| Author |
Message |
Ophiliasgrandma
Member
09-04-2001
| Friday, April 07, 2017 - 8:02 am 
Have any of you taken the classes on STITCH IN A DITCH? This was years ago which taught how to sew on knitted fabric.
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Y2krazy
Member
09-17-2002
| Friday, April 07, 2017 - 8:56 am
My mom taught me STITCH IN THE DITCH. She worked for a company called "Stretch and Sew" at the time. They don't exist in my area anymore.
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Heckagirl631
Member
09-08-2010
| Friday, April 07, 2017 - 8:39 pm
We had home-ec in 7th grade. My teacher was Miss Plattenburg who had platinum blonde hair. I remember making brownies with too much baking powder and the batter overflowing in the oven. lol. Really surprised myself by sewing a pair of jeans and a nice shirt.
Many years later, I worked at Lee Jeans sewing the inside pockets into the jeans.
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Naja
Member
06-28-2003
| Friday, April 07, 2017 - 9:16 pm
I had home-ec in 8th grade, Heckagirl. I made a red nightgown, and a blue jean wrap-around skirt.
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Friday, April 07, 2017 - 9:22 pm
My mom took a stretch and sew class or classes. She didn't have a zigzag machine for a long time and she still liked her Singer Featherweight best.
But she did use lots of stretchy fabric and made so many golf outfits that fit her.
She would find something that fit and tear it apart for a pattern.
She also took tailoring and they ended up with a perfect pants pattern.
Me, I slacked off after the sixties when I could make a shift dress in a couple of hours.. even a reversible one. But then they were pretty short so not that much sewing 
After that I didn't have a sewing machine..
Hecka.. sewing jeans is impressive!
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Colordeagua
Member
10-24-2003
| Friday, April 07, 2017 - 9:38 pm
My mom could sew. I did some. In the '50s she made a lined corduroy jacket for herself. Did a good job of it. When she died in '96 hoped to find that jacket in her closet. Hadn't seen it for some time. Didn't find it . . . until later. When I was completely emptying her closet, there it was all the way in the back. Hanging in my closet now.
In the '70s, the last thing I sewed was a dress for myself of reversible cotton quilted fabric. High stand-up neck, long narrow sleeves, slight A-line to whole dress. I was surprised -- turned out quite well. Fitted well except elbow darts in sleeves weren't at my elbows. That didn't matter too much. End of sewing for me.
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Christy358
Member
07-10-2007
| Friday, April 07, 2017 - 9:52 pm
I tried sewing in 4-H. Seam ripper was my best friend. Tried again in jr high. Teacher told me she was giving me a c, but not to take sewing 2.
I wrote an essay in high school about how much sewing machines hate me. Got an A on that and an invitation to a scholarship competition.....
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Wargod
Moderator
07-16-2001
| Saturday, April 08, 2017 - 4:23 am
Funny, I took Home Ec in 8th grade, hated it. Loathed might be a better word. I cook because I have to (I'm pretty decent at it, just don't enjoy it) and bake only when I am craving something or maybe decorating holiday cookies with the kids. We never did any sewing.
My mom worked through high school as a seamstress at a local drycleaners. Up until I was 7 or 8, she sewed most of our clothes. We were talking about this not long ago, one of her cousins got married and me, sis and one of our cousins were flower girls. Mom made all three of our dresses. Mine and my sisters were blue with white flowers, cousins was yellow with white flowers...Holly Hobbie/Laura Ingalls style, complete with the little white aprons and bonnets. Cracks me up everytime I come across the picture of the three of us...me and cousin were about 5 and sis was maybe 3 and we look miserable, lol.
She tried for years to teach me to sew and it's one crafty thing I absolutely can not do. Still can't. When Kota played softball and I had to "sew" patches on her jersey, I usually glued them on with tacky glue and then half assed a stitch, lol.
Oddly enough, Kota can sew now and is pretty good at it. And my middle niece asked for, and received a sewing machine for Christmas a couple years ago. She likes to make tote bags and decorative pillows.
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Y2krazy
Member
09-17-2002
| Saturday, April 08, 2017 - 7:00 am
Both my mom and I have sewed or still sew a lot. I made my own wedding gown in 1982. Have made my hubby dress shirts to wear to work.
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Dipo
Member
04-23-2002
| Saturday, April 08, 2017 - 11:47 am
I learned how to sew in high school, I guess, can't really remember, and I enjoy it, but now all I do is mend or sew buttons on. I have a pair of socks that I really like so I tried to sew a hole up and it lasted for a while but I wasn't darning, don't know how to do that, LOL.
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Egbok
Member
07-13-2000
| Saturday, April 08, 2017 - 12:34 pm
Like many of you, Home Ec classes in cooking and sewing were great starts to learning about some of real life issues I'd would face down the road. When my kidlets were small, I bought patterns and fabrics and made their costumes for Halloween. I could hem up pants and such with no fears. Alas, as the kiddos grew up and I returned to the work force to eventually help put them through college, I had to give up my sewing activities.
