Cathy Justice:I been sewing all my life since they forced me to take Home Ec.
You too!? I wanted to take mechanical drawing but they said nooooooooo, that's for boys! Fools, I needed mechanical drawing so I could draw out a quilt block that worked. Besides, Mother had already taught me all about sewing. So I sat boored to tears through the sewing semester waiting for the cooking semester. Guess what we learned to make? Eggs benedict. that is toast with a hard boiled egg sliced on it covered with white sauce (gravy) and sprinkled with a little of the egg yolk and paprika! another booring semester!!! would sneek out of class and go to science lab.
Oh the horrible memories of Home Ec! It was sheer torture. Our first cooking project was White Sauce! Can you believe it - White Sauce!!! Sewing was just as bad - we had to make an apron - no pattern, just measure and tear. Long before the days of rotarty cutters. Sure glad I didn't let that experience taint me forever.
So am I. We had to make a skirt like you did the apron, measure your waist, rip and sew. Snuck mine home under my coat to make the button holes cause the button hole maker at school sucked. Almost got caught when teacher asked me how I got the button hole attachment to work. I mumbled something about just kept trying.
Flojo we must've made the same skirt. Buttons all down the front? Mine actually came out good and I was so proud of my accomplishment I wore it over and over. It was a rose color chambray fabric.
Millbury, MA
Home ec was a memoriable experience, that's for sure. Our teacher was an award winning seamstress. Her teaching method consisted of plugging in a video - usually poorly copied episodes of Sewing with Nancy- and leaving us to watch it. There were only about 5 kids in our class, so I guess she figured it wasn't worth the effort to actually teach us anything. She let us pick our own sewing project the 2nd semester. I wanted to make a quilt. She handed me a very elderly quilting book and told me to go for it, so I was pretty well on my own. Needless to say, I had no clue what I was doing. I bought bargain basement fabric at a warehouse (some of it water damaged) - none of it what I wanted - because my father refused to take me to a real fabric store. (It probably cost me more in the long run). I bought a beautiful rusty brown heavy twill, white cotton and yellow poly blend. The twill bled and turned the white to baby pink in the 1st washing. My batting was a super cheap poly thick enough to stuff a car seat with. It bunched up and wadded into a ball. I tied the quilt. I can't imagine what would have happened to it if I'd tried to feed it through the machine! I barely finished it in time to be graded, mostly because my classmates were all having troubles with thier clothing construction and kept turning to me for help since I was the only one who'd actually watched the videos or knew how to thread a sewing machine and winda bobbin! (one girl was making her prom gown- first ever sewing project!!) Needless to say, it was a dreadful experience. But my brother loved the quilt- pink and all. And best of all... 10 years later, at the county fair, my son's christening gown brought home top awards in the sewing division, while she only got a participation ribbon on her quilt. :)
Quilters are people who strip so they won't go topless.
I knit, sew and read. I can also crochet but don't do it as much as I knit.
I did home ec too. My generation were required to take home ec (if you were female) or shop (if you were male). I hated the skirt we had to make and then WEAR during the sewing semester. I cut a small hole in it accidentally and never wore it so I got an F for that semester. Cooking was my forte though and I was always either the cook or assistant cook...never had to clean up or set the table and always cooked (even as the assistant). The girls on my table were about as interested in cooking as I was in that skirt. I aced the second semester so ended up with a C for the year.
Since our recent move I haven't set up my quilting space because our new 1890's bungalow is under renovation and we are DIYers (and apparently will be for the next few years, lol). I have attached a pic of a before shot of the exterior of the house. Tv is on constantly for company.
I am mom to two young adult daughters who have blessed me with two beautiful grandchildren and I have a middle school son still living at home. I volunteer at our local food pantry and I am involved at our local church. I read a LOT. I am learning to play the guitar and to crochet. I do some scrapbooking and needlework and I haunt thrift stores whenever possible.
Gramz, love your bungalow, can't wait to see what you do with it. So cozy and home-y feeling. Where are you doing your quilting these days?
What a great project. Keep us posted with photos. Really a cute place. Can't wait to see the finished product.
Omg, this IS my dream home. How much fabric do you want for it?
Hey, All! Just found this thread so I'll chime in here, too!
I'm a lifelong sewer (mostly clothing) which I learned in Home Ec (but I really ENJOYED it so I must have had a better teacher than most of y'all) although I watched grandmaw hand piece hexagons many nights. Mom didn't do any crafts or sew so what I learned I got from grandmaw or school. When I got married, a friend I made while in the Philippines taught me crochet which I've enjoyed since. I've been a voracious reader from day one but can't stand to re-read anything or watch re-runs. I listen to music (country, rock, big band, classical, new age...) while I sew and often sing along (DH hates that!). I love to travel which is a good thing since I moved 18 times while DH was in the military but I don't get to do much any more because I've got 6 horses, 4 dogs, and 1 cat that keep me tied to the farm...well, sometimes. We do take our horses out camping with us and a couple of the dogs when we're feeling up to it - the dogs are more work than the horses!
Love NCIS, Bones, Leverage, Closer, History Channel, some SyFy (True Blood is good).
When I took the required Home Ec class in junior high we used the treadle machines. Our project was to make an elastic waist skirt. One yard of cotton fabric, make a channel for elastic, thread it in, and hem the bottom -- talk about an UGLY unflattering skirt -- Yuk. I didn't go near a sewing machine again until I started quilting in my 50's. I crochet and knit . I am a DIYer when I have the energy. My mom and dad both worked in a small paint manufacturing plant (6 employees) that sold mostly to commercial or government agencies so we were always repainting something at home with leaded paint. About 13 years ago I actually repainted a stucco house with a roller and long extension pole all by myself. My daughter's boyfriend, at the time, and I re-roofed that same house -- it was a "flat roof" or I couldn't have been up there.
Flojo:that is toast with a hard boiled egg sliced on it covered with white sauce (gravy)
No, no,no, it is a lovely poached egg on a toasted english muffing with a beutiful piece of back bacon or ham with a yummy hollinais (sp) sauce. What you made in Home Ec is terrible.
Vivian
That is the eggs benedict that I have eaten. Nothing like Flojo had to make....LOL>
Vinton, Virginia