My mom and grandma taught me, my mother was a master embroiderer, she did beautiful work!

I started sewing my doll clothes when I was 4 and still have the musty old things and my favorite doll. You can see how I progressed in sewing by looking at the clothes.Just can't do away with them and who else would want them. Well they say you can't take anything with you when you die. I just tell my kids when I die and no one wants it there will be plenty of room at the foot. I must have some Indian blood cause I don't want to leave home without it. Spent my life making beautiful clothes, oil painting,needlepoint, woodburning,crocheting, knitting, most all crafts and never did one I could not enjoy except for shell craft. The more I tried the more nervous I became until I finally decided what difference did it make if I did not want to do it.

No--I already knew. Home ec taught the hard way to do everything.

Took Home-Ec in high school. Hated it. I already knew how to cook and I sewed better than the teacher. But it was a small school and I needed the credit to graduate.

My Mom taught me in 4-H, then I thought I knew everything when I took a Home-Ec class in high school, so I skipped out of class whenever possible. Got a D in the class. Have been sewing/quilting ever since.

I hear you - but I think enough wore off so look where we are today! without that general knowledge, we probably would not be trying to endeavor some of the things we do now.

I think it was 7th grade.I loved it and stayed with it all these years.Connie in CO

I started sewing at the age of 5 yrs. Feel that I had the best teacher in the world --- my mother. In fact I learned on her treadel (which I have in my posession to this day). Did take home ec in high school. Needed the cooking part instead of the sewing. I first would do as the teacher said then when I was given the go ahead to cut I would unpin & do it as I was taught. Didn't waist material that way, & was able to get something else out of what was saved & was still on grain.

First my Grandmother taught me lots when I went to visit her as a child. At first she would let me go through her scraps to sew pillows, snakes, simple things. Later she did teach us kids to sew more advanced items, so Home Ec in school was much easier to grasp. I loved my Home Ec teachers, they were very caring, and helpful and even now I think of how much what they taught us kids was so important to what we do every day at home and work. It's sad to think that so many schools have done away with this important class, as well as "SHOP" for the boys to learn wood working and such. I recall towards the end of the school year going to school on a special night where students from Art - HomeEc - Shop all had their projects on display for parents to see the work of their kids and fellow class mates. Coats, dresses, slacks, gun cabinets, coffee tables, clocks, paintings..... there was a huge display for all to see. Now it is so limited, I wonder how much creativity is lost due to cutbacks to fund these extreamly important classes.

I got my first sewing lesson at the age of 12 at home from my mother and the neighborhood grandmother. I have been sewing ever since.

I learned to sew in Home Ec my first year in high school, which was grade 9, in 1958. We had a superb teacher. My mother was an excellent seamstress, and she helped me a lot too. By the time I was a sophomore I was making all my own clothes. I never had a "stash" because I sewed up every piece of fabric I could get my hands on. Have made many, many clothing items for myself, my sisters, nieces, then my own children and grandchildren, in addition to sewing for the public through the years. I love to sew.

I learned to sew in public high school, after two years in a private school where I took wood shop. My guitars were better than the clothes I made, although I did make a gaucho set (dating myself) that came out well.

After that, my sewing was sporadic, mainly repairs, and some costumes and a boy doll for my son. The quilting has only been the last seven or so years.

wow ! I guess I was lucky to of had a grandmother who taught me how to sew/embroider/cook when I was 5 years old-yah it was simple things like pillow cases etc.. but then she taught me how to do a pattern when I was 7 and I did that up until my mom was diagnosed with cancer and I put it aside and concentrated on High school studies other than sewing (as Dad put it there was no future in that !). Then I picked it up again when my children were born and they needed clothes and we didn't have much, so I started sewing again. I remember my first skirt-it was such a pretty purple with gold thread going through it-I wore a black blouse as it had black in the material also.
IF I could stay home and have a lucrative salary for sewing at home I would of and still might even think about it !LOL <wink>

Since I learned to sew on a FW when I was 5, I learned to absolutely HATE the Singer Touch and Sew sewing machines they made us use - still do hate them. I vowed I would NEVER own a Singer as long as I lived. I do vintage Singer now - has to be PRE-T&S for me. The old Singer slant o matics are pretty cool.

