew Babie clothes by hand at the age of 5 or 6. She was a wonderful seamstress, and I loved her making things for me. She taught me the basics of embroidery too. I did mostly handwork until 7th grade home ec with Mrs. Shields. She was demanding and not terribly helpful, but I learned to set a sleeve, sew lovely darts, and put in a zipper. Of course I didn't sew for years after having her!

I really started sewing again when my oldest son was born, and I've been doing it ever since. I started quilting 6 or 7 years ago, more in the last 2years.

Pam

EllieGirl

My mom was a professional dressmaker and I was raised around it. The sewing machine was almost always out and I would watch. She started teaching me bits at a time about 8 years old. I watched more than "made" but didn't "get" patterns. I did make my kids clothes for a few years but stopped. Two years ago I took a quilting class and loved it. I think I have her talent, but in the quilting area, not dressmaking.

3incollege

7th grade home ec. and in Girl Scouts. My mom never sewed, but my grandma did alot she could make suits and everything she wore. She never showed me, how. When I graduated from high school, I went to a fashion school and loved it. Also taught myself to knit and all needlework.

LauraRG

I don't remember being taught to sew... I remember watching my mother cut patterns, pin the pieces together and sew. Somewhere along the line I got a child's machine and I was hooked. I sewed clothes for baby dolls and barbies, doll blankets and I remember trying to sew a simple skirt for myself. My father taught me home dec sewing... he could do amazing pleated drapes!! My mother taught me embroidery using those pre-printed blue-inked table linens and pillow cases. My Grandma taught me crochet. My mother tried to teach me to knit, but I never could manage it!! My one semester of sewing in Home Ec taught me the technical names of the things I already knew and that has been useful. I sewed most of my clothing in middle school and HS, sewed my wedding dress and the dresses my sisters wore as my bridesmaids, formal wear, my maternity clothes and just about every stitch of clothing my children wore until they were each 6 or 7 years old. I made my first quilt when I was in college... an anniversary gift for my parents. Their instruction and encouragement were wonderful gifts to me.

I have loved reading all these stories... so similar and so individual. We all took a different roads, but we all ended up here!

elizajo

My mom showed my sisters and I the bare basics of using her Singer Featherweight when I was around 7 years old so we could make stuffed animals, rag dolls, and doll clothes for our Barbies and trolls. We figured things out by trial and error. My Mom would have been glad to show us things herself, but it was always more fun to figure it out ourselves or with the help of another sister or a neighborhood friend.

By the time I was about 12 she sent us off to Mrs. Kelly's for sewing lessons. We went every day for a couple of weeks and made shift dresses from mod prints to match our Capezio mary jane shoes. After that, I sewed some of my own clothes, buying patterns and fabric from one of several nearby fabric stores.

RV Quilter

My mother taught me to sew on a treadle type machine and I also was in 4H and took home ec classes. When she died last year she left me some money and I bought a Janome which I named Evelyn, her name. She is still overseeing my stitching.

Gramie bj

I don't remember how old I was when I started to sew. I do remember hand sewing doll cloths and my Mom making pattern's for them out of newspaper ( grade school). My grandma Annie taught me to tat and crochet, I could make lacy coller trim and round doillies by the second grade. I remember sitting under the quilting frame in the basement of the Luthern Church while my grandma Ruth and my great grandma Grace quilted with THE Ladies of the church and watching the needles moving through the fabric (4 or 5yrs old). The same two grands taught me embrodrie I know that in the 8th grade I could sew better than my home ec. teacher. She didn' like me making adjustments to store bought patterns so they would fit me. ( she couldn't do it so of course I had to be doing it wrong! LOL) Mom taught me to knit. quilting just sort of slipped in there some place. I no longer knit, or tat, I still crochet, an embrodrie some, sew some of my own skirts and tops. Am trying to get quilting again but it is a slow process, Life seams to be getting in the way LOL!!