Originally Posted by
Cheshirecatquilter
I am old enough to remember when all my sewing projects began with fabric nipped by the measuring device and then ripped across the width. Older than dirt?
Well, I am too, then. Because I remember seeing clerks put the fabric in that device fastened to the cutting table, and push some kind of lever that, as you say, nipped a cut in the fabric to give the clerk a starting place to tear the yardage from the fabric on the bolt. Now they all cut fabric. Not sure why they stopped tearing, unless it has to do with the way fabric is woven and/or milled these days.