I took Home Ec as well in school, but I first started sewing thru 4-H club. I have sewed ever since, clothes, home decor, crafts, even knitting and crocheting and some hand embroidery. My MIL taught me to tat as well but have forgotten all of that.
Started quilting just a couple of years ago.

I did. We had a Home Ec. teacher that was so prissy & meticulous that she annoyed everyone, even her class pets (of which I was not one). However, she was determined that we would learn what she had to teach; now I am grateful for that because some of that knowledge has come in very handy over the years.

I took home ec, but my mother really taught me to sew. She was a excellent seamstress. I wish I could sew like she did. I can get by, but I don't have the immagination she had.

Funny thing, I failed my sewing portion of Home Ec. It didn't seem to be a problem later in lifer when I made my own clothes...

My aunt taught me how to sew a basic cotton slip when I was 9. After that I was self taught. I still prefer quilting and home dec over garment sewing.

I took Home Ec in high school and enjoyed it very much. When I became a mother of a boy and a girl I sewed a lot of their clothes, that was in the Stretch-and-sew days. I made T-shirts, pajamas, and a lot of my daughter's little dresses. There was a fabric store walking distance from where we lived and I would go down there and pick up remnants, they had the best remnant table I have ever seen, then or since then. The pieces were usually just big enough to make a little dress for Jennifer. What I loved about having all of the remnants was that I could put together something that was all of my own choosing after I got them home...I still love having that kind of choice...that's why my stach is sooooo darned big. Choices is what it's all about.

The FCS department at Belfield, ND had a long-arm too. The kids just love the class. They make quilts for themselves and for charity (service learning project).

What you said there at the end made me think...lol. My husband took Building Trades in high school and he worked for several construction companies. Then he became an electrician but he still would work in all other phases but plumbing. Because of this he was able to remodel homes we lived in and finally after 25 years of marriage HE built our beautiful dream home. He had people come to help but HE was the general contractor since he had designed our home too. Because of his building and electrical skills his best friend called him and said that he had been promoted to Maintenance Supervisor and would hubby be interested in becoming the Ass't Maintenance Supervisor for a school district. He said yes...got the job because of his knowledge and his friend just retired in June as Facilities Director and my hubby was promoted to the job.

A younger friend of ours worked summers with hubby for one of the construction companies. He wasn't sure what he wanted to do with his life...he really loved carpentry and building trades. He would ask hubby a million questions. He ended up going to college to teach...building trades. Also my hubby and him and another guy have done many moonlighting jobs to refinish basements, add rooms etc. So...it's also a GREAT way to make extra money.

All of that to say...we CAN'T lose these arts. Where would we be without plumbers, electricians, builders, auto mechanics, fashion designers, gourmet cooks in restaurants etc. They all had to learn from classes they took in school. So we can't let these type of jobs become a dying art.

Sorry for being so long winded but... I hate to hear that school districts throw away these classes.

No, I learned to sew from my mother, at 6 she bought me a pot holder kit to embroider, then sew together, then she started me on aprons (without a pattern), as well as gathered skirts. Mom never learned how to sew from a pattern, didn't have many patterns when she was raising my brothers before, during and after the Depression, she just made it up as she went along. Then, when I got to high school, the principal thought freshmen girls weren't old enough to have home ec., but I had home ec the remaining 3 years of high school. I didn't have much money, so I didn't make any fancy clothes, but practical cotton - at 50 cents/yard, but made all my clothes from then on, into my early 20's. Took a break for a few years, then started again and made a lot of my daughter's clothes. Now it's mainly quilting, although with a 15 month granddaughter, I think I might make a few pretty dresses and play clothes. I think I would go insane if I couldn't quilt or sew, I love it that much.

Well, I have read most of the replies anmd I am not the "norm" I did not even know how to thread the machine when I took my first quilting. I was 62 at that time. I love quilting but am still learning.

I also have never cared for "Singer". when in high school, the year I was a freshman, they were all replaced with Vikings', When I got to college for Home Ec classes for degree, we had 10 singers and non of them worked, were replaced with different brands, Bernina, Phaff, Elna and Viking.
I presently own a Viking and Phaff and 2 Huskavana viking sergers. Was given a Elna when married 30+ years ago and it spent more time in the shop then on my kitchen table, so it lasted not quite a year in our house. My daughter won a Elna when in 4-H for top construction winner, and it too when out the door and I replaced with a Sears Kenmore which she just loves. I wouldn't own either a Singer or Elna.

yes, i had home ec in junior high school. still do a lot of sewing for great grand kids and myself also home decor. started sewing in 1953. lllllllllllllllongggggggggggggggg time ago. lol of ourse ,the quilting and machine embroidery.

