Full of goodness here Liz! I remember both my Home Ec and Sewing teachers at High School. They were both very strict and a little odd. I'd learned to sew from my maternal grandmother when I was young on her Singer sewing machine. I gained many of my sewing skills from her and it stood me in good stead at High School and then in later life. I taught Home Ec for a while at a High School then it was called Food Technology. Later I was a Kitchen Specialist for a primary school as part of the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden program. I wish all schools could have the SAKG program. :)
Gee, you've done some cool things with Home Ec skills. The Kitchen Garden program is a really great scheme; I wish all schools could have it too. There's one at a school near here that's been going for 12? years.
I recommended to my daughter that she not do home ec, and that if she was interested, she could do it at home, as I'd met the teachers in a school tour. She already had basic skills - when she was five she sewed a hooded tshirt, which my grandson recently wore, and it still looks fantastic.
One day she had to drop something off in the home ec classroom, and overheard the sewing teacher blithely telling the students that you don't bother pressing seams, just iron the garment at the end.
She was utterly horrified - and so glad she'd not signed up for the class!
I had a bad experience too - I learnt more at home from my mother (who wanted to be a home ec teacher, but didn't get good enough marks - it was very competitive in the 50s!), and then from sewing increasingly difficult Vogue patterns, which used to have wonderful instructions.
Apart from a holiday sewing class with a friend at a local dressmaker's at the end of primary school, she stopped sewing - she tried lots of different crafts, including spinning, felting, inkle weaving and beading - but she recently appliqued a costume for her son that was very professional. I suspect years of paying attention to what I was doing, as well as YouTube videos have given her far more skills than she realises. I gave her my spare machine some time ago - an ancient 700 series Bernina - so she has the tools, and may do more if she has the time (she works full time and will be starting a PhD soon).
Full of goodness here Liz! I remember both my Home Ec and Sewing teachers at High School. They were both very strict and a little odd. I'd learned to sew from my maternal grandmother when I was young on her Singer sewing machine. I gained many of my sewing skills from her and it stood me in good stead at High School and then in later life. I taught Home Ec for a while at a High School then it was called Food Technology. Later I was a Kitchen Specialist for a primary school as part of the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden program. I wish all schools could have the SAKG program. :)
Gee, you've done some cool things with Home Ec skills. The Kitchen Garden program is a really great scheme; I wish all schools could have it too. There's one at a school near here that's been going for 12? years.
That's so good to hear that that school's SAKG program has been going for all that time!
I recommended to my daughter that she not do home ec, and that if she was interested, she could do it at home, as I'd met the teachers in a school tour. She already had basic skills - when she was five she sewed a hooded tshirt, which my grandson recently wore, and it still looks fantastic.
One day she had to drop something off in the home ec classroom, and overheard the sewing teacher blithely telling the students that you don't bother pressing seams, just iron the garment at the end.
She was utterly horrified - and so glad she'd not signed up for the class!
It sounds like she didn't really need to, if she was sewing hoodie t-shirts at 5! Wow!
Happily, not all Home Ec classes are the same, and some people have great experiences.
I had a bad experience too - I learnt more at home from my mother (who wanted to be a home ec teacher, but didn't get good enough marks - it was very competitive in the 50s!), and then from sewing increasingly difficult Vogue patterns, which used to have wonderful instructions.
Apart from a holiday sewing class with a friend at a local dressmaker's at the end of primary school, she stopped sewing - she tried lots of different crafts, including spinning, felting, inkle weaving and beading - but she recently appliqued a costume for her son that was very professional. I suspect years of paying attention to what I was doing, as well as YouTube videos have given her far more skills than she realises. I gave her my spare machine some time ago - an ancient 700 series Bernina - so she has the tools, and may do more if she has the time (she works full time and will be starting a PhD soon).