My great-grandmother was widowed and took in sewing, which was done by hand. She hemmed dresses that could be 9 yards around the bottom! My grandmother was a good seamstress, again a good hand sewer, and had a treadle sewing machine. My mother and her sister were always sewing something, either out of necessity for their large families or a quilt for enjoyment. I can remember desiring to sew and began hand stitching doll clothes at age 8. My mother had my brother and me embroidering dish towels when I was 4 and he was 6! I do believe it's a gene. We adopted our daughter and she is musical with no interest in sewing. We all have a talent, and it's important to use that talent, whatever it is!