Doris Sumnicht

My mother died when I was 10, in 1943. In boarding school I found that, when sewing classes were presented, I already knew how to read patterns (not printed those days--you "read" cut out holes in the paper) and selecting the flour and feed sacks in the kitchen and in the cow barn, collecting what would be needed for a dress (depending upon size and length) One of the students even made her prom dress from printed sack fabric. Thanks for the memories!!

Tink's Mom

It was eliminated from Penneys in about '77...Wards in the early 80'S...
Only reason that I remember is that I bought fabric with my Mom for maternity clothes at Penney's...and fabric for my son's clothes at Wards.

Tink's Mom

I also remember buying fabric at the Singer sewing machine stores...

barny

Not all the big department stores sold fabric, but the 10c stores as well. You could go to any store and find fabric and anything else.

sandypants

Oh, back years ago, almost every dept store had fabric. I remember J C Pennys, Sears. Iin our town,Woolworths, Ben Franklin, Spurgeons & S & L, Kelly's, also had a Joann's, Minnesota Fabrics and a couple of warehouse fabric stores. It used to be a dream to have all these fabric stores. It was back then that people sewed their own clothes and decor items. I miss them...

nativetexan

decades ago i used to buy fabric at Sears downtown store. i made my son clothes by hand then.

paulettepoe

i remember as a young child looking at the fabric in the catalogs and picking out what i wanted my mom to use for school clothes. I was 6-7. they came in folds of certain lengths if i remember right.

CarolSews

Fabric for my first home ec project was purchased at Penney's in 1971. Miss Jones said to purchase the best quality fabric we could afford. I don't remember how much it cost but it must have been really good fabric because I wore it & then two of my sisters wore it. I still have that dress! My grade was 198 points out of a possible 200, as I forgot to remove basting stitches.

Wow, thanks for bringing back such fun memories!

Carol

kerrym38

I made most of my clothes for school in high school. I graduated in 1970. I would go to Penney's and buy my fabric all the time. Newberry's and Woolworths also sold fabric back then. I don't know when Penney's stopped selling it, but I can still picture the fabric department on the second floor.

theoldgraymare

I grew up in a small town in a rural county. My mother bought fabric from the Penney's catalog because there was no place in the county to buy it. We made all our own clothes.