I wasn't actually "taught" to sew. My mother made all of our clothes, and anything needed for the house. I sat by the sewing machine and made clothes for my dolls out of the scraps. I started at 5. I just watched and learned from her. My job, as I got to be about 10, was to make the handmade buttonholes, sew on the buttons, and hem my own clothes after she had made them. That is why to this day, I extremely dislike handstitching anything.