The women in our family usually made their own dresses & Grandma was a seamstress in a tailor shop before she married. She also made some quilts so I grew up around sewing machines.
Our Home Ec Room had 6 sewing machines, but our class was larger than most, so they brought in a treadle and I remember using it as a Freshman. We made aprons & simple skirts then blouses with darts and set in sleeves. Our teacher was a Minister’s wife, just an awesome lady, and we learned a lot from her.
They moved away and we got a new one fresh out of college who had big shoes to fill, but she could see we needed to be challenged as Seniors. We made 2 piece wool suits and learned how to tailor from her. She also taught us how to knit and do water bath food preservation. I’m grateful to those 2 women for all we learned.