It was nice to see this thread revived.
This might be strange to say, and I'm certainly no spring chicken (almost 48), but in a way I wished I lived through through time when fabric in stores was quite common, as was making your own clothes and the other "domestic" skills were more highly valued. Don't get me wrong, I love living "modern" and wouldn't want to do without a lot of the freedoms and choices that, especially for women, were hard fought for, and of course the conveniences we have now (especially the 'net!). I suppose like many things those of us who didn't live at that time or aren't old enough to really remember, view it through rose colored glasses with a romanticized slant, but there is just so much cool about that time.
Fortuntely I see a revival of those times in some areas now. Sewing, I believe, is one of them - it's suddenly pretty "hip" to make clothes, especially using repurposed items (check threadbanger, for instance). There has been a resurgence in gardening and shopping and eating local, and look at the boon quilting has gone through since about the mid 1970s - especially the last 10-15 years. It's a multi-billion dollar industry now.
I know that my mother sewed - but I don't remember much. One of my brothers and my sister were nationally competative roller skaters, and I can barely remember her sitting at the machine making their costumes - oh how I wish I would have been old enough for her to teach me or at least perhaps get me interested. She never quilted, as far as I know. She did give me her sewing machine about a year before she passed, an older Kenmore, and I have a story I wrote about it about when I went back to college a few years ago, perhaps I'll share some time.
Anyhow, thanks for sharing all the nostalgia in your posts ladies (and gents?). I was a very pleasant walk down "memory lane."