I have really enjoyed reading this thread. I can remember exactly how it sounded when the fabric was pulled through the machine. My grandma would "go to town" to do her grocery shopping twice a month on Wednesday, and sometimes we'd make a stop at J.C. Penney to get material. I loved looking at the pattern books and daydreaming, and I still do! Later, the mall we shopped at was closed down, and later remodeled into a school where I taught. I always said my classroom was the fabric store.