did you take home ec? i did, sort of. in 8th grade, we were required to take six weeks each of various subjects--"wood shop"--"gymnastics"--"study skills"--as part of some weird 70's educational experiment--something about gender roles and stereotypes and "girls can too use a table saw"--at any rate, one of the subjects was what my brother andrew called "ho mec". during my six weeks in the home ec room, we cooked hot dogs--ironed aprons--and sewed a stuffed animal. by hand. from a pre-made kit.
since i had been sewing for 7 years already--by hand--NOT from a kit--this experience did nothing but confirm my belief that the formal educational system was not a good fit for my needs and interests.
shortly after that, my mother let me try sewing by machine. i never took another home ec class again (although possibly i could have learned something about cooking--no, wait a minute--now that i think about it, i already knew how to boil hot dogs too).
anyway, this morning i was surfing the web, doing some research for the next opera, when i stumbled upon the new mexico state university list of how-to publications.
they have a whole college devoted to agriculture and home economics (well, I was impressed). and they have generously posted their entire catalog of publications on clothing construction and maintanance--39 publications in all--available in HTML or PDF formats for free!
apparently, at the university level they expect you to learn a little more than in 8th grade. they have individual publications just for sewing sleeves! zippers made easy! collars and pockets and facings and waistbands and, and, and....clothing makeovers, and fashion suggestions, and color theory, and how to keep beetles from eating your hard work.
some of my favorites are the things we all want to learn more about--sewing machine maintanance--pattern alterations--and various shortcuts to make your sewing simpler and more enjoyable. they even have publications on clothing construction standards and how to judge clothing for contests--these two alone are a wealth of information to help you assess your own workmanship and set goals for your sewing future.
and best of all, the illustrations look just like they did in the handouts we got in 8th grade:
ps--my sister andrea still has the little stuffed dachshund i made in "ho mec". ella saw it the last time we visited. she called him "weenie".
