Julie, I don’t want to be in the running for the book as I’m currently in transition, living with my adult children, and all my possessions are in storage. But the contest made me remember high school home ec and I wanted to share this story.
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Mother enrolled me in a Singer sewing class at age 13, so by the time I got to Home Ec class in my sophomore year of high school, I was quite skilled. One of the assignments was a blouse. There were twins in the class whose mother was a good friend of my mother, and the girls were having trouble setting in the sleeves of their blouses. They had followed the pattern instructions and gathered the sleeve cap till it stood up a full three inches. I helped them unsew the sleeve, take out the gathering, and then showed them how to finger-ease the sleeve cap into place so it laid down nicely.
Alas, the teacher believed in following the instructions. She made them rip out that perfect sleeve, put the gathering stitches back in the sleeve cap, and re-set the sleeve so it brushed their ears when they turned their heads.
I’ve remembered this incident occasionally throughout my life and thought it sad that the teacher was so insecure she couldn’t learn from a student.
Best regards,
Jan Crews
Youngstown, OH
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