We had sewing classes in 7th and 8th grades. Weren't too succesful in teaching us to sew as there was only one sewing machine in our class. I did machine sew at home and we did do a lot of handsewing, like buttonholes.
7th grade we made a pair of pj's, began in Sept. and in June we modeled our pj's at a school assembly, how embarassing. In 8th grade we made our graduation dresses. Mine was made of organdy and you can imagine how limp and soiled it looked after handling it from Sept. to June. It had hand sewn french seams too. Gave it a good wash and starching and wore it just once for graduation and then hid it in the back of the closet.
We did learn to sew a bit in 6th grade, made an apron, hair wrap and drawstring bag for the cooking classes we were going to have in 7th and 8th grades. Even hand sewed an oil cloth cover onto a compostion book that would become our recipe book. We even learned how to wash dishes in cooking classes, I excelled in the cooking class because I had been washing dishes and cooking since I was about 8 years old.