Oh, I am sure it is a true cotton and it was most likely woven in the good old U S A wtihout it being bathed in chemicals!

Sears, Pennys, they all sold fabric. Times are a changing and not always for the best.

They used to teach sewing in public schools also. A lot of us learned to sew in junior high home ec classes. :-D

Yes, I bought some there when I was first sewing....late 60's early 70's maybe.

I bought fabric for my first quilt for my fiance in 1976. I don't remember exactly when they closed the department.

In Everett, WA the Penney's had a fabric dept in the basement and I bought my fabric from them during my high school years. There was also a Singer (the original company) down the road that had machines and fabric. I bought my first machine there after I went to work after graduating--a 626. Still have the machine and the 403 that my Dad bought my Mom in the early 60s that I and my 2 sisters used for many years. I have that machine also as one of my sisters that had it for many years was going to throw it out when she was getting ready to move!! Those older machines are still running very well.

JC Pennys sold fabric in the 70's, so did Sears, and Montgomery wards, and Gemco, and Clarks drugs, and white front. I think they all quit in the 80's.

There is a burn test to determine fabric content. Read more here:
http://reviews.ebay.com/Identifying-...00000002308114

I bought fabric for my first quilt for my fiance in 1976. I don't remember exactly when they closed the department.

I remember my mom buying fabric at JCPenney's when I was a little girl and then in 1978 the store moved from our downtown to a mall (Auburn, Maine) and they had quite an extensive fabric and yarn department there. They also had a restaurant and automotive repair departments. I think the fabric department was phased out sometime in the early 80's.

Yes, I remember.....Sears catalog, too.

You can test a scrap of your fabric to see if it's cotton. Simply try to burn it. Polyester and other fabrics will melt or smolder instead of burning, but cotton will burn with a flame.

Our local J.C.Penneys sold fabric in the 50's, 60's and into the 70's that I remember. I don't know when they stopped.

Yes, JC Penney sold a lot of fashion fabric and cotton fabric. My Mom bought a lot of fabric from them as she made most of our clothes, and I was in 4-H so we bought for that there too. I was married in '66 and didn't live around a Penney's store after that so can't say when they discontinued sell fabric, but think they still had it then, although I'm not sure. They had a wonderful selection of fabric and always good quality.

In our area, K-Mart, Grant's, and Richman Gordman also sold fabric as well as all those mentioned. But so many of us made our own clothing then, and for our families. All I sew now is quilts and clothing repair.

I remember them selling late 60's maybe early 70's. I was young at the time.

Did anyone miss Spurgeons?

OK I know I am a senior but I do remember them selling fabric. I think I remember them selling in in the 60's maybe into the 70's by then I was house bound with 4 kids under the age of 4. Fertil myrtle.

I bought fabric from Penney's. Paid 39 cents a yard for Rondo Percale. That was the most expensive cotton. The first Penney's store in Lansing, MI was 1 block from the State Capitol. When they built the new store about 3 blocks away they eliminated fabric.

If your fabric is 36 inches wide, you can be sure it was cotton. Penney's had the most beautiful cotton broadcloth, very soft and draped nicely, but was 10 cents more than the 80 square percale. Didn't get to buy that very often!

I remember when Penney's sold fabric! And KMart, too. Don't know when Penney's stopped selling it but Kmart still had fabric in my hometown in the late 70s early 80s. I bought there often.

JC Penny had a large fabric department and carried really nice quality fabric. The last I remember buying any was in the 1980's. I sure am getting old because I remember when all the departments stores carried fabric and there were so many fabric shops everywhere...SIGH.

Margie

When I was in high school (grad 1967) all of the department stores sold fabric. They stopped in the early 70's.

Yes - Penney's sold very nice fabric. As a child my mother bought lots of material there. Then when I went to work for them I was friends with the ladies in that area and they gave me some of the patterns that were discarded. At that time we didn't have to send them back to the company.

They sold fabric up until at least the early 1960's. Always very nice quality. I remember buying fabric for our 4H projects there.
I would guess your gingham is 100% cotton as I don't think ployester was around yet.

Probably late 50s or early 60s when they stopped selling fabric. I remember they always had fabric when I was a kid.

We moved to Pittsburg, Ks in 1977, and Penny's was selling fabric then. I think they quit like 1983 or so. They also sold tires, car service, about anything you would want for the home. They also had a cosmetics counter;about everything really.
Mariah.

Yes, Penney's use to have a huge fabric department. They closed it out in the late 70's just as quilting was starting up again. Too bad.

I bought the fabric for my wedding party at Penneys in 1978. They had a line of pastels so I got white, my MOH had yellow & the 2 BMs had green. I needed 5 yards for my dress. The girl cutting measured it across to mounted yardsticks with at least 18 inches between the 2. I ended up with 6 yards. Same with the green.


The fabric was beautiful & about $1.50 a yard.

Wish someone would bring back Kettlecloth for clothing. That fabric was GREAT!!!!

Beverly

Yes, I remember. I had forgotten about that cutting deal. Remember when they put your money and paperwork in a clear deal kind of like drive in banks have now and it swished off over your head upstairs? I think all of the Penney's in the old days had wood floors too and they weren't shiny.

I don't know when they stopped selling it but I remember my mother buying her fabric & buttons, zippers, etc. at our JC Penneys. I was probably early elementary school so it has been quite a while back.

Yes, JC Penny did sell fabric. for a long time.

I would say in the 80s or late 70s

I will change that to the 70s

yes i remember years ago they sold fabric, had a grocery dept, tire dept, toy dept. i think those all faded out about 1974 or before

I bought fabric at JC Penney into the 70's in PA

Even Macy's (Bambergers then) sold fabric. My local dime store did too. Cotton fabric was 3 yds for a dollar. Does that tell you that I'm older than dirt?

If your checked fabric is woven, it is gingham. If not, it is printed on and might have some polyester in it. I also remember Dan River gingham. That was the elite fabric for making pretty dresses. Didn't get that very often. I learned to match plaids making skirts out of them.

When I first started to sew (many years ago) I bought many patterns and fabric from our local Penney's. They had Coats and Clark thread. Their fabric was nice quality. I agree with others in this thread that they stopped selling fabric in the late 60's or early 70's. We used have a Grants store in our area an they also used to sell fabric. It was great to have so many places close by that sold fabric. It is such a shame they don't sell like that anymore. Even the local Wal-Mart doesn't carry fabric anymore and their craft department has gotten so small.

I remember buying fabric from Penney's to make clothes for my girls. Was just thinking about that a few weeks ago and wish they still sold fabrics. They had a nice selection for making clothes, patterns also.

I used to buy all of my fabric at JC Penney back in the 60's. They had great fabric--not as much as the quilt shops of today but enough for a project. They sold beautiful pillow case fabric. This would be a print with a border on one end so once you had your yardage you just had to sew top and side seam and turn back a hem on the border. I'm glad this subject was brought up because I had forgotten that they sold fabric. Oh, so did Newberry's and Grants sell fabric.

I sewed drapes for Penneys in WestBend Wis. in the 50's and bought fabric there for clothing. I made almost all our clothes and sewed for other people too. The sewing machine sat on the end of the kitchen table and we ate all our meals with it sitting there. Sears had fabric and our local Woolworth store did too. Penneys left town in the 60's or 70's and by then Ben Franklin came in and we bought from them.

Carol J.

I bought my first material at Pennys for a wool skirt when I was 13 years old. I spent my babysitting money on it. My mother was furious because I spent so much (not by today's standards) and she thought I really couldn't sew. Made the skirt, the first of man,y in fact almost all my clothes through high school. The first material was in 1953.