This Thursday, we’re throwing it way back. Back to a time when inRegister was still The Register, and many women were still constructing their clothes, as shown in the cover story from December 1964.

The story details how sewing classes were all the rage and how the Halpern-Bishop method made classes fun. “Several mother-daughter groups are among those who have taken classes offered by Halpern’s during the past year,” the article says.

Class instructor, Jackie Rutan, is pictured on the far right of the cover image, wearing a festive dress she made herself. Rutan’s looks were fun, but she took her sewing classes very seriously. “When an adult beginner becomes discouraged over learning some particular technique, Mrs. Rutan likes to remind that she taught nine-year-old girls in a class last summer,” the article states.

Also featured on the cover are some of the Christmas gift items students made in the recent “Gifts for Family and Friends” class, where they were taught how to make 40 different items by hand.

Read the full article below for more details on the Halpern-Bishop method of sewing.