I Made a Dress Out of Potato Sacks! 

slightly wholesome fact: during the great depression, parents would often dress their children in potato sacks, as they did not have enough to afford regular clothing. When potato companies found out about this, they would print fun patterns on potato sacks so the children would not have to wear plain potato sacks (the same was also done with flour sacks, which was more common at the time, but this video is about potato sacks, so i had to include the potatoes first)

"oh wow, your dress!" "what, this old potatoe sack?" is a conversation that can happen now. I love it.

"You could wear a potato sack and look great" Rachel: Actually wears potato sacks. Actually looks great. 🥔❤

pleeeaaaase remember this dress when halloween comes around, because I would absolutely love to see you style this as a scarecrow-outfit!

Rachel, you should wear this dress to a state fair or a farmers market to see what people's reactions would be.

This is giving me such "Disney princess before she becomes a princess, and is still living in the woods/on a farm/as a servant" vibes and I love it

I have grown very fond of this, "Jenna Marbles as a retired Massachusetts Hobbit" esque channel over the past couple of years. What a fun dress, Rachel.

As soon as I saw the cookie tin, I thought: "It's happened. Rachel has reached peak Grandma." :D

Morgan: Making a Latex Medieval Dress Rachel: Making a Potato Sack Pinafore Can't wait too see what Bernadette is doing next.

It seems like Rachel is approaching the Jenna Marbles model of "I'm just gonna do whatever weird-ass craft project strikes my fancy! (alongside my skinny dog)" and I for one am here for it

I love how she embodies both the etherial gracefulness and chaotic gremlinocity of a true fae

“It’s called leg acting. Look it up.” That whole segment made my whole damn day. 😂

Someone somewhere: *throws something away* Rachel: *whips head around, nostrils flared to inhale creative potential, velociraptor shriek of joy*

Fun fact! My grandma's school dresses were made out of flour sacks when she was growing up, because they didn't have the money to buy fabric or pre-made dresses (this wasn't that long ago either...think late 50s/early 60s...the Depression took its time leaving rural areas). This was common enough at the time that flour companies began selling their flour in sacks printed with pretty patterns.

Very cute. And "kinda" historical. My mother remembers her grandmother making her night gowns out of flour sacks. :) It was something great gramma learned during the Depression in the 1920s and 30s. (Mom was born in '47.) I understand that alot of flour companies even started printing their fabric flour sacks with pretty designs so they could be re-used for clothes.

Smeagol: What's "taters", precious? What's "taters", eh? Sam: Po-tay-toes! Boil em, mash em, stick em in a stew. Lovely big golden chips with a nice piece of fried fish.

this reminds me of when someone said marilyn monroe’s clothes were the only thing that made her pretty so she did a photoshoot in a potato sack ✨💅

I watched this with my kids. My six year old said, "she's making a potato dress so she can be a potato for Halloween." "She's not a sewing girl anymore she's a potato." My four year old said, "She looks like Snow White."

Wow! That biscuit tin gave me flashbacks to going to my nans and eating those tasty sugar coated biscuits that would sit in little paper cups. Memories unlocked! 🔓 Thanks Grandma Rachel! 👍

Love the dress! Also, get yourself a huge cutting mat and a rotary cutter. You'll save your wrists to much pain when cutting out patterns and fabric.

I'm from a small town from Germany and we are celebrating every year a festival called Potato-Festival and every year the potato - princess is crowned. This would be the perfect dress for this 😂😂😂🥔👸

Fun fact: during the Great depression they made dresses and other clothing items out of flour sacks. One company noticed this and started producing flour sacks that had different patterns on it so that poor families could make clothes that were nice. 😊❤️ Also very happy to see you sewing again! I love it when you use unusual "fabrics" to make stuff! You have once again made my day! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

I totally keep all the 20lb burlap rice sacks and all of my coffee bean bags! It's wonderful to sew them up into tote bags, very unique! Cheers doll!

13:44 Can confirm from my own experience working at one which closed (store nextdoor was landloard and wanted to expand so terminated our lease and the store was informed 5 weeks before closing), people do in fact buy buttons like it was a turbo man doll. Worst part was manually adding the liquidation sale individually at the register to the some 50 buttons. Don't get me started on the lady who filled up a big stocking bin (like 3-4 carts worth) with the last of our ribbon. Registers can only handle about 100 items at a time, and that lady did like 4 transactions. And then the second-to-last day where someone bought some 25 bolts of fleece.... those were a chaotic 5 weeks.

Me, angsting all day about my dissertation: "I need a distraction." Rachel, posts video: "Behold! Potato sack dress!" Me, finally relaxing with a cup of tea: "Thank you, potato queen."

