.

[Lantana]

Tamnymore

Lantana, I too came bottom in sewing and dropped it at 14 after failing to finish a manure coloured blouse. Of course the Latin I did instead has been so much more useful as you just never know when you are going to need to conjugate a Latin verb and I've never picked up a needle since.. (just looking for a sarcastic smiley here ).

            

To DF yes that's just it!!

So your school experience was no better then Franscesca!

I think we all turned our bad experiences to good in the end 

I did make a few clothes for my boys when they were little and a few 'Cloth Kits' garments for me.

L 

[DementedFairy]

I loved Latin!  Mitto mittis mittit mittimus mitittis mittunt!
That used to have us all in schoolgirl hysterics

I still know 3 bling mice in Latin too, and how to say 'I am a  werewolf'

[UttaRetch]

I quite enjoyed sewing at school.  Made the 'set text' apron  and then a 'baby doll' nightie from seersucker with a square neckline in broderie Anglais.  I don't remember anything after that as possibly sewing was only on the syllabus for one year.

[Francesca]

Nope it wasn't much better, though I am happy that we got to learn the full range of "technology". Food, textiles, electronics, woodwork and graphic design. I ended up choosing woodwork for my A Levels!

[Ploshkin]

I must have been so lucky.  I sewed anyway, taught by my mum but the teaching at school was fantastic.  We had a huge needlework room with about 15 machines where I spent most of my lunch hours.  I was taught basic tailoring and pattern drafting as well as dressmaking techniques that I now know are classed as couture.  I enjoyed it so much that I continued to A level which included textile science.

[Lowena]

We didn't do any practical subjects at my academically focused school. No one in my family sewed, so I'd never even tried out a machine until after I was married. I came very late to any sort of sewing ( only in 2012 ) and am in awe of clothesmakers amongst us. I could never be that precise 

[Vegegrow]

I moved school too often to do needlework... 3 .. went from a comprehensive in Essex... to a High School in High Wycombe to an Upper school in Haverhill Suffolk ...spent a lot of time catching up curriculums  Doing history I went from the Corn Laws to the world wars in one house move

[Holly Berry]

We didn't do any practical subjects at my academically focused school. No one in my family sewed, so I'd never even tried out a machine until after I was married. I came very late to any sort of sewing ( only in 2012 ) and am in awe of clothesmakers amongst us. I could never be that precise 

You need more precision in P&Q. There's not a lot of difference really, you're just piecing fabric together in both. The only difference is one turns out 3D and the other 2D (depending on your figure of course )

[Bodgeitandscarper]

I remember sewing at school, I already made things at home, so found making that apron very boring.  I then made a tennis skirt, then when I was about 13, a skirt with matching lined waistcoat, which my sewing teacher thought was amazing and it got put on display for an open day, when I really wanted to wear it!
I also remember being very annoyed that I wasn't allowed to use one of the electric sewing machine as we didn't have one at home 

[Samantha]

I remember making a pj case in the shape of a cat's head (everything I made at school was cat related) I think we might have tie dyed the fabric first. My husband was a couple of years above me at school and he says he made a shirt!

[Snippet]

I only remember sewing two things in school, a lilac gingham tray cloth with cross stitch around the border, and an apron with my initials embroidered in the top corner ready for cookery classes.

I don't remember the lessons as such, but I do remember the teacher telling two girls who were sharing a machine that it wasn't a good idea for one of them to operate the machine while the other fed the fabric through!! 

[BrendaP]

We did needlework in years 1 and 3 (7 and 9 now) and cookery in year 2 (year 8 now) and then had to make a choice between art, needlework and cookery in years 4 and 5 (10 and 11) for O-level.

In the first year we made a cover for the hymn book that was to stay with us throughout our time in the school - all hand stitched.  Then the cookery apron made from various sized rectangles and a cap with a bit of elastic attached which was supposed to keep long hair away from the food.  We used the hand cranks for that.  Then came year of cookery  - pancakes and mincemeat are what I remember.  In the third year we learned how to do hand smocking and then had the choice of a hideous skirt with a smocked waist,    a baby's dress or romper or a nightdress with smocked yoke.  If you didn't happen to have a young baby in the family the only real option was the nightdress (again just rectangles) so that's what I chose to make.

After that came a shirt/blouse.  Any pattern we chose provided it had a collar, cuffs and set-in sleeves.  And we had to provide fabric which was of "good taste".  Of course our idea of good and bad taste didn't match the teacher's idea.  I tried to rebel and chose black and white stripes  but that was deemed "good taste"   

One poor girl though took in a small floral print which was deemed "not good taste" (it looked OK to me) but that incident has stayed with me ever since.  The girl probably hated her blouse from the start, but she was from a large family with a widowed mother so I'm sure money was very tight and they probably couldn't afford to replace the fabric.

Apart from the above episode the thing I didn't like about needlework classes was having to queue up  to show the teacher what you'd done after every step, most of the time I knew it was right and what I had to do next, I would much rather have just got on with it.

[Holly Berry]

Our home economics teacher wasn't a sewer, but had to teach it. The first thing was the obligatory apron for cookery and then a skirt and blouse or a simple dress. Always wanting to run before I could walk I chose something similar to the picture below. I made the pinafore in brown pin cord and the blouse in purple/white pattern. My pattern had a zip up the front.

Having queued like Brenda, she showed me how to put the zip in, which I duly followed to the letter. When I got it home, my Mum, who was also a sewing teacher, promptly took it out and showed me how to put it in properly. Next lesson the teacher took umbrage and told me in future to refer to my Mum as she was obviously a much better teacher, which she was.

I loved the outfit and wore it until it fell apart and made a second version with leather thonging and eyelets in place of the zip.

[Efemera]

I loved needlework classes.. I remember having to make half a blouse with half a Peter Pan collar, puff sleeve with a band and front band with buttonholes for O level.

[BajaSusana]

She can't draft to save her life, though.  I did one of her coat patterns - shocking.

I applaud her individualism.
 But she can neither draft nor fit. Many of the garments that she makes  show major fit issues.
It took a long time for the pattern companies to use women of color as models. Stylish curvy patterns took forever to arrive. So now we have Gertie and her tattoos.
My issue with her is her lack of ability.
 She has plenty of chutzpah! She needs to hone her skills.
Project Runway has revived an interest in sewing in young people. But we have books, blogs and pattern companies  he added up by unschooled, untrained, and barely talented  "designers".