Originally Posted by ShowMama

Oh, and one cool thing. The Penney's cutting table had one of those measuring machines. The clerk would pull the fabric through the machine and it would measure as it went. When the meter reached whatever yardage you wanted, the clerk would press a little lever and the machine would "nick" the fabric edge. Then the clerk would cut or tear across the fabric from the point of that little cut. Wish stores still had those today.