Feed sack fabric - who remembers?
#51
Yes, I remember my mother making me dresses out of feed sacks. They were good cotton. You could tell if someone had a feed sack dress or pinafore because you would have two different prints. Back then they didn't mix fabrics like they do now. I actually have a little booklet with the cover coming off that has patterns/instructions on how to make things out of flour/feed sacks.
#52
My father had a feed and produce store and I have seen him move several one hundred pound sacks of feed to get one of the farm ladies the pattern of fabric she needed for a dress. Everything I wore for many years was of feed sack fabric and I even had a couple of sacks in my cedar chest and made a dress for my daughter when she was 5 or 6 years old. Just great fabric and many happy memories of playing on those huge racks of feed.
#53
Member
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Cibolo, Texas
Posts: 35
My little Polish grandma used to make little dresses for me from the feed/flour sacks. Then she would take the scraps and use them for quilt squares and made her beautiful quilts for each of us grandkids. I still have her quilt and the material is just a nice as it was when she gave it to me over 50 years ago. Wish I had some of the little dresses yet. As a kid, I cried when I found out that the dresses were made of feed sacks and would not wear them anymore. What a little dummy I was. Mama should have spanked me and put them away in a safe place till I wised up later. Unfortunately, or fortunately, she handed them down to the younger cousins to wear. I'm sure none of them refused to wear them. Thank you, Grandma.
#56
Super Member
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Michigan Thumb
Posts: 1,956
I agree about not cutting into the bags. I finally washed all of mine, about 100, this past summer. I do plan to make a number of small quilts to gift and use current light green as sashing between squares. They are a bit on the coarse side and might be a bit scratchy but the holes give the fabric away. Each bag is 1 yard of fabric, mine are anyway.
#57
I, too, love feed/flour sacks and have a small collection of them. I remember having clothes, table cloths, curtains, dish towels etc. made from them. The ones I have will be made into quilts when I get around to doing it.
#58
Super Member
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Winchester, VA
Posts: 1,552
Aren't they lovely?? I remember my Grandmother gave me all of her old feed sacks back in the mid 60's - before I started to really quilt.......and I made most of my oldest daughter's dresses from those feed sacks.......
#59
I love hearing all these stories about the feed sacks! I grew up away from farming so had no idea about these fabrics! But I have always admired the quilts I see made from them! It is my dream to someday be able to make a quilt from these beautiful fabrics! Now I just need to find them!! I have been lucky enough to find some in scraps that I have received, maybe enough o make a nice table runner. Oh well I just have to keep my eyes open!
#60
Super Member
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Florida
Posts: 1,585
I have worn many a dress made from feed sacks! They were a wonderful treasure-trove. It's too bad that we don't get them anymore! Unfortunately, I think a lot of youngsters today would be horrified if it was suggested that their clothes were made from feed sacks/and we got flour sacks, too!
Jeanette Frantz
Jeanette Frantz
Last edited by Jeanette Frantz; 11-07-2013 at 02:06 PM. Reason: unclear meaning
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