sewlady

Yes JC Penny did sell fabric. They had a very nice fabric department. I bought all my fabric there. I was married in 1968 and remember buying fabric for several years after that. When our Penny's moved to the mall it stopped selling fabric. I was devistated. Their fabric was a staple in our home.

Slow2Sew

I remember being surprised to see fabric at Penney's in the early - mid 70's. What I recall is an older lady (probably about my age now) standing by saying, "Magic Mart sells fabric just as good as this and it doesn't cost this much money. Some of this stuff here costs $1.00 a yard!"

kwilter

quote:I never knew Penney's had sold fabric - does anybody know when they stopped? quote]

Almost all of the big-name stores used to sell fabric. I remember as a teen traveling on the "El" to Chicago's downtown Loop to look for "material" for clothing. The famed Marshall Field's store, Sears, Montgomery Ward, Goldblatt's and others sold fabric. There were no fabric shops at all. I recall that some of the "better" fabric was as much as $3 to $5 a yard! One could buy some very nice cottons for as little as 50 cents a yard and the sales brought in a good crowd.

kwilter

Sorry, that can't be correct. There was no Macy's in Chicago at that time. Macy's bought our Marshall Field's store less than 10 years ago and are now (sigh) in the Field's flagship store on State Street in the Loop. I don't think Macy's will ever achieve the status and esteem of our old Field's.

tntgranny

I remember ordering fabric from the catalogs - Sears, Penney's, Montgomery Ward. That was before JoAnne's and most other similar stores. Most department stores did have a fabric department. Selection was not anything like we have today.

Nolee

JC Penney sold fabric as did McCurdy and Company, and our new modern grocery store, Wegmans, used to sell fabric around 1973. Things were so much different then.

matraina

Back in the 50's and 60's, it seems every department store sold fabric. Not sure when each store got out of it. Now you have to go to a craft store or LQS to buy locally.

JayCee

This brought back great memories of when it was economical to make your own clothes. How things have changed. I even ordered diaper material from the catalog by the yard to make diapers for my first daughter, Brenda, born in 1962. My sister made a complete layette for Brenda as her senior home ec project--all with Penneys material.

TootieAnn

Hard to believe now, but all the major department stores once sold fabric. Historical pictures of Macy's in NY show a HUGE fabric department. I remember the fabric department in Belk's from my childhood. I was sorry to see it go.

FroggyinTexas

Penney's did sell fabric. At the store in Odessa, Texas, the fabric counter where they did the cutting was right in the middle of the store and it was always busy in the 1950's and 1960's. The fabric they sold was probably 100 percent cotton because in those days, there was no factory shrinkage control and my mother always did "preshrink" everything. We were so pleased when fabric was sold as "preshrunk."

Stay warm. FroggyinFrigidTexas