The Good Old Days - Remembering Old Fabric Shops
06-26-2011, 03:35 PM
#111
Super Member
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Ohio, just east of Toledo
Posts: 1,369
Hmmm
Sears, Kmart, Bargain City, Lasalles, Minnestota Fabrics, Hancock Fabrics, Woolworth's, Penny's, the Singer store, all within 20 minutes, and I lived out in the country (a half mile from where I live now)
When I first started buying fabric, of course there was Joann's, but it was in the new mall. Then Joann's moved to a shoppong center, but that was ok, to get across the highway, you just stopped, and went across when it was ok, we made it to Joann's. Then, someone got this great idea to makee it so we could no longer get across the highway, so to get to Joann's we had to take about a 15 minute more trip around.
Finally they figured out that this could just not be, so they built the road over the highway, straight to the shopping center. Joann's was still there, in fact, still is.
The only places within 20 munitues is now Joann's and Walmart
Sears, Kmart, Bargain City, Lasalles, Minnestota Fabrics, Hancock Fabrics, Woolworth's, Penny's, the Singer store, all within 20 minutes, and I lived out in the country (a half mile from where I live now)
When I first started buying fabric, of course there was Joann's, but it was in the new mall. Then Joann's moved to a shoppong center, but that was ok, to get across the highway, you just stopped, and went across when it was ok, we made it to Joann's. Then, someone got this great idea to makee it so we could no longer get across the highway, so to get to Joann's we had to take about a 15 minute more trip around.
Finally they figured out that this could just not be, so they built the road over the highway, straight to the shopping center. Joann's was still there, in fact, still is.
The only places within 20 munitues is now Joann's and Walmart
06-26-2011, 03:54 PM
#112
Junior Member
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: North East Wyoming
Posts: 180
Remembering JCPenny store. When I was 3 or 4 my mother was shopping there. When the clerk pulled the cord to send the canister to the office it flew off the cable and hit my mom
in the face. Broke her glasses, with some of the glass going into her eye. Penny's settled out of court and mom got enough money to buy a piano.
Memories...
in the face. Broke her glasses, with some of the glass going into her eye. Penny's settled out of court and mom got enough money to buy a piano.
Memories...
06-26-2011, 05:20 PM
#113
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Bellevue, WA
Posts: 735
Alberta Chandler at A Stitch in Time taught me how to sew when I was 5. It was the original kids summer program and terrific fun. Remember kettle cloth. We made printed kettle cloth skirts, they might have even been called dirndl skirts. It was years before I realized the effect she actually had on my life. Alberta treated us like we could do anything if someone just taught us how and she gave us every opportunity. That is the kind of 1st grade teacher I became and it was wonderful.
06-26-2011, 05:39 PM
#114
Super Member
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Minnesota
Posts: 1,457
My first project for home-ec came from the Gamble Store in myhometown... later on another project came from teh merchantile store across the street when I spotted some fabric I really liked...
As I grew old enough to go shopping on my own, I went to Penney's and Montgomery Wards, and a store called Herbergers where their basement was nothing but folds upon folds of fabric on tables - some bolts were on shelves;
Oh the memories!
As I grew old enough to go shopping on my own, I went to Penney's and Montgomery Wards, and a store called Herbergers where their basement was nothing but folds upon folds of fabric on tables - some bolts were on shelves;
Oh the memories!
06-26-2011, 05:39 PM
#115
Super Member
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Maryland
Posts: 4,449
I remember the meter for measuring material and yes, it was torn, never cut with scissors! I am not overly sure what store I first bought fabric in, but I am thinking it was a Singer store. We had that and a few chain stores that sold material. My first purchase of material was for my 7th grade sewing class... I had to purchase cotton gingham to make a top and a broom skirt! And it is true that the Fabric shops were the Quilt shops in our earlier days! I wish we still had the fabric stores we had years back. I like the Quilt shops, but I also liked having the fabric shops we had that carried all sorts of fabric and thread and bargain tables! We now only have Joann's and a couple of Quilt Shops in close to me. I suppose that is progress... take away the old and bring in the new. :)
06-26-2011, 06:12 PM
#117
Super Member
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Rochester, Minnesota
Posts: 1,795
I remember the machines in many stores in my small Minnesota hometown. Ben Franklin, Anthony's, a shoe and dry goods store that I don't remember the name of, the sad part is that those stores are long gone and there are no stores in that town that sell fabric anymore. Thanks for the memories...
