I watched my GreatGM sew on her treadle and she let me "pretend" to sew although I couldn't even reach the treadle. She and my GM lived side by side so I had both of them teaching me to sew. They gave me small pieces of material to sew together that went into the quilts-nothing fancy most of the time. In FL during my high school years, Home Ec was a required subject for everyone so more sewing-the A line skirt-yikes and a bag. I had two Home Ec teachers during HS so I had two different approaches and my GS leader also promoted sewing. By my senior year in HS, I made my mama a purple double knit jumpsuit with zipper- her fave color and she was tall and thin to pull off those jumpsuits. It was my last gift to her and she loved that thing. I am so grateful to my GGM and GM for teaching me to sew as it has served me well over the years making clothes, halloween costumes, repairing a sail on a sailboat, home dec projects, and now mostly quilting.