Rachel: casually works next to a cut piece of sack reading “HO TOES” at 15:22 My juvenile brain: Pleasebethefrontpiecepleasebethefrontpiece

Hey Rachel, this dress looks amazing! But please be careful: I once bought coffee bags with prints made of the same material. The lady back than told me that you are not supposed to wash these, because the print will come of. Please check this before maybe destroying the design. :)

My family has always had the expression "still pretty in a potato sack" I think you fit the bill.😊

Yesssssss! I am here for this! Fun family story: When my grandparents first met, my grandmother was wearing a potato sack dress and smoking a corncob pipe. My grandpa was very intrigued by this outlandish girl who wasn't afraid to speak her mind. It was basically love at first sight.

Rachel: "But we don't want spaghetti straps, we want potato straps" Me: (trying to figure out what those would be called ".........gnocchi straps?" 🤔

"It's called leg acting" had me laughing harder than I ever thought I could. Brilliant. 10/10.

There's some serious "Micarah Tewers making a dress out of chicken feed bags" vibes here, and I love it.

I'm thinking about 500 years from now, when archeologists find this dress and try to figure how it fits into 21st century society. Love it.

"Rachel has potatoes, if you have the coin." Instead of being a Khajit, Rachel is just a hobbit potato farmer

Can't believe how well this turned out. The next time you make something with a liner you don't have to make the liner nearly as full as the final skirt. Just four panels would have been plenty!

Your SEAMLESS Fleetwood Mac reference only reinforces my love for your content.

This made me think of how, during the great depression, girls' dresses were often made at home out of (fabric) flour sacks, and when the flour makers found this out, they started putting pretty patterns on the flour sacks so the girls could have pretty dresses.

I thought Rachel's bobby pin in her hair was a piece of hay and I was so impressed with her commitment to the potato farm girl style. Alas... it was a bobby pin. 😂

I'm feeling the need for an I Love Lucy potato sack dress now. Cute dress.

This dress is fantastic. I love the lettering and vintage vibe. Now that you have a cookie tin for sewing stuff, you have leveled up! ❤

This dress would be really cool to re-use during the fall. Maybe you could make a version with the pumpkin lady head.

I *KNEW* Rachel was going to make a dress out of a potato sack. & completely embrace her inner Hobbit eventually. 🥔🤣

Rachel: *picks up skirts dramatically* LETS GO!! Me: Literally me every day with my huge, dramatic skirts I wear when I’m not at work lmao I love your videos 💜💚💜💚

The Royal dansk cookies were my grandfathers favorite. He died of brain cancer in 2021 and my heart has been broken ever since but seeing you have one reminded me of good times, so thank you. Also I love your channel!

Back in the Great Depression moms were doing this all the time for their girls, the company’s realized what was happening and started putting flower designs on their sacks.

Rachel: "You tell me." My infant son with his opinions: *screeeeaaaam* He loves Rachel.

Lol my grandma use to put her sewing things in one of those cookie things too. I love this , just like the oggie boggie dress super cute. But tbh all your projects always come out fantastic, you’re super talented and I enjoy watching you make them 👏🏼👏🏼

That is so nice!!! I like the idea of a Marilyn Monroe's potato dress !! Because Marilyn was beautiful whatever she would wear; just like you ✨

You know, the designer "Magnolia-Pearl" has been using potatoe sacks in her collections for years, and they sell like 'hot potatoes' 😄😉

When the sack was the exact same size as the pattern piece ...I felt that. So satisfying!!!

First off: this video was fun and I love seeing you so excited for a project. Second: You should try making a lolita (the fashion) dress. Simplicity actually has patterns for them. You'd get to make something poufy and cute, and try a new style.

When you were on your back on the sacks, with your dark hair, you were giving vintage starlet vibes. Just needed a flower tucked behind your ear.

I'm not ashamed to admit that I literally finish my garments and then just go back and open up the seams and add the pockets as like the last or second-to-last step. Ain't nobody got time for things like "thinking ahead".

"I don't know if y'all have caressed any potato sacks as of recently..." The funniest thing I've heard this century

Those travel-case cabinets are soooo cute!!

That looks splendid! The printed panels next to the faded panels works perfectly, looks more gauzy than just solidly printed panels would've.

Depression era flour sacks are really the thing for this kind of project.

I feel like it would work well as a retro scarecrow costume in the autumn.

You know I believe that potatoe sacks used to have decorated material inside of them that lined the burlap. My grandmother often talked about her mother making her clothes from this. It would be cool to see another version of this where you did that! This one turned out brilliant btw! Can't wait to see what you do next.

this gives big kit kittredge american girl movie vibes and i’m here for it ✨💖

"I should be able to get most of it done today, it should be easy" The words that always send out a curse that ensures three weeks later I will still be struggling with the project 😄 You have indeed proved that you can wear a potato sack and look good

I still can't believe the hair is real. You look great. I guess you have finally achieved the "Eve from the mummy" look.

