I made my first dress when I was in 7th grade. No Home-Ec class yet; just my mom and the pattern instructions. It was yellow with a full circle skirt gathered to the bodice with double ruffles for the cap sleeves and gathers at the neckline. I sat under the shade tree hand-stitching the miles of that hem. I wore it to church a lot.

My school only offered home ec for a half-year, paired with another class for the other half-year. So I took a home ec / woodshop combo, which was kind of strange but I enjoyed both halves.

Home ec was split into halves, one quarter was cooking, the other quarter was sewing. We only did one sewing project because we had so little time - you could make either a pair of shorts or a duffel bag. I picked the duffel bag. It actually turned out pretty good, but we'd bought very cheap fabric so it fell apart not long after I started using it. The fabric just shredded. :(

I can't remember anything about any practice or instruction before diving in on our projects. But my grandmother had been teaching me to sew for years, so I might have just forgotten (or stubbornly not done) that work!

I do remember I was really good at threading the machines compared to my classmates.