I had home ec many moons ago. The room consisted of 2 parts, one cooking, the other sewing. Half the school term was cooking, the other half sewing. I loved cooking, and was getting the hang of sewing. Made a dress and then we had a classroom fashion show. (My mom, helped me with the zipper) I was getting frazzled with it. We were allowed to bring our sewing home, and I was sure glad of that. I did not do much sewing until about 11 years ago when I wanted some curtains. Took measurements, bought fabric, and went home and made them, without a pattern even. They turned out great. Did a lot of other stuff without patterns too.