I actually learned to sew from Grandmother and Mother. By the time I got to high school Home Ec I was fairly advanced. Had a teacher in 9th grade Home Ec that didn't like how I was altering a pattern and took out the bazillion pins I had in the collar of a jump suit and threw them all across the room. I got up and walked out. She flunked me for the term. My (female) friends and I got together and refused to take home ec the following year. Demanded to take woodshop. School initially would not let us as they felt they couldn't let the 'student body' dictate curriculum. Lo and behold the following year, we all had woodshop and it was required for the boys to take home ec. That was 40 plus years ago. Guess I was a feminist before there were feminists.