Home-Ec 101

James M. Bennett Jr. High School
The year: l966/67 - 7th grade
The teacher: Miss Hambrick
(she was meaner than a striped snake!)

Stop counting - it was 43 years ago! ! !


Last night I had a brief "shopping spree" at Michaels and Marshalls with half of my "Aaron and Hur" team - Diane. She was telling me that Roberta was giving Sarah sewing lessons and her first project was an apron. That opened the flood gates to my mind - all the way back to 7th grade and my apron!

One of our projects (maybe the only sewing project) was to make an apron. Said apron had to have two contrasting fabrics. I think I did well in my color choice - don'tcha say?
The apron had four deep pockets on the front - I'm thinking they were for hiding all that food were were to make (but didn't get to eat - explain that to me, would ya).

All went well until the end. We were running out of time so Miss Hambrick said we could take our aprons home and put the ties on. That was all I had left to do. I did exactly what she said - promise. No help from mom - you see, I had already been sewing for quite some time, so this was a cake walk for me. I put the ties on and proudly returned it to Miss Grinch - I mean, Miss Hambrick. She flat out told me it was not - I say , NOT, acceptable and I would have to take it back home and rip the ties off and do it again! What? ? ? ? Did I just hear "rip it OUT"? It had to be a mistake. My apron was perfect, but being taught well by my parents, I gathered up my goods and took them home. I showed my mom my "imperfections" and she agreed with me - well now, I had someone on my side. Mom said it looked "fine" and she probably wrote the book on sewing, so there, Miss Hambrick! Ha. . . my mom won out over the teacher this time. Now, please don't get me wrong. I DID NOT run back to Miss Grinch and tell her that she was sadly mistaken about my apron. Nope - I wasn't taught to back talk or fight with an adult about "rules". Instead, I left my apron home and that is where it stayed thru the end of the marking period. Needless to say, I got an "E" on my project and my report card. The only "E" I had ever gotten in my life! I might have been devastated, but this time I knew I was right. It is the only time I've "kicked against the pricks" when it came to school.

I included this pic - with the ruler - because I was simply amazed at how small the waist was! Good gravy Marie, less than 10 inches across! What I would give to have that waistline again - oh my stars! Now - this is just the front part, but I figured my waist had to be around 18-20 inches. Is that small for a 12 year old? maybe not, but it sure looks small to me now! !