How many folks cannot do basic sewing?

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Swing

Porch Lover
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I hope the targeted audience sees this in the new thread list,

But, how many have not or cannot sew? Basic stuff. Buttons, easy tops, shorts? For Ladies, Gents or children?

Make an easy elastic waist skirt or pair of pants?

Would you want to learn any of this if you could via online?
 
My sewing is crude at best. I’ve replaced buttons on shirts and stitched up a rip in work jeans. I made a sleeping curtain for a Winnebago I once owned.

I discovered a bunch sewing stuff around Christmas. There were several boxes in the corners of a closet that belonged to my aunt (deceased) when she lived here in the 80’s. I pulled them out to dispose of since I needed the space. There were about 100 old “patterns” for dresses, skirts, blouses, jackets etc. I tossed those but saved a fruit cake tin filled with buttons, thimbles, needles, pins etc. There were about 30 spools of thread too. The spools were all wooden, old stuff, but I kept those too.

I’m game to learn anything new.
 
I've made money with sewing, been involved in stage productions local schools and local youth theater, and then doll clothes.

I do agree, that should some version of SHTF happen, sewing, mending, re-purposing clothes may be a very good skill to know.
 
I learned when Home Ec was still a course taught in Junior (better known as Middle School now) High. I went on from there because it was something my mom did and also encouraged me to do. Then I did even more as an adult and made clothing for myself and my kids and home furnishings.
 
Last Saturday my two youngest daughters attended a basic sewing class taught at the craft/fabric store. During the class they had to sew on a button, fix a belt loop and make a pillow. They also had the option of making a shirt. Out of 12 available slots in the class a total of 3 girls signed up and 2 of them were mine. The instructor, who has been doing this a long time, said they teach this class 2-3 times a year. There used to be a waiting list, now they frequently don't hold the class because no one signs up. She thought 3 kids was a really good turn out.

My Mom was firm that all of her kids could perform basic sewing repairs and made me make a pair of jogging pants and an apron when I was a kid. I have never made anything since, but I have made dozens of minor repairs.
 
Hmmmm. Giving me some ideas. May be something I could help teach here. I have done the paper piecing on another forum, but I bet a quick top of something, or even an apron would be a good beginner project that would be useful.
 
I can fix whatever needs fixing with a needle and thread, leather to fishing nets. Buttons, button holes, rips, patches, seams, things like that. I have never actually made a complete article of clothing from raw materials but have fixed about all of them at one time or another. I don’t know what the final product would look like, but the stiches would not come out if I had to make a shirt or pair of pants.



I learned to sew from my Mother, as I learned to cook from her also. She made sure all her children, girls AND boys, had the basic skills in both. She did not force us to learn but did encourage us to. Sock need the toe closed up? Go get my sewing basket and bring the sock here… I’ll show you how to do it. Missing a button? Go to the basket and pick out one that matches. Her gift to each child, when we first left the nest, was a Fanny Farmer Cookbook. Signed, dated and a little inscription in each one.
 
My gram taught all her grandchildren;male and female knew the basics of sewing.
Same with cooking, we all knew the basics.
My youngest sister is finally learning how to quilt.
I gave her daughters a sewing machine when the oldest daughter started 7th grade.
She's learning on that machine.
Mom's sewing machine sits in the closet.
Brand new, used once.
 
I learned to sew when I was very young - as soon as I could prove to my grandma that I could thread a needle. :) She gave me scraps and showed me how to make simple things for my dolls. Then when I got older she let me use her sewing machine and taught me how to make curtains, bedspreads, pillows etc. - easy things. When I was in Home Ec. in 7th grade is where I learned how to make clothes. An apron was our first project!!!!! I still remember our teacher sitting beside each of us giving pointers and her looking at all of our little "test" pieces. :) I started sewing all of my own clothes then because I could be as unique as I wanted. :) I also sewed clothes for my sister and mom. In High School I learned tailoring and made a beautiful wool parka that my grandma and I alternated wearing (shared) for YEARS. I made all of my clothes, my kids clothes, shirts etc for my husband until I went back to work full time in the late 80s. Then mainly just sewed fun projects for the house, a few blouses and vests....I taught both my son's girlfriends to sew, some of my students, and now that I'm retired, I have been teaching my granddaughters sewing and quilting basics and both 15 year old granddaughters have their own sewing machines now. I mainly quilt these days and make a lot of things for my grandkids. :)
 
I make most of my tops.
Course I sew for the grand daughter, great nephews.
Both boys got homemade receiveings blankets, burp cloths,bibs etc.
I can make Capri's pants, but I don't sew jeans very often.
I made a skirt in Home Ec(I wanted to be in shop), took 4 years to get that skirt done.
Took it home, went to basic training, came home mom took it apart for Curtains for the bathroom.
Hated that skirt. Should have been in shop class, taking engines apart.
But no it was required to graduate to have Home Ec.
That skirt did make nice curtains though.
 
