Thanks for bringing this up. I haven't thought about those little machines in decades. I used to love watching them measuring fabric.....they were so entertaining. I guess that I'm simple-minded. Never knew that they had a name to them tho. And yes, I was a child when they were popular. No, really, I was a child!

My Mom worked in the fabric department of a local department store. She used one of those machines to measure fabric. I had to smile when you were describing the machine. It brought back lots of memories. I was a child then too and it was a small town where things for safe for kids to go around the shops.

Yes...I remember that machine too. Our Woolworths had one and so did J.C. Penney. When I was little...about 8 or 9...my friends and I would take our quarters to Penney's to buy 1/4 yd. of different fabrics. We thought we are so grown up. Then we would come home and start handsewing clothes for our dolls. We all had Muffie Dolls...remember them? We would use the gathering stitch at the top for a skirt or dress...hem the other 3 sides and put snaps on the back. For dresses we would attach small squares...one for the front and the other for the back. Put it on the doll and then figure how far up and then down the side seam we had to sew so her arms would go through them. We all had way too many "summer dresses" for our dolls. As we got older and had Barbie dolls we had to make those top squares a bit bigger...LOL.

Thanks for the walk down memory lane.

I remember them-I think they measured in inches-don't know what they were called. But they were great-doesn't seem it was THAT long ago they were still in use. I wonder if they still are at some places.

I remember those. When we had a Woolworth's they used this machine.

Yup. Sew-Fro Fabric had them when I was a kid. Our local Hancock's uses something like it on the table roller where they cut upholstery fabric.

I remember those. I was actually thinking about them the other day.

Yes, I remember them. I always doubted the accuracy. First of all, who knew how reliably they were calibrated? Secondly, if the fabric was not pulled through straight, but was pulled through in a wavy fashion, I felt I would be shortchanged (am I paranoid?). However, at least when the clerk was finished measuring, she/he could see the number of yards instead of trying to remember how many she had counted.

Dayle

I own one of those machines...it is called "trade mark" measuregraph! it still works great!