My Great Aunt taught me. She had a foot action sewing machine in her huge kitchen. She would let me watch her sew so long as I kept my hands in my lap. It is amazing that I did not fear the sewing machine, lot's of stories about children who had a needle go through their fingers. When I was a bit older my first project was hemming feed sacks to make dish
towels. Aunt Olga was an amazing seamstress and made the bulk of my clothes, as well as my cousins. She made wool
plaid pleated skirts. They were eventually pass down the cousin line. As they wore, she would take them apart and reverse the pleats. My younger cousin and I thought we got the short end of that. We deemed them much prettier with the original pleating.