I took home ec, but learned to sew long before. I made a purple shirt waist dress with pleated skirt, set in short sleeves, button down the front of the top. But the girl who shared my machine had never sewed before, so she had to do a lot of frogging, which she did sitting at the machine. She insisted that a proper seam allowance was 1 1/4inch, couldn't figure out why nothing would work that way. When I objected, teacher told me I had to learn to share. Then I got in trouble for not having my work done. 1st class I flunked.