Learn Spanish (Latin America): Antes, la tela se fabricaba con trabajo manual y mucho hilo. - Before, the fabric used to be manufactured with manual labor and a lot of thread.

It creates the passive voice. In English, we say that the fabric was manufactured or used to be manufactured. In Spanish, using the passive se is the most natural way to express this when we do not know or care who actually did the manufacturing. It sounds much more natural for everyday past actions than the literal translation la tela fue fabricada.

Why is the verb in the imperfect tense (fabricaba) instead of the preterite (fabricó)?

The word antes (before) tells us we are talking about how things used to be done over an extended period. The imperfect tense is perfect for describing these ongoing, habitual past actions. If we used the preterite (se fabricó), it would mean the fabric was manufactured just once on a specific, completed occasion.

What would happen to the verb if we were talking about multiple fabrics?

In a passive se sentence, the verb must match the thing being acted upon. If the subject were plural, like las telas (the fabrics), the verb would also become plural to match it, changing to se fabricaban.

Why does the sentence use mucho hilo instead of muchos hilos?