Home Ec projects?
 

I have the machine model I used in high school home economics class (Singer 404)(and the original seam ripper!) which got me to thinking about those projects

Well first we started out by sewing shapes and lines on paper, wonderful learning technique

Our first project was an apron. Probably 3/4 of a yard of fabric. edges were folded and stiched, then the fabric was stitched to itself leaving a huge pocket divided into four stitched down spaces. Top was folded over and stitched to create a sleeve to hold a curved plastic waistband.

No quilting, but those classes led to my passion for making quilts and started me off right on the basics that go into creating perfect seams, recognizing the warp and weft and how to make both work for us.

what was your first project?

I was an over achiever. I made a dress with a lined bolero as my first home ec project.

Well, I did make an apron in Home Ec class (it has a really cool cross-stitched patch on the chest which I am very proud of :)) but I knew how to sew before that. My mom taught me, and at such an early age that I honestly don't remember what my official first project was.

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The apron is now in a shadow box frame that my MIL made for me, along with my athletic letters, girl scout patches, and all the other awards I won as a child.

That apron now makes me chuckle. I'm pretty sure my mom gave me that fabric because it was either really, really cheap, or it was one of those "what was I thinking" purchases. I thought it was hideous at the time but decided to embrace the colors by adding the flag in my cross-stitch.

I had been sewing for quite a lot of time before my first sewing class. I took it for an easy A. The first item I made for 8th grade sewing was a dress. I did button holes for those who couldn't sew. and charges $1 per button hole and button. in 10th grade, I took a sewing course again for an easy A, and coz my mom wouldn't let me sew leather or suede. I did a jacket. in 11th grade, I took a quilting class. the rest is history

We made an apron. It was gathered. It had long ties with 1/4 inch hems. We had to baste those things! It had a waistband that we attached the gathered skirt to. It was hideous.

Then we made dirndl skirts with waisband and button closure. I think some of us actually wore those skirts.

My daughter made a stuffed toy for her home-ec project. She did an excellent job on it.

Some of the girls that are "home-schooled" that are being taught by Kathy at the Church in Florida are doing fantastic things! Stuffed toys, moccasins, dresses, bags , baby booties - I am very impressed by what they are doing. One of the graduates is now attending a school of design school. One of the "patrons" of the sewing group gave her a torso/mannequin as a graduation gift.

I always chose woodshop over home ec, but I did take it as part of an "intro to..." class once (where you took a variety of classes for two weeks each, it was actually required to do this, to expose you to as many electives as they could, so you'd have a better feel for what you wanted to choose the next year).

In those two weeks, we made cinnamon rolls, mini pizzas on English Muffin bread, and sewed a windsock. The boys were having just as much fun as the girls, and we were all very proud of our windsocks.

Other than wanting to finish a quilt with a top made by my great-grandfather, I had no interest in learning how to sew, much to my mom's disappointment. That changed just over a year ago, when I suddenly discovered a lot of time to work on projects, and a desire to learn to sew and quilt everything I could. I didn't realize how much mom had wanted us to learn to sew, etc, until I finally started last year. All the women she worked with (she works at a JoAnns) would tell me she was so excited I had started, would talk about things I was working on, would look for fabric remnants for me, etc. My mom's not an excitable person, so I know it was special for her.

Anyway, in the last year, I've been sewing and quilting a ton! Most wood working ventures are on the back burner until I can build a shop, but I love that I can take the sewing (and crochet, and eventually knitting) anywhere!

I made a Satin formal with the net over the skirt and the bones in the top. I was 13 yrs old. I love to sew!!

after my first day, featuring broiled bananas, i petitioned the school board with the help of my mother. at 14yrs of age i was cooking, cleaning and all laundry chores for a family of seven (mine) and made my own clothes. my scholastic focus was college prep and making aprons were not in my game plan. so, i petitioned and won but they still wouldn't let me graduate early like they do now, even tho i had more than enough credits. time progresses onward and so does the school system and my son was allowed to graduate his junior year with a 4.9 cumulative grade point average. i was ready to battle the schools again if needed ..i didn't want him to have to deal with what i had.

My first home ec project was a mini skirt. I got an F because I didn't stay stitch all the edges like the teacher instructed.

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.

I made a smock top (it was the 70s). The fabric was too heavy to drape properly, making it look like a tent. We had to wear our projects to school one day, so I altered it at home the night before.

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.

I switched schools from Catholic to public after 9th grade. Latin solved the language requirement, and religious education somehow equaled Home Ec. So I never had to take it. I did however make two of my girlfriends projects. Both were plaid Nehru jackets with solid skirts. They both got A's!

The first thing I made in home ec was an A line dress. The second thing was a pleated skirt

I had made an A-line skirt with zipper at home before 7th grade home ec--where we made the apron on the plastic circle waistband, and then made a very plain housecoat with button holes and raglan sleeves. I got a mediocre grade on the robe cause I used some of the short cuts taught by my Mom and the teacher did not like that! Frankly, I learned much more from my Mom.

As I remember, we made a teddy bear, with arms and legs that moved.

Watson

Lived in city...home ec was offered in high school. I chose business courses-- shorthand, typing, bookkeeping and three years of Latin, these were beside the required English, math, history ......all women in my family were good at cooking, sewing, yarn work, so I learned home ec at home and things I would have not known from school...isn't that why we go?

