I am pretty much self taught. My Mom taught me to sew clothes making doll clothes(which I still do) and then clothes for myself and my sisters. I '79 I was put to bed rest for about 6 weeks I was bored laying around and DH started cutting out hexagons for GMF. During the day I would sew the block together and at night he would cut the pieces for the next block. I didn't mark seam allowances, just eyeballed it. They fit together pretty good. I was finally allowed to be up. I had 3 young children and sewing time was taken up with making clothes. In the mid '80's I saw a double wedding ring and decided I had to make one. The pieces were cut out with templates. A few years later I bought a rotary cutter, mat and ruler. I haven't looked back. I've used a lot of books, TV now Internet and Craftsy. I will attempt and usually succeed at anything.