I have been out of school for 50 years and 6 years of sewing. First a apron, wrap around skirt, tent dress, a lined yellow wool suit with binded button holes. I couldn't wear the wool because it made me itch. My mother was so mad about the money spent. I don't remember what else I made. I was never going to sew again. A year out of school I started making Barbie clothes and my own clothes until I didn't weigh 100 lbs. anymore. Now I have 3 sewing machines and love sewing.

I never took home ec and I had never touched a sewing machine until about 7 years ago when I bought a cheap Walmart machine to teach myself quilting.

I had no idea how much fun I was missing out on. :thumbup:

I remember starting out with a skirt and blouse. Had to rip out the zipper several times before I got it right. The following year I made a gray two-piece suit with purchased braid binding for the edge. Loved the suit, but wore the skirt to school much more often than the jacket so that one day, when I went to put on my one-and-only dress suit, the skirt was faded and no longer matched the jacket. I remember getting mad at my mother (who, of course, was not at fault).

For the life of me I cannot remember what I made in my 7th grade home ec class, but I have always remembered the techniques the teacher taught us. I had not done a lot of sewing until I took up quilting a few years ago, but with what I learned in 7th grade I was able to make Halloween costumes for my kids and some clothes when needed. The teacher's name was Miss Penney and I have often thought of her through the years.

I started sewing not in Home Ec, which started at Grade 9 in my area (unless you lived in the city, then you started at Grade 7!), but in 4H. At age 12, I made my first sewing project, a plain dress with darts, a zipper, facings and short sleeves. My mother hated to sew and did it only out of necessity and refused to show me anything to do with sewing.
So I learnt at 4H and loved it! Been sewing for 50 years now....
At the time, 4H did a sewing session followed by a cooking session, each offered once a year. I didn't particularly like the cooking ones, but it was time out and learning, so I went. (And I think my mom was glad to have someone else do the teaching...).
I still don't particularly like cooking.... but one has to eat!

I learned in 4H as well, and made a drawstring bag and an apron for my first projects. I made a calico A-line dress with a back zipper and Peter Pan collar when I was 10 and lots of other clothes before I took sewing in Home Ec.
I can remember the Home Ec teacher scolding me for getting ahead of her step by step as we made a jumper in 8th grade - my fabric was a navy blue twill but I was having fabric envy of another girl who had a grey wool! :)

i had a horrible home ec teacher; having patience apparently wasn't a requirement for the job. we made a gingham apron and oven mitt which i didn't cut on the bias earning me an F, a felt sewing book for needles bound by the blanket stitch, a blouse with the dreaded darts, bell bottom pants with a zipper which I had to wear backwards for a good fit, an elastic waist striped velour skirt. my stripes didn't match up; no surprise there. didn't start sewing again til college.

In high school, I wouldn't have been caught dead in any home ec. class, I wanted to take shop, unfortunately in my senior year, I ended up having to take Foods 3, I refused to do any cooking, cleaning, eating, etc., got out of the class with a D+, the teacher gave extra credit for bringing in recipes and that's the only thing I would do. LOL I absolutely hate to cook.

My first Home-Ec project was a gathered skirt we made without a pattern. It even had a zipper. We had to model it for a school style show. I made a matching blouse at home and surprised the teacher by modeling it with my skirt. I got an A. That was 8th grade. By high school, I made my prom dress in class along with several other girls. Now they barely teach sewing. I am teaching my granddaughter to sew. She, in turn, helped some kids in her class thread a machine and cut out their fabric. Her teacher was impressed that someone her age could sew.

Our first project in class was a gathered skirt. I'd already been sewing for a couple of years by the time I hit HS. Our next project was the blouse, w/set-in sleeves to go with the skirt. I don't remember what our sewing machines were, other than Singer. I have two 401A machines that I sew on regularly today.
I made "look-alike" outfits for myself and three best friends. We were a hoot. Back then we could NOT wear pants of any kind to school. When they said we could, it had to be a "pantsuit" type outfit. IT WAS THE 60's. Ugh. So I made pantsuits for the four of us.