I was pleased to find a shirt in my closet over the holidays that I had forgotten that I owned. I couldn’t remember why I had relegated it to the back of the closet but then I noted that it was missing a button.
It seemed like a good option for an upcoming holiday party. On the next trip to Walmart, I picked up some matching fabric and a covered button kit and came home and fixed the shirt.
Thank you Mrs. Czarick and Mrs. Gatto from Park Forest Junior High’s Home Economics department for teaching me how to sew.
Sewing is a lost art. In this disposable, replaceable age of “buy it cheap and toss it when you are done” taking the time to sew something from fabric and a pattern is a skill that people no longer seem to value. In this writer’s humble opinion, sewing is a life skill. Using the sewing skills developed over the years, I have been able to hem pants, make curtains and follow a pattern for some pretty cool Halloween costumes for my kids.
Life skills. Those skills that we need to function in this world. The competencies that help us be successful, make the most of our resources, and assist us in our interactions with others. The activities of daily living that support our health and well-being.
My husband is a another example. On his path to high school and college graduation, he and his friends took every shop class elective they could. Wood shop. Metal shop. Power mechanics. My husband can fix anything and everything, including broken appliances and dented fenders, and has made beautiful furniture for us and for our adult children. Recently, at a gathering with high school classmates, we talked about how our children don’t have the same skill set coming out of high school. They are better at technology but, despite being a generation focused on sustainability and “recycle and reuse,” they don’t know how to fix things.
The skills we need and value in today’s society is quite different from those of the past.
A quick Google search of the basic life skills that young people who are starting out on their own need to be successful pulls up some common lists. Parenting sites, educators, employers, and other experts opine on the things we should all know how to do. Things like how to do basic maintenance on a car, how to cook a meal, balance a checkbook, start a conversation, save for a rainy day, manage one’s time, and write a basic thank you note make the lists of basic life skills that we all need. More recent lists include computer coding and, ironically, how to do a search on the internet. The skill of knowing how to sew a button on a shirt even made a few of the lists.
Where are we taught life skills? I support the argument that much of life skills training should be left to parents and should be lessons that are taught at home. The problem is that some parents don’t have the skills and therefore can’t teach it. As a result, we perpetuate the cycle of generations of people not having the tools to be successful.
Some argue that life skills training should take up a larger segment of school curricula. In the old days, we had Home Ec and Shop classes in specialty classrooms for just that purpose. The classes were offered as options to all students but were generally split by gender. I was of the age that it was just starting to be cool for boys to take the food courses and for girls to take shop.
Although the sewing rooms and metal shops of yesteryear may be long gone, current students do get some exposure. Over the years, my kids brought home projects that involved both sewing and wood work from specific units in the curriculum in the State College Area School District. One learned how to make great pies in a Senior Baking course and I have a beautiful Adirondack chair that my son made in wood shop at the high school. Both of those courses were electives. In our culture of reading-ready kindergarteners, less recess, standardized exams, and AP courses, it is important that school districts continue to understand the value of hands on, life skills learning.
Learning how to sew involves math, problem solving, following directions and reading. It allows for creativity and adaptation. Being able to sew a button on a shirt is a valuable life skill.
