The thread follows the needle closely as Nancy Flowers’ fingers dance gracefully across the fabric. The year is 1977, and this is sewing class.

Sewing used to be offered as a class at the school, much like ceramics or art.

“The classes were very useful,” Flowers, class of 1977, said. “At that time, clothes were expensive and it was cheaper to sew.  Now, clothes are cheaper than the materials so sewing is mostly for custom clothes.”

Flowers said sewing was an outlet for her in high school and taught her lifelong skills that has made her a more whole person.

“I still use skills such as pattern/direction following, spatial relations, fine motor skills, problem solving and perseverance,” Flowers said. “It was a very good form of social acceptance and self-esteem for me.  I continued to sew throughout college.”

Flowers took sewing all through high school and said that the class was chock-full of girls, with boys taking woodshop and autoshop.

The sewing classes were taught by Barbara Simpson, who no longer works at the school.

Flowers remarked that sewing was not without its own set of challenges.

“I was so frustrated after repeatedly ripping out my mistakes one day that I told the teacher that the class should be called Ripping 1 and not Sewing 1,” Flowers said.

Karen Werner, class of 1977 and mother of current junior Jennie Werner, also holds fond memories of sewing class.

“The most memorable part of the class was the teacher [Simpson],” Werner said. “I remember her as someone who was genuinely interested in me as a person, and I think she was the teacher I went to when I needed a letter of recommendation for my first after-school job.”

Werner said it is doubtful whether students today would sign up for a sewing class were it offered, marking that “there seems to be too much emphasis on taking classes that are geared for getting into college.”

Flowers said that if it were offered as a class, it would endow students with skills they would use for the rest of their lives.

“I think this generation needs to learn to work with their hands and have the pride and joy of accomplishing something,” Flowers said. “Functional daily living skills and actually touching and completing projects with your hands is very important. But it would have to have a theme that would interest this generation of high schoolers.”