Many, many years ago I worked in the fabric dept. of Montgomery and that's how we did the cottons. That's about the time that double knits came on the market and we used the meter for those. Back when I was in high school, the lady at JC Penney would tear the fabric but I think there were only 2 kinds of fabric in those days, cotton and wool. I guess I'm telling my age here but I don't mind. I'm 65.