Hmmmm. Giving me some ideas. May be something I could help teach here. I have done the paper piecing on another forum, but I bet a quick top of something, or even an apron would be a good beginner project that would be useful.
When I was in 4-H, a classic first sewing project was a gathered half apron--an apron that tied around the waist and hung down from there. My first sewing project was a half apron. I included a hand towel on my apron, sewn in the waist band.

A classic second project, after the apron, was a gathered skirt, made in a very similar way to the gathered apron, only it went all the way around. This added the installation of a zipper and some sort of button or hook at the waist. This could be made without a pattern.

Nowadays, I really prefer a chef's style apron. Made with a solid color, anyone can wear it, male or female.
 
When I was in 4-H, a classic first sewing project was a gathered half apron--an apron that tied around the waist and hung down from there. My first sewing project was a half apron. I included a hand towel on my apron, sewn in the waist band.

A classic second project, after the apron, was a gathered skirt, made in a very similar way to the gathered apron, only it went all the way around. This added the installation of a zipper and some sort of button or hook at the waist. This could be made without a pattern.

Nowadays, I really prefer a chef's style apron. Made with a solid color, anyone can wear it, male or female.


I remember making an apron such as that. Did you have to make a notebook of various types of seams, buttonholes and pockets? I remember doing that. Especially the bound button holes and bound pockets.
 
We didn't make a sample notebook but we decorated small flat boxes to keep our samples in that we kept in our sewing cubbies. Our teacher would check our sample boxes periodically and leave a little note with our current grade. She always wrote a note of encouragement so it always felt like having a secret pal. ❤
 
I can sew on a button, patch holes etc all by hand though. I once made a poncho. It was out of a garbage sack if that counts. And, I can sow seeds.
 
We didn't make a sample notebook but we decorated small flat boxes to keep our samples in that we kept in our sewing cubbies. Our teacher would check our sample boxes periodically and leave a little note with our current grade. She always wrote a note of encouragement so it always felt like having a secret pal. ❤

That sounds like a great teacher.
 
My basic sewing was on my PFC stripes in the VT National Guard at age 17. 63 years later, I have not progressed.

Are you 80? At least that's what my arithmetic tells me from your post. Congratulations on being that old. Hope you're doing at least pretty good or better in health.
(my Dad just turned 87, and I take him to lots of doc appts. Sure don't wish that on you.).
 
Are you 80? At least that's what my arithmetic tells me from your post. Congratulations on being that old. Hope you're doing at least pretty good or better in health.
(my Dad just turned 87, and I take him to lots of doc appts. Sure don't wish that on you.).

I am still mobile, and able to drive, and have the time, so I 'enlisted' in a state-run outfit that vets the volunteers and formalizes home visits for old folks who "don't get around much anymore". Part of the help is providing transportation, to grocery shopping, doctor's appointments, Walmart-ish shopping, and a bit of just riding around to break the monotony. There are several other services helping oldtimers who would otherwise be 'shut-ins' live at home instead of a nursing home for as long as it can work. The state involvement is socialism, the volunteer part is libertarianism; sometimes an amalgam can work.

The cumulative impression I get from their experience and my own is that growing old is better than getting there.
 
I make most of my tops.
Course I sew for the grand daughter, great nephews.
Both boys got homemade receiveings blankets, burp cloths,bibs etc.
I can make Capri's pants, but I don't sew jeans very often.
I made a skirt in Home Ec(I wanted to be in shop), took 4 years to get that skirt done.
Took it home, went to basic training, came home mom took it apart for Curtains for the bathroom.
Hated that skirt. Should have been in shop class, taking engines apart.
But no it was required to graduate to have Home Ec.
That skirt did make nice curtains though.
hi, I also had to take home ec. and despised sewing. Now, decades later, I wish I liked using a sewing machine.
when kid were small, I used a cheap sewing machine to make a 'Little bear' costume for my oldest, then age 4 or 5. It turned out ok, a bit crooked at the seams, but it was dark and no one could see that. I once made my other daughter a dress, but it was so simple, I made it by hand. (Again, long ago, when she was small)
I know there are people who do make their clothes, even by hand. It is something I might like learning, because it doesn't involve a sewing machine.
I have owned 3 basic machines over the years, and really am not inclined 'mechanically', to figure out why the tension still isn't working, why I cant keep the 'foot' on the machine, etc. I can make straight lines, go backward, etc on a machine.
I saw a machine at the thrift store, considered buying it. then, I looked at all of the stuff that used to irritate me about sewing machines, and decided to forgo buying.
Also, the patterns I would buy, even the simplest ones were sometimes confusing. I also, like most others here, learned to sew on patches, repair, darn etc.
I too had to sew on my rank, and insignia on my uniforms, (army) until later on, when I took it to the tailor.
 
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