I have been trying the tissue paper that you use to wrap gifts with or stuff into bags to fluff/fill them up. You can get 40 sheets of it for $1 at the $1 store. I have only done one thing with it so far and it worked fairly well - still testing the fragile part of it.
Yes, my mother used newspaper for everything. She made patterns for a vest, skirt, coat, etc. by laying the newspaper on the floor, a trusty tape measure, and bingo - we had nice looking clothes to wear !!
Marysewfun