My mother and my 93 year old Great Aunt both called it material. I used too also. I don't know when I changed over to fabric....

Maybe. But in TX and in VA it's fabric to everybody I know who quilts.

My ex used to call it cloth, and that sounded like nails on a blackboard to me!

Jan in VA

I still slip and call it "material" now and then. As long as I've got a big stash of it, I don't think it really matters.

My Mom always called it material....she sewed clothes for years. I called it material when I was sewing my children's clothes, but now that I'm quilting I call it fabric. Could the use be the differnce?

I made a scrappy quilt for a friend a few years back who replied, "did you sew all those little pieces of cloth together?". I about fell over laughing. Goes to show you that most people don't really know the difference between something printed and something pieced. Much less the difference between "cloth" and "fabric".

Back in the day when everyone I knew called fabric 'material' the word was NOT used to refer to lumber, stone, concrete, etc. I have only heard 'material' used for building supplies in the last 20 years. It could be a regional thing. But you never see a 'materials store.' It is a building supply store, a lumber yard, stone yard, etc. That said, the definition in the dictionary cover anything of substance.

Isn't there a blog called 'Material Girls'? Or am I confused with something else?

There is a quilt shop (or fabric shop...never been there)
in Wichita called "Material Girls".
And..when I was in grade school a lady on our block called fabric "goods". Everybody around her seemed to know
she meant fabric. I think way back it was called 'dry goods".

I think it's a regional thing like soda, pop, soft drink, coke etc....

Everyone says material around here.

They call it fabric now. 20 yrs ago it was cloth. ex: Cloth World. Before that, Material. Mom called it this. way before that, wild, wild west, dry goods.

All are textiles.

I like the way my mom describes it! Material is for clothing - Fabric is for quilts. I think it just puts it a higher plane.

Mom was a seamstress and bought material to make our clothes when we were kids and for herself. She made herself a quilted vest (which is now mine - all mine) that she made with fabric.

Maybe it is our location culture - Pop, soda, type of thing that was mentioned before.

And again, people go to the fabric shop to buy material for a new dress. Go figure!!!!! And one step further - where does yard goods fit in????? (I go to Treadle Yard Goods to buy fabric for my quilts). Edie