Originally Posted by Dandish
I picked up some fabric at the thrift store today - a green gingham - that still had a JC Penney tag on it. It was apparently a remnant, 1-1/4 yards, with a price of 79 cents. I never knew Penney's had sold fabric - does anybody know when they stopped? I'd like to know if this is a true cotton gingham, too. I'd post a pic, but it's already in the washer. Perhaps later.
yep, it's true, jcp had nice fabric. if you got a good sale, the price generally was 5yds/$1. my mom was a seamstress/tailor/quilt maker and never passed up these buys. i still have some of her cards of buttons and other misc sewing notions on the cards. i miss her and jcp. at that time...1950's and 60's, every store except grocery stores, sold all sorts of sewing needs. thread was about 7-10 cents per spool and it hurt when the price increased to 17 cents per spool. if you paid more than $1/yd for fabric, it was a luxury and polished cotton was truly a luxury.
in highschool choir, all members had to have matching dresses made from pink polished cotton and mom saved 50 cents from her grocery allowance of $12/week until she had enough to purchase the fabric. of course, my dress was the prettiest.