Home Ec was mandatory in 8th grade,
but I was sewing long before that.
J J

I started in the 7th grade and have been sewing ever since. I was the McCall's Teen Fashion Board representative from my high school. I got to pick out a pattern, fabric and then have the completed dress displayed in the window of the shop downtown. My mother nearly died when I picked out red satin! It turned out fabulous!

I learned to sew in Home Ec in Jr High. We made jumpers with zippers- I rememeber being so intimidated by it at the time! I took every Home Ec elective available in high school & my teacher took a real interest in me & was a great inspiration. She taught my how to "Stretch N Sew" & I have made so many of my own clothes. My mom wasn't much of a sewer- she tried, but it was such a chore for her- so I am thankful that those classes I took back then in Jr High were mandatory. My daughter has never taken a sewing class but is very crafty, so maybe someday she will show an interest in sewing/quilting.

Self taught from very early age, doing a lot of hand stitched doll clothes, then received the child's chain stitch, hand guided wheel sewing machine that I amazingly used to make an Easter dress with fabric my mom bought through the Aldens catalog; used the elderly neighbor's treadle machine to make the casing waist skirt in 4-H that won me the county purple ribbon and went on to state (made an apron out of it for my oldest daughter when she was very young and still have it 40 yrs later)!! Won a Free-Westinghouse sewing machine in the eighth grade (1958) and made all my clothes through high school and continued on to sew for myself & our four children, mostly for the oldest daughter who always picked out the most complicated patterns. Many a finished garment came directly off the ironing board to wear to whatever school function and etc. My hats off to Miss Nemer, my HS HE teacher, who stressed 'press as you sew' because the finished garment/quilt sure shows that time worthy step. I still sew for our four DGD's but prefer piecing quilts for the last 36+ years (haven't taken time to put mine together for myself as am always giving away quilts as gifts, charity & raffles). I, too, was Pres. of FHA in HS. I LOVE TO SEW, just ask anyone around me.

I learned in school, 4-H and from my mom.

I learned to sew in Junior High. Back then I had a love hate relationship with sewing....oh wait I still do. Love it when everything is going right, hate it when it isn't going right. Haha. Seriously the home ec classes I took have really benefited me.

No. My Mom decided to teach myself and several neighbor girls to sew one summer. I think I was about 11 or 12. I absolutely loved it and never stopped. I can still picture the skirt I made that summer!

My children even had Home-Ec. in school, but it certainly wasn't like what I had. I was sewing clothes in Jr. High, but my kids had one semester (boys & girls) where they sewed a pair of boxer shorts, and did some minimal cooking....that's it! Is it any wonder that there is so much prepared foods in the supermarkets anymore? The younger kids don't know the first thing about cooking from scratch! It's a real shame.

Yes, as a freshman in HS in home ec. Hated home ec but loved sewing. Did more with it in Stretch 'N Sew days when we all made ourselves lovely polester pant suits in our early 20s. Been sewing ever since.

I never sewed until the mid 1980's when my sister introduced me to quilting. I hand sewed my first project which was a small pillow, then went right and got a sewing machine and taught myself the rest from book and now the internet. I don't know how to make clothing though, and I regret not learning that in school.

My mother taught me how to sew at a very young age, I was making all my clothes by the time I was 11, on a treadle machine. She also taught my 5 brothers & 2 sisters how to sew. We were farmers & in the winter months there were very few chores, so to keep us busy that is what she did.

Yes, I also learned starting in the 7th grade. Then I turned around and taught my mother how to sew too. My grandmother was the sewer in our family and also the only quilter, until I got interested in quilting after she passed away.
IdahoSandy

Yes, in high school... took me six weeks to complete an apron (pale green - I'll never forget!) and I got a C-. My mom sewed her own suits (she worked in law firms) and my grandfather was a tailer of sorts so I had a reputation to uphold. Sadly, it wasn't to be. I think I've improved through the years, though! :D

Yes.....back when they wouldn't allow girls to take woodshop! :x