I was born in 1946 after my father returned from WWII. As a toddler I recall going to a neighboring farm (with Mother) to pickup cloth flour sacks, which Mother then used to sew sundresses for me. A fun, special memory for me! ❤
When we were cleaning out my great-grand parents home of many years, we discovered in the attic a box full of crazy quilt blocks using muslin from feed bags or sugar bags as a foundation. We also found some squares that had butterflies stitched them with the Domino Sugar labels still visible on the back! All hand sewn by my great, great, great grand mother before the depression. What treasures.
Thank you so very much for posting this. I use to make aprons as a child out of flower and sugar sacks. I gave them as gifts. My great grandmother would make all us kids shorts and shirts, and sundresses and sun suits. I had one of the quilts for many years until it totally fell apart. She and grannie had baby blue feed sacks that appeared to be velour. They made my aunt a very nice skirt and button up vest for a special occasion at school. My cousin made kitchen curtains out of burlap corn sacks. They were adorable. The ones with the borders were used as everyday maternity wear aprons over their regular clothing.
My grandma had a lot of flour sacks , I remember her taking the thread out anyhow she would use her treadle machine to sew the edges for dish cloths....I loved watching her take something else from those bags......now I m hooked!
I’m a Scottish Quilter and about 25 years ago, on a trip to visit good friends in Wisconsin, I was given a tin drum full of feed sack pieces. They had been found in the attic of a farm in the area of Peshtigo/ Marinette .. Some pieces were cut, some were partly pieced. I was thrilled as I’d never heard of printed feed sacks being used this way. On my bed, is the “Clays’s Choice” quilt I made with some of the fabric. It is fresh and bright and I always use it in the Spring. I was excited to see this video and learn more.
This is how my mother's family bought fabric during the Great Depression. They were on WPA relief, and the girls would pick out the sacks according to the clothes they wanted made.
My grandfather had a store and my grandmother got the pick of what she wanted for flour sacks and my grandfather's sister had a working farm and she would buy grain in feed sacks that my grandmother picked out because she had no children and my grandparents had 4. I have a few sacks that I have left as sacks, I have not been able to take scissors to them.
This was so interesting and the patterns and quilts looked wonderful, but it seemed to stop mid way through the talk. Does anyone know where one can see the rest of it. Women’s were so resourceful make do and mend didn’t start with World war 2 and recycling isn’t a new thing either.
