Remembering carbon paper - in different colours!! Does anyone use THAT anymore? For darts I just pin mark the top and the point and fold and sew.
But then, I don't use pins much in quilting.
Lazy? Me? Darned right!

Home Ec - Pffft!
My mom taught me to sew when I was 8. By the time I got to grade 7 home ec, I was drafting my own patterns.
Then I had to make something from a 4 piece pattern? I was put out. I brought a pattern and fabric from mom's stash, and was told "No, you can't make that. It's too difficult. You need to buy a 'super simple' pattern".
So, I made that dress, and wore it to class the next week.
After that, they let me bring whatever pattern I wanted. :P

And by all means, teach her to press seams. I was surprised when I sat down to have a "sew-in" with a friend once. We were making the same dresses for our little daughters. My mom taught me to ALWAYS press the seams (open); my friend didn't pressy any of hers. And then she wondered why my garment looked so much better than hers. Like mother said -- can't take shortcuts sometimes.

learning to hand sew is very important and should be the first lesson to learn. It will also be the last thing she will forget.
even if you only make some small items by hand it will help her to understand the machine side of sewing, the other thing you could teach her is all your fancy hand sewing stiches, even though we have machines to do most of this for us now, it still find it very relaxing to sit and do fancy work by hand. :thumbup:

I recently taught my granddaughters how to sew. I almost lost them on "how to treat the sewing machine with good maintance". Then I got them back when I introduced them to pillowcases and tote bags. Now one loves to sew but the other one still loves sports more.

I had a very smart 7th grade Home Ec teacher who made us do the apron, complete with pulling threads to straighten the fabric. It was a drawstring apron with fold up pockets and ric rac. If that doesn't date me, nothing will! However she promised that if we did the apron, we would move on to stuffed animals. Way more complicated than we should have been doing, however being 7th grade girls of that era, stuffed animals were fun. We used a commerical pattern, marked all seams with tracing paper and tracing wheel, etc. The woman had the patience of Job, and got each one of use through it, extremely well, I might add. Sewing became fun and and taught us that we could create something we actually wanted!! I will be forever grateful to this woman. P.S. the animals were calico pieced dogs, should have known then that it would lead to piecing and dogs!! Sharon

I started in 4-H and had a fabulous mentor. We learned to sew a straight line by unthreading the machine and sewing on lined writing paper. My first project was a triangle pin cushion with an elastic wrist band. I think I still have it somewhere. The next project was an apron. While everyone else was starting in Home Ec I was advanced enough I made a wool coat that had a zipper to shorten and lengthen it.

We also learned about decorating, color wheel, keeping a neat work area (wonder where that went during the years. lol)

Most of all, have oodles of fun. It sounds great. Take lots of pictures and make a scrapbook. I like the generational cooking idea. I'm sure everyone will have input on making and baking.

When I took Home Ec the teacher started with hand sewing (buttons, mending, hemming ...) then moved into machine use, care and maintenance, how to use/alter a pattern (printed and written), then how to actually sew. If you do everything properly, sewing is the easiest part. I like the apron idea, it will go well with the 4 generation cooking class, which is an awesome idea.

Just as an aside. In Home Ec we also learned how to balance a check book, budget for the household, determine the "actual price" for something (just because it costs less, doesn't mean it is a bargain). Then there was the etiquette class involving how to dress for certain occasions (I cannot stand seeing some one at a funeral in cut up blue jeans), proper correspondence, tipping, even how to get in and out of a car. Also, the hygiene section, hair and skin care, how to do manicures and pedicures, and how diet affects your body. A lot of things are missing from today's eduction.

Give her a yard of 1 inch gigham to teach her how to sew straight seams. I have used the paper, no thread also but it doesn't feel the same.

I was going to say mending too, because almost everyone has to mend something one time or another!