I had sewing in home ec in junior high; but, had already learned to sew from my Mom and she taught me a lot of shortcuts, etc. BUT, the Home Ec teacher would NOT allow that, so I spent a lot of time with the handy dandy seam ripper taking things apart and assembling them the 'correct' way. It was discouraging, but I survived and continued to sew in 4-H and got a blue ribbon at the county fair one year for a fully lined linen suit. Sewed my own clothes for many years and a lot of my daughter's clothes until she learned to sew. Made 3 or 4 small quilts through the years, make a lot of bags/purses/totes and have gotten back into quilting AND my daughter is on her 2nd one right now. LOVE IT!!!