06-26-2011, 06:36 PM
#118
Super Member
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Ohio, just east of Toledo
Posts: 1,369
When I got to the age of looking for what I wanted to take in high school, the Home Ec teacher, yep, it was a long time ago, told me t not bother. She knew me through 4-H and said I should be teaching the sewing part.
06-26-2011, 06:36 PM
#119
Super Member
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Perry, Oklahoma
Posts: 4,373
Originally Posted by ThayerRags
Discussions about old fabric stores (long before they were called “quilt shops”) on another thread got me & my wife to reminiscing about who sold fabric back years ago when she started sewing as a teenager, what fabric was available at the time, and how fabric was handled back then.
She didn’t get to buy much new fabric, but when she did, it was usually at Woolworth’s. Once in a while, she may have bought some at the JC Penney store, but she remembers Penney’s more for the stairway that you had to go up to get to the women’s and girl’s clothing. It wasn’t a full two-story building, but had departments and offices up on the second level. It seems to me that it had those air tubes that the clerk put a ticket and your money into a canister and shot it up to the office. Your change and receipt would come swooshing back down in a few minutes. Similar to modern drive-in banks, but the canisters were metal and only about the size of a small juice can.
We have an old measuring/cutting table in our shop that has the meter mounted on the side of it from the days when fabric was measured and nicked with the meter, and then your fabric portion was ripped from the roll or bolt. We’ve never used it, but keep it set up just for fun. I found the meter along with two others up in the attic shortly after we bought the shop. The table or bench that it’s mounted on is 10’ long x 4’ wide x 2 1/2’ high, and has a storage area underneath.
Can you remember where you first bought new fabric?
For those who have never seen one, here’s a couple of photos of a fabric measuring meter.
CD in Oklahoma
She didn’t get to buy much new fabric, but when she did, it was usually at Woolworth’s. Once in a while, she may have bought some at the JC Penney store, but she remembers Penney’s more for the stairway that you had to go up to get to the women’s and girl’s clothing. It wasn’t a full two-story building, but had departments and offices up on the second level. It seems to me that it had those air tubes that the clerk put a ticket and your money into a canister and shot it up to the office. Your change and receipt would come swooshing back down in a few minutes. Similar to modern drive-in banks, but the canisters were metal and only about the size of a small juice can.
We have an old measuring/cutting table in our shop that has the meter mounted on the side of it from the days when fabric was measured and nicked with the meter, and then your fabric portion was ripped from the roll or bolt. We’ve never used it, but keep it set up just for fun. I found the meter along with two others up in the attic shortly after we bought the shop. The table or bench that it’s mounted on is 10’ long x 4’ wide x 2 1/2’ high, and has a storage area underneath.
Can you remember where you first bought new fabric?
For those who have never seen one, here’s a couple of photos of a fabric measuring meter.
CD in Oklahoma
06-26-2011, 06:49 PM
#120
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: South Dakota
Posts: 662
When I was a kid in the 40s and 50s there were 3 department stores in Sioux Falls - Montgomery Ward, Penneys, and Younkers. All had mezzanines and pneumatic tubes. The fabric dept was in the basement of all of them.
In my small town we had a K&K merchantile store. They had fabric in the front, then womens clothes, shoes, then mens clothes and groceries in the back. They did not have a fancy machine to measure fabric, just a yard stick glued to the counter. That is where I bought fabric for my first home ec project. There was a woman there named Marie who must of worked there for over 50 years. I think it was the only job she ever had. She was unmarried and did not trust kids and had no sense of humor. She watched us like a hawk when we were in there, sure we were going to damage something.
Life was so much simpler then.
In my small town we had a K&K merchantile store. They had fabric in the front, then womens clothes, shoes, then mens clothes and groceries in the back. They did not have a fancy machine to measure fabric, just a yard stick glued to the counter. That is where I bought fabric for my first home ec project. There was a woman there named Marie who must of worked there for over 50 years. I think it was the only job she ever had. She was unmarried and did not trust kids and had no sense of humor. She watched us like a hawk when we were in there, sure we were going to damage something.
Life was so much simpler then.
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