Originally Posted by Scissor Queen
At one time nearly all fabric was torn. The store would have a thing that was bolted to the edge of the counter and the fabric edge was pulled thru it and it measured and when the clerk got to the amount you wanted she pushed on it and it would cut a notch in the selvedge and then the clerk would tear it.
I even remember the sound that measuring thing made when my mom would buy fabric to make us dresses.
When did cotton become a delicate? Is it because most quilters didn't start out as clothing sewers?
What a flashback!! My family had a general merchandise store and there was a fabric dept in the front of the store. My aunt was in charge of that dept and tried to keep up to date. She had one of those gadgets that is spoken of here. Yes, I remember the sound of that thing and the sound of the fabric being torn. I also remember her bundling the fabric with all of the notions in a neat package wrapped in white paper and tied with white string. When we got home with the package, we unwrapped carefully and kept the paper neatly folded for other purposes. The string was wound around the ball of string that had been started long before. I miss having string around the house. :lol:
I don't think it was an act of disrespect to tear the fabric. Quite to the contrary, I think they wanted to be sure that we received a piece that had a straight edge.