My mom taught me running stitch when I was around eight years old. I think I was curious about her sewing machine, which for obvious reasons she didn't want me to touch, so she distracted me with hand-sewing instead. She also bought me a cross-stitch kit at one point, but after I finished the pre-packaged design (a unicorn, which was probably why I wanted the thing in the first place) I never did anything more with that skill.
I didn't learn other stitches until I was twelve or thirteen, and that was in school as part of a Home Ec class. (My middle school had a thing called 'cycle' where they rotated people through six brief classes in a single time slot over the course of a year. So we got six weeks of music, six weeks of reading (speed/comprehension), six weeks of home economics, six weeks of shop, and two other things I'm not remembering at the moment. Possibly computers and art?) Anyway, Home Ec included some basic sewing, some basic cooking, and IIRC some general life skills such as 'how a checkbook works' and so on. The first year we learned basic hand stitches and how to use a sewing machine, after which we all made our own pair of gym shorts. The second year we made plush animal toys, which was a lot more fun than gym shorts.
I can't do anything complicated, like buttonholes, zippers, or embroidery, but anyone can learn running stitch, back stitch, and whip stitch, which is all you should need for basic repairs. The internet has a lot of helpful tutorials if you ever want to learn!
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Date: 2015-10-04 05:20 pm (UTC)I didn't learn other stitches until I was twelve or thirteen, and that was in school as part of a Home Ec class. (My middle school had a thing called 'cycle' where they rotated people through six brief classes in a single time slot over the course of a year. So we got six weeks of music, six weeks of reading (speed/comprehension), six weeks of home economics, six weeks of shop, and two other things I'm not remembering at the moment. Possibly computers and art?) Anyway, Home Ec included some basic sewing, some basic cooking, and IIRC some general life skills such as 'how a checkbook works' and so on. The first year we learned basic hand stitches and how to use a sewing machine, after which we all made our own pair of gym shorts. The second year we made plush animal toys, which was a lot more fun than gym shorts.
I can't do anything complicated, like buttonholes, zippers, or embroidery, but anyone can learn running stitch, back stitch, and whip stitch, which is all you should need for basic repairs. The internet has a lot of helpful tutorials if you ever want to learn!