Rachel’s leg acting would fit right in at the Ministry of Silly Walks

I love that in the depression people made clothes out of these sacks so the company’s put pretty patterns on the sacks for people to make nice dresses. And now here you are doing it again that’s so sweet xx

During WWII flour companies would use attractive and colourful fabric for their sacks so that people would have fabric for clothing during rationing. So Rachel isn't far from an actual historical usage for food related sacks :D

I'm astounded at the lack of Potatoes and Molasses! The hair near the beginning was very Over The Garden Wall School Teacher 😊

After WW2, my grandparents raised chickens. The feed came in 50 pound cloth bags, very suitable for clothing. G'ma told G'dad to get 4 matching bags. The feed immediately went into metal barrels and bags went into the wash. She'd cut off enough for a waistband, cut the material to the correct length, sew bags together and then hand gather it onto the waistband. Her daughter was awarded best dressed High School Senior that year. Keep on sewing with unusual materials!

This brought back memories from when I was in elementary and middle school. My mother would make this style of dress for me and my sister. Then one day, someone told me I looked like I was wearing a potato sack. Had I watched this video , I probably would have felt waaaay better about it. This is an amazing use of potato sacks btw. Well done! ❤❤❤

Rachel, Morgan, and Bernadette work together to satisfy all my needs for calming/precise sewing as well as calming/casual/“that’ll do pig” sewing, and everything in between 🥰 I’m so grateful for these wonderful creators!❤️

This turned out so cute! I think this would pair really well with the Over the Garden Wall pumpkin head for Halloween. Or just worn to a farmer's market/fall fair!

When you were showing the final result my 2,5 year old daughter said: Wow, sessin! (Wow princess) lol 😊

This might sound crazy, but… This is my FAVORITE thing you’ve made this far!!!! I LOVE IT!!!! Thank you for just being your Rachel!

I feel like everyone's grandma has that exact cookie tin full of sewing stuff

Sight for sore eyes. I have been staring at my Case Study Homework lost in the sauce but thankfully a Rachel Maksy video is up and now I am found.

She is a pretty, funny and talented lady. First time I watched her but it won’t be the last.

That car to buttons transition was ✨SMOOOOOTH✨

Looks like something Miss Idaho would wear to the costume part of the pageant, or maybe to be queen of the state fair. I love it!

When she said “one step up from a snack, I want to be an appetizer” I immediately thought of “Forget being a snack, I want to be a biologically book”it’s one of my favorite things she’s ever said

I had and loved my Laura Ashley dresses back in the day.

I love it, love it,love it. It puts my recently finished vintage table cloth dress to shame; even with the stain on the arm of the dress because.... well, it was a table cloth.

"You'd look beautiful even in a burlap sack!!" Next thing you know she'll make an outfit outta mud and itll be just as gorgeous!!

All those in favor of a Potato sack dress video, say "Eye"! _"EYE!"_ ... The eyes have it! I LOVED this video, was cool to watch and made me laugh several times. Thanks, Rachel! Your videos rock!

In my country, back in the 40s, they actually use potato/rice sacks to make clothes because of textiles shortages after WWII! It so cool to see Rachel make this. To me, it’s historical but with a twist!

You look so radiant and lovely at the ending breakdown there! This was honestly such a pretty creation, surprisingly so, and it's good to see you happy

Kudos to you for being able to wear a dress that says, “Idaho,” without making jokes about that… not sure I could resist if I was wearing it! 😂

My mother actually made skirts from flour sacks, that were printed cotton produced to provide material for use during the 30s and 40s, vintage pre-planned recycling.

the jumpsuit/romper outfit is giving aunt ethel vibes and I could not be happier, immaculate dancing.

A great recycling project!… a peasant farmer girl Dress…. The print really makes it special… …. Love Frodo!

The immediate excitement and disappointment I felt upon seeing the infamous button holding cookie box was physically felt. You have been elevated to true grandma status, congratulations Rachel🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻😂😂😂

po・ta・to!　sack! I absolutely love this dress! The faded pieces mixed with clearer printed pieces make it look so complex and lovely. This looks like an art piece tbh.

Can’t wait until there is a mini Rachel and you can make matching outfits!! How cute would a smaller mini dress be??

Sewing is a lost art. I have a good friend who is a professional seamstress. I am always amazed by the things she can do. I, on the other hand, cannot sew on a button.

The dress came out great! Another unconventional fabric idea: vintage tea towels. I've collected a few and am planning to make a dress, after seeing some cool ones other people have made!

Fun history fact: during the great depression a lot of rural families made clothes out of flour sacks, and when the flour companies found out they started making their flour sacks out of cute fabric so people could have cute clothes again.

Oh girl…u never cease to amaze me 😊 you really S-MASHED this one ☺️

Your demonstration of the comfy overalls made so unreasonable happy. As someone with anxiety and depression you are on my list of things I am grateful for. Oh ps house sale buttons so much cheaper

Where I’m from its trendy at the moment to wear pants made from old flour bags. They’re really comfy!

There's something about the texture of burlap as clothing that I actually really dig. It kind of makes you look like a painting, I guess because has a similar texture to canvas, especially in the sunlight. And it probably helps that it has that rustic charm to it.

This came out super cute, and I would 100% wear it unironically.

I got beginning of the Disney movie Snow White vibes from the reveal. This was really cool, and it's always great when you can pull from past experience to make something new.