Does that mean all the fabric I brought home from grandma's is vintage? Most is 36" wide and some is even sack cloth, also 36" wide. Now what to do with it? I know make a vintage type quilt! :lol:
Might have to make another road trip to get more of this wonderful fabric. There is a closet that is about 20 feet long and about 4 feet deep that is FULL of fabric, age unknown.

You poor thing. Do you need help sorting that closet?! Yeah, if it is 36" wide, it probably is vintage--or at least pre-polyester.

Its already sorted. When My grandmother passed away, nobody wanted the fabric, instead they took all the antiques including her sewing machines :-(
Mom kept all the fabric, yarn, craft supplies, etc and the house :)

Before moving to the US, because of my business, I did a lot of shopping at wholesalers. They used the "measuring machines". My boys would sometimes come with me...they loved watching the yardage being pulled thru' and measured...and re-rolled onto another tube at the other end of the table. Such fun!!!

Patti

Well, bless their little pea-pickin' hearts for taking the antiques, including the sewing machines! At least, your part of the family did end up with a good stash for future projects and you can delight in the fabrics that you know were selected by your grandmother. You are touching something she cared about and now shares with you and your mom. It does make you more "related" to her tastes and the things she enjoyed. Do you feel her presence when you play with her fabric? Sure does explain "one man's trash is another man's treasue" in what the family wants or rejects.

My first job in retail was in the fabric department in 1957 and there were no fabrics as inexpensive as $.28. I think you're probably in the pre WWII era.

I actually do feel her when I am working with her fabric, along with my great grandma.

I saw the pictures of your fabric. The purple looks like something I bought in the late 60's at a fabric store, not Penney's, though. I also used to buy fabric in a department store, and also in five and dime stores. I don't ever remember something as low as 28 cents, but I do remember 99 cents.

Yes, I remember So-Fro fabrics and Cloth World, too.

i had forgotten all about 36" fabric. that's what i learned to sew on. so let's see. that was in 1956. the 45's were just starting to come out, but were still hardly available. so if the fabric is 36" i'd say older than 1956. that's OLD :P

and the price could have been a pre-cut price. i remember a Cheap John's store that had precuts (end of bolts) that were 25 cents and up.

I am a depression baby and I have to believe that 28 cents a yard for fabric has to be from the 1930's or earlier unless that was a tremendous sale price. The patterns also appear to be ones that were popular during that era. In any case, congratulations on your great luck in obtaining all this good stuff. :thumbup: :thumbup:

in 1956 36" wide was still widely available. in the place where i shopped, that was the only width they sold. it was 99 cents a yard, but you could get "pre-cuts"
(what we call bolt ends) for 25 cents. my fist fabric was a floral for a beach bag with a matching sunbonnet.

That wasn't too many years ago, was it? I worked in the notions/yarn/fabric dept of Woolworth's from 1967-1970. Downtown Denver which was the largest Woolworth's store in the company. I think most fabrics were around a dollar a yard. Those were the days...

I remember buying fabric at Penny's in Oregon City, Or back in the 50's. Their fabric department was on the mezanine. They used the machinces described above. I had totally forgotten about Penny's and the machines. Ben Franklin, Woolworths, Newberrys all had fabric. In the 50's we didn't have "fabric stores" as they are today. What memories!!!

Penney's carried fabric until about 1976.

Since the purple fabric is 3 yards, I don't think it was an end cut. The other 2 may have been but there was no pricing on those.

It's been so fun reading everyone's memories and ideas. Thank you all for the useful information and the stroll down memory lanes.

in the late '60's fabric was STILL 36" wide b/c i remember buying it @ that width!

Back in the late '60s, Winns (a 5 & dine) closed their store in a particular location so that they could move to a better location. I bought yards and yards for 10 and 25 cents per yard.
The 25 cent fabric was heavier. I used it to make pants for our daughter to wear to school. I think I bought all the 10 cent fabric they had and gave much of it to my mother to use to back quilts.

I don't remember the Penny's store in our town selling fabric when I was a child, but maybe they did. The Kress 5 & 10 did, but Lentz had a better grade of fabric. During WW II, there was no fabric of any kind available. I remember one day that my mother sent me by myself to town. with a bucket of eggs and a grocery list. After I had sold the eggs and purchased the groceries, I had a few cents left over. As I passed Lentz Department store, I saw a line of women waiting to buy fabric. They had just gotten in some dress fabric. I got in the line and selected my 3 yards. I believe that was all that each person was allowed. It seems that I paid a nickle a yard, but it could have been as much as 15 cents.
This was probably in the summer of 1944 before I turned 10 that fall.

As a child I don't remember buying anything at Penny's, it was for the rich folks. I do remember buying fabric at Woolworths and other "dime" stores. I made a bath robe out of 36" fabric a couple of years ago. Yes, the fabric was old, but the robe is holding up nicely. This was a fun thread reading everyone's memories.

I remember 36" fabric, and I started sewing in the early 60's...
The fabric was not available at fabric stores, but at the department store, and we found everything from fabric to coats to - well, you name it, the store seemed to have most everything but groceries.

I remember SoFro, Northwest Fabrics, and even those measuring machines... Those machines measured accurately, but by the time the fabric was torn, you lost some length. I measured, before and after, once. But I still used the machine, as the store I worked for required it.

What a wonderful walk down memory lane this thread has been! Thanks :-D

Wow, in the late 70's as I had some of that fabric. have fun quilting!

Oh my, the memories of those fabrics! My very first sewing project in 7th grade HomeEc class was a bib apron out of that purple fabric. It has held up a long time, since I have the apron, but don't use it. The kids liked playing house, etc., with it too.