I know my mother had a Singer sewing machine, but I don’t remember her making me clothes. She did use it to make alterations. I believe in junior hight school I took Home Economics and learned how to use a pattern to make clothes. My best friend in college sewed a lot of her clothes and in fact made me a pants and tunic nursing uniform. I was the first nurse at my hospital to wear pants in the early 70’s!
Wow Joyce, I had forgotten all about about that nursing uniform
Way back when I was in high school, we had to take Home Ec and we were required to make a skirt to pass the class. I passed but refused to wear that ugly skirt. My mom made all of our clothes and I remember picking out patterns with her for dresses that she was going to make for me. Since I was the oldest girl, I got all of the new dresses and my sisters got the hand-me-downs.
Ha! My comment to theatre folk is, God gave me 5 sons for a reason….I don’t sew! My oldest sister was very proficient in that area. I made one t shirt in middle school and gave it to my other sister…she never wore it! I can hot glue and paint with the best of them, so put me on that side of tech.
I have never tried to sew my own clothes. I did sew some costumes for a Junior League performance years ago. I thought it was difficult. I am impressed that Mary could sew so easily.
I grew up in the country ( in the 1960’s) within a culture of girls learning to cook, clean house, and sew. I learned to sew at age eight and continue to make garments with or without patterns (thank you You-Tube). I sewed formal dresses for my three daughters, taught them to sew, and now teach my grandchildren (both male and female) how to use a sewing machine.
This is exactly what I was going to say. I think we had to make a simple skirt and what I ended up with could have clothed a whole family… I admire people who can make beautiful clothes but it was not for me
Way back when in schools, boys took woodshop class and girls took Home Economics. Part of the Home Economics class included a section on making clothes from a pattern. I did not use Buttterick because that was too advanced for me, but I did use Simplicity patterns. The assignment was to make a simple shift dress. I could follow the pattern very well, and did indeed make a simple shift dress that looked just fine when it was on the hanger. My problem was (and still is) that I am quite short in my height. I grew to be 5’2-3/4”, but now I have shrunk to 5’ (no additional inches). So, while the shift dress was sewed almost perfectly by me, it never fit me correctly. If I could have grown another another 3 or more inches, it would have been great, but I never figured out how to do that. Of course, I never learned how to adjust a pattern for my height or lack of height. I truly wish I knew how to sew in the styles I actually wanted that would actually fit me, but, alas, that never happened.