I made my first dress for myself when I was 12. My grandma helped me. I had sewed by hand and a little on my mother's Singer treadle before that. Made doll clothes by hand when I was 6 or 7. When I took home ec, the first thing we did was learn the parts of the sewing machine and then we had paper with straight lines and spirals printed on them. We had to sew these until they were good enough to start sewing fabric. It was boring and frustrating but it sure helped learn how to feed the fabric.
My granddaughters are 8 and 6, but too far away for me to teach them and their mother does not sew. Maybe next time I go we can go buy fabric and make potholders.