I see sewing as just another "manufacturing process" no more no less than welding, soldering, riveting etc. The only difference is the working material. It's just a matter of how do you join two (or more) pieces of material together.
I learnt the basics of running the machine, I called it "running over the material with a sewing machine". Yea the two pieces stuck together, but it wasn't pretty. An old GF was a wizard with one and demonstrated some really advanced techniques like how to roll an edge over and sew the folded edge sow the rough edge didn't show. BTW, she also won every halloween costume we ever had.
