"You're going to wash and dry a wool sweater so that it shrinks, and it compacts, and it makes it easier to cut out the pattern pieces and to sew them together," Mackey said.

Jen Ellis credits a South Portland home economics teacher with giving her the skills to sew the mittens the Vermont senator made famous at President Biden's inauguration.

Want to field-dress a caribou, sew fur mittens or use a chain saw? There’s a class for that. By Christine Cunningham Updated: March 21, 2019 Published: March 20, 2019 ...