Yarnfabricgirl

Yes they did, I bought fabric from my local JCPenney's 38 years ago to make a baby quilt for my firstborn. It was located in a small storefront in downtown Centralia. I shopped there with my Mom since I was a small child. The office was located on the mezzanine and there was a zip line that sent papers back and forth from the first floor, I loved to watch that when I was there.

QuiltnNan

I'd forgotten about the zip line. That was so cool. Thanks for the reminder

Genden

They also had string holders and used string to tie the packages of goods you purchased.

Grace creates

It was really nice when I was a kid going into penney's and looking at all the pattern books and fabrics. Probably the last time I remember was in the very early 70's doing this. Wish dept stores still had fabric. When I was first married up until maybe 6 yrs ago I would love to go in the rag shop. They had lots of inexpensive really cool fabrics and craft things. Now it's just some high end fabric stores and even they are closing. Sewing and quilting are really becoming a lost pastime and now it's considered a art that is being lost. I much rather go in a brick and mortar to buy fabric then online any day.

LGJARN52

I remember shopping for fabric in a JC Penney's around 1970. Like everyone else I have no idea when they discontinued this practice...maybe when JoAnn's and Handcock's opened their stores.

juliasb

I remember going to all 4 stores for fabrics in the 1960's. For a Detroiter they were Sears, Penny's, Montgomery Ward's and Hudson's. My mother made all our school clothes in the 50's and most of the 60's, until I was old enough to make my own. That ended in this area somewhere around 1968. I am sure that for other parts of the country it lasted a bit longer.

Still Sew N

Yes. I purchased lots of fabric from JC Penney's. Their fabric was located in the basement of their store in Roseville CA. I still have and use a seam allowance tool called Handee Gauge from Penneys. It is so easy to read and I sure wish they made more basic notions like this one. It was in the mid 60s that I remember first purchasing fabric from JC Penneys.

Iceblossom

I always loved the fabric departments, and yes most larger stores had them. My first quilt was made from fabric I ordered from the Montgomery Wards catalog in 1977, I don't remember exactly but I know it was under $20 and yes the quilt is still in the family. In the 70s, the Sears store didn't have fabric but they had sewing machines and the non-affiliated fabric store was just on the other side of the mall door. My first big purchase after leaving home was the top of the line Sears sewing machine with the cams, just before they went computerized. It cost about as much as 3-4 months rent.

I did live in a small town with an old 2-story Penney's that had the zip line and tube system.

Bobbielinks

I too remember buying fabric from Sears, Wards, and JC Penneys to make work shirts for my husband in 1972. The year is easy to remember as that was the year we built our first house and I sewed in the utility room of the house.

nativetexan

yes, i knew Sears sold fabrics. when my son was a baby we lived near one and i got fabrics there and made him some baby clothes by laying out baby clothes my sister sent me from Okinawa. We didn't have much so that worked for me. Made myself some clothes too. by hand of course. no money!