Learning to Sew at a Young Age

I don't remember exactly how old I was when my mom first tried to teach me how to sew.  I am guessing between 8-9.  My mom was homeschooling and thought it would be great to do 4-h sewing.  So we went to town and picked out some 4th of July fabric and a short pattern.

I think my mom had to of been a saint because I remember vividly NOT wanting to sew the shorts.  I would sew a section and then it wouldn't line up right and when I came back later to finish the project they magically lined up!  It must've been too much for my mom to handle.  I am sure I wasn't an easy student.


Those beautiful shorts that "I" made won a blue ribbon at our local county fair.  So off we went to the state fair with my shorts.  I don't remember if they won a ribbon there or not, but I do remember feeling pretty special to be able to go to the State Fair with my parents.  They had always reserved this time for themselves.  A getaway.   And this year I got to join in with them.  I felt pretty special.  It was awesome. I wish I had a picture of those shorts!

At this point in my life, the fair was awesome, sewing wasn't my favorite.  

Fastforward a few years later, when I was in Junior High, my mom was in a rag quilting mood.  She had made several quilts for others and I decided that I was going to make one too.  So we went to town and picked out the fabrics.  I remember picking out some really bright colors in a weird feeling fabric.  Now I know that fabric is called Seer Sucker Fabric.  Which is not the best kind of fabric for a rag quilt, but that is what I insisted on using.  I still have this quilt today.

My mom cut the quilt out and I began sewing the x's on all the squares.  As I began assembling the quilt I ran into a huge problem.  None of the rows were the same length.  Somehow I didn't follow the rule of 1/2" seam allowance.  My mom rescued me and fixed the quilt the best that she could.

Those end squares leave a lot to be desired.  But we all start from somewhere 

Throughout High School all my friends were taking Home Ec and I refused to.  I didn't want to learn to sew and I had no desire to sew another thing for the rest of my life!   Looking back, I have no idea why I chose to take Animal Science instead of Home Ec.  It seemed like a good idea at the time....


Stay tuned next week for the next step in how I learned to Sew.