Originally Posted by ThayerRags

Discussions about old fabric stores (long before they were called “quilt shops”) on another thread got me & my wife to reminiscing about who sold fabric back years ago when she started sewing as a teenager, what fabric was available at the time, and how fabric was handled back then.

She didn’t get to buy much new fabric, but when she did, it was usually at Woolworth’s. Once in a while, she may have bought some at the JC Penney store, but she remembers Penney’s more for the stairway that you had to go up to get to the women’s and girl’s clothing. It wasn’t a full two-story building, but had departments and offices up on the second level. It seems to me that it had those air tubes that the clerk put a ticket and your money into a canister and shot it up to the office. Your change and receipt would come swooshing back down in a few minutes. Similar to modern drive-in banks, but the canisters were metal and only about the size of a small juice can.

We have an old measuring/cutting table in our shop that has the meter mounted on the side of it from the days when fabric was measured and nicked with the meter, and then your fabric portion was ripped from the roll or bolt. We’ve never used it, but keep it set up just for fun. I found the meter along with two others up in the attic shortly after we bought the shop. The table or bench that it’s mounted on is 10’ long x 4’ wide x 2 1/2’ high, and has a storage area underneath.

Can you remember where you first bought new fabric?

For those who have never seen one, here’s a couple of photos of a fabric measuring meter.

CD in Oklahoma

Originally Posted by klc

I also remember those meters. My first recollection is shopping for material with my mother. She would spend what seemed like hours looking at fabric. I would spend my time with my brother sitting on bolts and playing hide and seek under and around all the fabric. She mostly shopped at Montgomery Wards, but she also shopped at Penneys, Ben Franklins and Woolworths. She was an excellent seemstress. I wish I would have taken a liking to sewing myself way back when.

Originally Posted by ThayerRags

I have copies of the 1963 and 1964 Montgomery Ward Christmas Catalogs, but there isn’t any mention of fabric shown in either of them. Chances are pretty good, that even if Ward’s had tons of fabric back then, omitting it from the Christmas Catalog was probably intended. Ladies back then were probably much more interested in the CLOTHING for a Christmas present than fabric to make their own. LOL!

In an old Sears Summer Catalog from 1964, Sailcloth & Pique (all-cotton stretch fabric) was 97 cents per yard, Denim was $1.22, Duck was 74 cents, Poplin was 46 cents (39 cents, for 10 yards or more), and Knit-Look (non stretch) was 66 cents. All of them were 36-37 inches wide. The 42 inch wide Denim was 92 cents per yard, and the 44-inch Seersucker was 88 cents for the plain stripes and $1.13 for the prints. Dan River Bone-tones were 93 cents for the 36” wide. The 35” wide Ginghams were 58 cents per yard.

The 36” wide all-cotton Oxford Prints & Solids were 66 cents per yard, and the 36” wide 124-thread per square inch Percale Prints & Solids (closest thing to today’s Quilting Fabric?) was a thrifty 29 cents per yard (27 cents for any 10 yards or more).

CD in Oklahoma

Originally Posted by suzee

The first place I bought fabric was JC Penney. Their fabric department was located in the basement. (The mezzanine was where the ladies' dept. was.) My mother didn't sew much, but I remember buying a length of yellow linen to make myself a dress when I was about 14. My mother chastised me for not buying green. It seemed that everything I owned at the time was green and I wanted something different. To this day I don't wear green!

Originally Posted by featherweight

Yes, I too remember those meter thingys. I used to get a lot of "Material" at Duckwalls, Hesteds, JC Pennys, Monkey Wards. Then we got the new "Cloth World".

Originally Posted by VickyS

Woolworth's and the 5 & Dime were the places I got the fabric for my 4-H sewing projects using those machines. Trying to find the "new" 45" material - so the clothing patterns had different yardage layouts for 36" and 45" material.

I remember the move it an inch forward and back, depending on whether the previous rip put the fabric way out of a straight line - the cheaper materials were not always woven evenly so they didn't tear straight. Then you would get home and have to straighten out the tears by pulling a thread and cutting along the pulled thread line. So much work!