Me too! Especially since this generation didn’t grow up with home ec or any of that stuff, so most of them are self taught. My daughter learned from YT videos.
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None of my kids can sew. I don’t know if they can even do a hem.
My stepdad was a great seamstress. He repaired all his work clothes (he was an iron worker). He sewed bedding for the corner group my sister and I had in her bedroom. He even made the bolsters.
@aunt_bea my sister was two years younger and she had the option of taking wood shop. Did you go to a LA Unified school? I don’t think the schools my kids went to taught sewing even as an elective.
Yes my D learned from YT videos and also the tutorials on this website: https://inthefolds.com/ She created the pattern for her wedding dress by learning from those and other tutorials.
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I’m a sewer and a quilter. My mother studied home economics education in college (though I’m not sure she ever taught home ec). I learned to sew, knit and crochet in elementary school. In 7th grade I sewed a shift dress with waist darts in a Madras plaid fabric (and all the plaid lines matched). I made my own dress and crocheted a wrap for junior prom.
I took my very inexpensive Brother machine (bought with Green Stamps) to college where I sewed down jackets, sleeping bags and down comforter for DH and myself in my dorm room. In grad school I made draperies & some slipcovers for our student ghetto furnished apartment.
Post grad school, we bought our first house and started to have some money. Dh wanted a dog; I wanted a new sewing machine. I bought a midline, mechanical, all metal-geared Pfaff that I still have. That Pfaff was built tough. I taught years of Brownies how to sew on it and even they never broke anything.
My husband’s aunt had a treadle Singer that I lusted in my heart after. I hinted how much I wanted it, especially after I gave them a couple of hand made and hand quilted double bed quilts for the home. Aunt Sis said maybe, but one of her daughters claimed it. The daughter kept in it an outdoor shed where it rusted and her second husband sent it to the landfill after she died. That broke my heart.
I made all of the nursery decorations for my kids’s rooms. Sewed tons of little girl dresses. I used to set my machine on the kitchen counter and sewed standing up while watching the 3 years old play. Playmates would often come over in one outfit and go home wearing a new knit dress I’d sewed for them during the play date.
I taught myself to quilt because the dog jumped on the bed and ripped the quilt my paternal grandmother had given me. (She used old, wore out men’s shirts to make her quilt tops and the fabric was quite fragile.) I decided instead of repairing the quilt (which I did do), I would just make a new one. That first quilt–a queen sized quilt– took me 5 years to finish.
I took tailoring lessons and pattern making lessons at the local Joanne’s in the 80’s. I made Dh a custom-tailored wool herringbone sports coat he wore until his death 20 years later.
As my kids got older and self conscious about “home-made” clothing (instead “brand name”), I mostly did repairs and alterations.
Both girls took sewing classes at a Bernina dealer’s store. (My friend worked there and she taught the kids’ classes.) One has never sewn anything since (though she has asked me to repair, alter, embellish her thrift store finds.) The other loved Project Runway and did some sewing in high school, but not since. (Though they both suture–does that count as sewing?)
I have a Brother Innovis circa 2005 that I’m using. I wanted machine that could make nice automatic buttonholes. Right now it’s still packed up from my move last fall and I feel vaguely like I’ve had something amputated. I’m jonesing for my sewing space to get set up. I have a boxes full of quilt tops to quilt and fabric that need cutting. Plus there’s a whole new generation of little ones whose clothing & toys needs repairing & altering.
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Both my kids had a semester of Home Ec (called FACS) in middle school. It was a requirement. But neither are into any sort of crafting.
I had Home Ec in junior high as it was required for the girls (the boys took shop}. Seventh grade was sewing and we spent half a year embroidering an apron before actually getting to use a sewing machine. I hated it. Just not my thing.
No, just a bit further south- San Diego.
BTW, my FIL always appreciated my sewing skills. His father was a tailor, his mother a professional seamstress who worked in the garment industry (sweatshops) in NYC. My FIL learned to tailor working in his father’s dry cleaning shop growing up. He was always amused that he could sew, but wife, a literal farm girl, could not. He did all sewing, alterations and repairs in the household. When my FIL died, I inherited a 1950 sewing machine a huge wooden cabinet. It was older than I was, but had all its original parts–like a separate buttonholer attachment and extra bobbins. I donated the machine to a charity who gave to a needy family which used it to make and repair the children’s clothes.
Never took home ec; neither did either of my daughters.
This thread has inspired me. I’ve been wanting cushions for my porch bench, but I haven’t liked anything I’ve seen. I think I’ll look for a Sunbrella fabric that I like & make covers (I know where I can buy the cushions). That will give me a winter project to look forward to.
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My mom was a fabulous knitter. She learned growing up in France. She knit doll clothes, including Barbie outfits and made me and my brother and sister lots of gorgeous sweaters. It was a money saver back in the day, now it’s an investment.
She sewed also and sewed me many dresses for dances though she always preferred knitting.
She taught my D to knit and she is also a great knitter, learning a lot from YouTube. My sister also prefers knitting to sewing- she’s making me an awesome sweater and I’m making her a quilt 
Both my kids took a home ec course in middle school where they learned to sew and did some cooking.
@WayOutWestMom I like to hand quilt too! I made my first queen size quilt during the pandemic and it took me 3 years, I’ve got my 2nd top made and am about to start quilting it.
I have a Bernina machine that I got over 30 years ago and it is a work horse. I’ve had it serviced only 3 times.
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I got an email today from this shop that I have ordered fabric from before, they have more fashion fabric than quilting and they have samples for $2 apiece:
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