This, I am sure will tell my age but when I was growing up almost every department store sold fabric. Sears did also. They generally didn't have large selections but there were no crafts stores. Fabric was purchased at the stores that sold sewing machines and in our town it was Singer or at department stores. Many women sewed their own clothing and it saved money to do so, where as now it is generally more costly to make your own clothing. Though some quilts were made from purchased fabric most were made from left overs from clothing. We had a dress making factory in our town and you could purchase left overs from them but many people cut up their old clothing and made quilts from that. There were no synthetics so all the fabric was cotton or wool.