We all have felt the pinch of the increasing prices of fabric. Well, here is a little perspective I found this morning. I picked up the book "The Civil War Diary Quilt" and randomly opened to page 250. Here is what I read:

"...Her father often brought them supplies, as she wrote on November 18, 1863, 'Father went on a shopping excursion yesterday, bought a piece of very pretty plaid linsey for twelve dollars a yard and some other woolen stuff for seven, he brought home a piece of bleached cotton for mother to look at, it is coarse and very thin, price nine dollars per yard! The cheapest thing was a paper of needles only a dollar and a half."

Makes me thankful.

Wow. Me too!

If one factors in the inflation factor - that would cost how much in today's dollars?

that is why clothing was made to LAST..it got restructured, handed down etc. BUT it was MADE to last!

so true. remember when we changed to our play clothes from our school clothes as soon as we got home? couldn't afford to replace the school clothes

and I had to wear my brothers hand-me-downs to play in! And you wore last years shoes to play in, even if they were too small!!

And you actually got to play! Without play dates too!

In my civil war quilting class we also get lecture on life during that time frame. Needles were so valuable that often they were part of a woman's diary for when she got money. Fabric, needles and thread were very scarce. I love the class (on my 3rd one now) and I love the teacher and learning about the past because I didn't pay that much attention when I was in school. Back then I thought why do I need to know this stuff from the past; now that I'm older I want to know this stuff from the past

I'm the same way. I think it's because back then it was taught as facts and dates. Now, I learn it on a more personal level. I want to know what it was like being a woman back then. How did they live, what did they think and do... And, I want to learn it now. It's not a requirement.

paper was very scarce too, not like today, we throw it away right & left, and memo pads/sprials/3 ring paper costs next to nothing.

...why they used slate boards in schools.