Sonia Barton: When I was 11 years old my mother and I had collected enough blue chip stamps to order something big. My mom choose a sewing machine. My mother did not sew, my grandmother did but not mom. She also didn't speak English. So when the sewing machine arrived she asked me to translate the sewing machine manual and show her what it was talking about. I read and translated every page, even after mom had given up. I learned to using the sewing machine really well, but lacked the knowledge to read and follow patterns. I took HomeEc my 7th grade and that solved that problem fast, so fast that in the 8th grade I was the student TA. I took a Fashion Design class in High School and realized that would be a career that I wanted to persue. Life didn't go as planned but I finally did receive an AS in Fashion Design at the age of 31. I love sewing but more than that I love teaching others to sew. With the proper books or instructions there should be no reason that those that want to sew shouldn't be able to.