nyelphaba

I remember when Macy's sold fabrics.

Sandygirl

I made and wore those same smock tops! I guess the unwed mother look was "in" back then! I loved them! Yes, I remember shopping at JCP for fabric but my favorite store was Sears! I also bought my records there too! I can still remember what the store looked like..the second floor of Crestwood Mall in Crestwood, MO! I graduated HS in 1975. Records and fabric on that floor!
sandy

Sandygirl

My first recollections of a fabric store was when I was about 8 or 9. We lived in a small town and it was next to the department store on main street. I would ask my mom if I could walk next door to Goodell's and she let me go. (It was the 1960's). So, I would go in and just look in awe at the bolts and stacked fabric. I would give anything to see pictures of that store from that time. I did not sew at that time but I guess it was a sign of things to come. I just felt so much at home in there and it was a favorite place to look around! Later it was JCP and for me, my other favorite, Sears. I was taking home ec by then and that is where we shopped. I loved gingham, flocked fabric and eyelet. Of course, double-knit for pants...ahhhh, the good old days! Fond memories for sure!
sandy

MissDaisyDo

Not only did Penney sell fabrics but most all department stores did in the 60's and into the 70's. Even K-Mart and other discount stores no longer with us like Zayre and as an earlier post said Ben Franklin had a good size department around here until they went out of business. This was before Wal-Mart was in our area anyway.

TonnieLoree

Don't forget Woolworths!

leiladylei54

I know that JC Penney's still sold fabric here until at least 1977 when I was still doing those crewel kits. They sold those kits in their fabric department. Remember when they also had a candy and record department, too???

peaceandjoy

The little, tiny Penney's that was on the corner in Newark, NY did in the mid-70's. I was in 4H and sewing garments each year was one of our projects.

There were no stores devoted to fabric, so it was that or a Ben Franklin in Palmyra. BF had a larger selection.

ThayerRags

JC Penney also sold sewing machines, at least in the late 80s and early 90s. My wife’s second machine came from Penney’s Catalog in 1990, and was made in Poland. (She ordered her first machine out of the Wards Catalog in 1975.)

We have an old fabric measuring table complete with fabric meter still mounted on it in our shop. We don’t use it for measuring or ripping fabric any more, but we kept it for the nostalgia. I’ll try to get a good photo of the meter to post here for the ones that haven’t seen one.

CD in Oklahoma

ThayerRags

I took a couple of photos of our fabric measuring meter and posted it in a new thread over in General Chit-Chat (non-quilting talk) called “The Good Old Days - Remembering Old Fabric Shops” at http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-133050-1.htm for those who would like to see what one looks like....

CD in Oklahoma

vagabondmom

Yes, I can remember as a young girl going with my mom to Penney's to get fabric. That was her favorite place to go.