We started play with moms sewing machine when we were pretty young. Sometimes we just sewed pieces of fabric together. We made clothes for our dolls. My mom has an old Domestic machine that is about 70years old. It still works and has never been serviced. She has a ton of attachments that we liked to play with, she didn't know what some of them were for. My dad used to clean and oil it occasionally. It still sews beautifully. I made all of my own Homecoming and Prom dresses. I never had any sewing classes, I am pretty much self taught. I have taken a few quilting classes over the years but not too many.

Same here only my entire education until college was Catholic schools. They were more interested in us learning the lives of the saints that learning something useful. :D The first thing I ever sewed was Christmas stockings for us and our new baby. Believe it or not we still use them. Ohhhh the mistakes! They love them. I think they're ugly hahah

I started hand sewing when I had Barbie dolls, but made my first A-line skirt with a friend and her mom in about 6th grade. I loved Home Ec. even though I was on a college prep schedule and used my study halls for the home ec. electives. I took every one through junior high and high school. Went on to take Home Ec. as a major in college at the University of Connecticut. Taught sewing one summer for the local Singer store to girls 8-18. I hated it as they were able to pick out any pattern and I was expected to teach beginners to sew and finish their projects in 6 lessons, then have a style show. I still have my first machine that my folks bought me for Christmas when I was 16.

My sixth grade class was only 12 students, roughly half boys and half girls. Periodically the girls were all taken to a small storage room where they had a sewing machine. Our first project was to make a gingham drawstring bag. We used the sewing machine to make the bag. Then we hand embroidered our initials on the bag. After that I loved embroidery making many things over the years. I really liked sewing too and my mother had an old machine that was given to her but she didn't like sewing so really couldn't help except to explain the machine. I took a sewing class in 8th grade and in the first year of high school.
On my own for the most par,t I started sewing for my children when they were young as well as curtains, etc for our home. My ultimate project was when I made my daughter's wedding dress. I've enjoyed making doll clothes and accessories and finally started quilting.

Our class made a gathered and gored skirt with matching blouse, then modeled them in Assembly. Because I ran out of fabric, that was when I learned to match plaids and stripes or a row of flower motifs. By 9th grade in a different county, more focus was on cooking, but I had an exacting home-ec teacher who insisted I learn to use a thimble, and rip out and re-sew seams that were not up to her standards. Seams were tied off at the end. The footie pajamas I made for my toddler niece were ripped and re-sewn so many times, they were almost worn out. Thank you Mrs. Gist in Lee County for making me believe I could meaure up to the task of cooking and sewing, and thank you Mrs. White in Phillips County for being so exacting in your requirements.
I will add that my younger sister was the only one in the family who never had to take home-ec., and she turned out to be the best cook and seamstress in the family, and we came from a long line of seamstresses.

Miss Finnerud, Mrs Nash, Miss Senn. They were all great home ec teachers in different ways.

forgot to add: all my prom dresses were made by me.

I believe I did an apron that was then fed onto a plastic loop to be put around your waist. it was a large rectangle with pockets all across the bottom. And the horrible suit I made ended up being reclycled into a winter coat for my oldest daughter when she was about 2.

My first project was an A line dress, got a “B”, second project was a princess cut pattern w/ dog collar. I got a “D” on it because I could not make the teacher’s seven step zipper insertion work for me, (I took it home and put an invisible zipper in, and took it back to the teacher) and she down graded me for not showing her each step. (She wanted it basted four separate times, before the zipper touched the fabric...!) crazy.

By the time I got to Home Ec, I had been sewing for 7 years. I remember hating to make the useless padded clothes hanger required in Home Ec. I did learn quite a bit in the class, but the projects were silly. When I got to my senior year in another high school, I took Home Ec II because they offered fewer options and discovered how much difference a really good teacher makes. Mrs. Degrafenreid, let me choose my own projects and encouraged me to learn some fine tailoring. I benefited a great deal from her mentorship because she took me from where I was Encouraged me to expand and improve.

I had Home Ec in 7th and 8th grades. 7th grade was in one city and was all cooking (sewing was to be in 8th grade). We spent about half a year having to memorize where each item was in the cabinets and drawers of the cooking station, not only where to find each item, but to be able to list all items that were in each location. What a waste of time. I don't remember anything we cooked.

8th grade I was in a different city and they did half and half sewing/cooking each year. All I remember making was cream puffs or popovers, and learning how to do tailor tacks in the sewing part. And I think I made a simple skirt. Teacher's name was "Mrs. Lovely." And she was just how you imagine her to be. Sort of like an early Martha Stewart on nitrous oxide.

I ended up taking Biology instead of Home Ec. No one sewed at my house. After graduating from a "difficult to get into unless you are a brain" college, I went back to Adult Ed to learn how to sew. I felt really stupid because I had no idea how to sew a straight seam. Also took a "Powder Puff Mechanics" course at Adult Ed.--a single female needed to know how to at least appear intelligent when a mechanic opened the hood of my car. (really hoped that I would meet cool guys here, but didn't.)

My first project in Home Ec was the apron--yes, all the pockets but we made a tie belt for waist, no plastic circle used. Not sure if I remember how to make it, might be useful to use to do my household and garden errands now.