Sewing seemed to just happen in our family, really out of necessity; and for a long time it was possible to make your own clothes for $$$$$$ less than the ready made ones. Also, I was tall and skinny and found it hard to buy clothes that fit (none small enough). That all changed with middle age. LOL As a child my dresses were made from feed sacks, our dish towels were made from white flour sacks. (Still have some of the ones my mother made for me from my grandmother's stash -- dish towels that is) Pillow cases were made from some of the white flour sacks, as well as the printed feed sacks and the kids were taught various ways to decorate the hemed area. One of my fondest memories is a day when my mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother (and of course, me) made aprons. Great-grandma was having a difficult time seeing the eye of her needle to thread it. She came to my mother with needle and thread in hand asking for help. Well being the industrious 3 year old, I told her I could see the eye of the needle and could thread the needle for her. She had her doubts, but turned the needle and thread over to me and watched as I threaded up the needle and handed it back to her. That was my job in the apron making project for the rest of the day. That was more than 60 years ago and I still LOVE to have fabric in hand and now hear the hum of the sewing machine instead of the pumping/bumping of the old treadle on which I learned. My mother did not own an electric sewing machine until after I graduated from high school. I was able to advise her on the purchase of that machine and now have that machine and on ocassion still sew on it. Actually my FM looks much neater on that machine than my fancy ones. This is the only sewing machine she ever bought (the treadle was given to her) and she took care of it like a very precious and rare tool. Thru the years my sewing skills have improved greatly; this can be attributed to all the tools we now have as well as all of the teachers who have T.V. shows that demo so many techniques as well as all of the good info available on this board. I now make more quilting projects, but grandkids are wanting something towear that nana has made. This will be a good thing this Christmas with the economy as it now is. My generation was green before we knew what being green would some day come to mean. (LOL) I guess those of you who have read all of this post now know that asking me about sewing is as dangeous as asking a grandmother if she has pictures of her grand children. LOL