1915 Fabric Ad

I find myself involved in another book project with the Greenfield Historical Society. We are in the very early stages of it, and have been perusing old newspapers doing research on our topic. In the process of this research, I recently found this advertisement for a dry goods store.

I apologize for the poor picture quality, but I think if you click on it you might get to see the various items and their prices more clearly.

I showed the picture to my grandmother, age 97, and she remembers similar prices from when she was a girl. She added that women who sewed for others could get 50 cents for a dress. Today, I suppose custom seamstresses might get $100 for a dress. Not having done that, I don't know, but that would seem reasonable to me. Is that off base too much??

Of note, down toward the bottom is listed "fine batting for quilts, roll" and it sells for 15 cents.

Another that quilters would appreciate is toward the top: "prints, large assortment" and those sell for 5 cents per yard.

A different era. I try to envision it, but it's hard to do. I imagine that the quilters from those days would choke on their coffee to see today's prices.

Happy Quilting, Friends!