When I retired, I took a beginner's sewing class at JoAnn's to learn about quilting. I fell in love with the novel concept of cutting up fabrics and sewing them back up together again into pretty block patterns!
Seamonkey, when I read above that your Mother sewed on a Singer Featherweight, my heart stopped with pure joy and excitement, lol!! I sew on an (don't laugh!) 81 year old Singer Featherweight sewing machine and she's so much fun to sew on!! She's a pure mechanical sewing machine and I love tinkering with all the lube and oiling that must be done to keep her sewing with a nice hum. I also have a few other sewing machines to play with but that's for another story.
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Juju2bigdog
Member
10-27-2000
| Saturday, April 08, 2017 - 8:58 pm
Dipo. you need a darning egg to darn socks. It is an egg-shaped piece of wood on a wooden handle. You can find them at estate sales (used to be all households had to have darning eggs). Or, I have also just used a real egg.
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Saturday, April 08, 2017 - 10:31 pm
We had a darning egg.. and knew how to use it.
But the biggest thing mom had was an ironing board that adjusted so you could stand or SIT DOWN to iron.. given that she ironed everything, including sheets.. this was a BIG DEAL.
My grandmothers agreed and when they visited, they loves sitting, ironing AND watching tv all at once!
Mom did make all our Hallowe'en costumes.
War, I had to sew on my own things.. not sports in my case but Girl Scout badges and ranks..
My mom taught me to knit, too.
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Merrysea
Moderator
08-13-2004
| Sunday, April 09, 2017 - 10:08 am
I learned how to sew in 7th or 8th grade, when Home Ec was a required topic (sewing one semester, cooking the other). I used to sew a lot of my clothes, including making myself a suit, and I made my kids some great Halloween costumes (my favorite was a stegosaurus costume I made when my oldest was 3 (almost 31 years ago - yikes!); I still have it for potential grandchildren to use. It was made of polyester, with padded spikes, a big padded tail, and hand and shoe coverings. It has held up through years of three boys using it for Halloween and for playing.
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Egbok
Member
07-13-2000
| Sunday, April 09, 2017 - 11:53 am
Merrysea, thanks for sharing your backstory on making your child the stegosaurus costume for Halloween. I can relate and your post brought back a few fun memories for me, sew thanks!!
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Juju2bigdog
Member
10-27-2000
| Sunday, April 09, 2017 - 9:13 pm
Every ironing board I have known in my life adjusted for height, including the one that was probably born before I was and was wooden. When you unfolded it, there were different slots you could put the wooden leg brace into that would result in different heights.
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Ophiliasgrandma
Member
09-04-2001
| Monday, April 10, 2017 - 6:43 am
I loved my old wooden-frame ironing board. It was a bit narrower than the metal ones and a much better fit for ironing clothes.
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Dogdoc
Member
09-29-2001
| Monday, April 10, 2017 - 7:58 am
Our ironing board folded out from behind a door in the kitchen wall.
It only had one height.
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Sugar
Member
08-15-2000
| Monday, April 10, 2017 - 12:41 pm
Iron! Good heavens NO! Tumble dry low. If it needs to be ironed I don't buy it.
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Jeep
Member
10-17-2001
| Monday, April 10, 2017 - 1:13 pm
LOL Sugar! I'm the same way! Haven't ironed in years....
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Dipo
Member
04-23-2002
| Monday, April 10, 2017 - 1:32 pm
I ironed for the first time in probably ten years, I had to iron my new dust ruffle. I don't even have an ironing board, LOL, just put a towel down on the island.
The last time I ironed was my old dust ruffle, LOL, when I moved here in 2007.
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Monday, April 10, 2017 - 3:38 pm
This ironing board was metal and way more adjustable and the legs curved so that one could sit comfortably.
My dad wore shirts that must be ironed. No creases allowed so you had to use a pad inside the sleeves to iron them. He really did look great with his perfect white shirt, a good tie and nice suit.
They didn't have anything wash and wear at that time.
I haven't ironed in years.
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Kearie
Member
07-21-2005
| Monday, April 10, 2017 - 4:06 pm
I'm with Sugar and Jeep.
I've always had an iron and ironing boards, but when I moved this past October I gave my ironing board to Goodwill. I hadn't used it in well over 25 years. I still have my iron, I use it to straighten my hair on very rare occasions.
My mom used to have a small ironing board used to iron sleeves and cuffs on shirts. It would flip over and had two sides to it to accommodate different sleeve sizes. I thought is was cool. I never saw another like it.
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Dogdoc
Member
09-29-2001
| Monday, April 10, 2017 - 4:55 pm
I am with Sugar, Jeep and Kearie.
Why mess with something that can burn you!
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Lakecat
Member
10-01-2006
| Monday, April 10, 2017 - 5:35 pm
I'm so glad to read this. My mother in law was over here the other day and asked for my ironing board. We moved about 10 months ago and haven't seen it. She thought I was crazy.
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