flour sacks with patterns

Using her treadle sewing machine, she fashioned adorable sunsuits for me, maybe even a dress. [2] She called the feed sack garments part of the "cultural heritage of rural America. Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links and Genealogy Gems will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on these links (at no additional cost to you). He was mightily embarrassed by the homemade feedsack shirts he had to wear to school. Their were 6 children two boys and four boys. quilt quilts 1940 bright feedsack cotton dress 1940s google If you would like to know how you can use content on this page, see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use. The men had both been born just before the turn of the century, and the women within the following 20 years. Get Denise Levenicks popular bookHow to Archive Family Keepsakes: Learn How to Preserve Family Photos, Memorabilia and Genealogy Records. [12], "Feed Sack Fashion in Rural America: A Reflection of Culture", "How Depression-Era Women Made Dresses Out of Chicken Feed", "From Feed Sack t eed Sack to Clothes Rack: The Use of Commodity T o Clothes Rack: The Use of Commodity Textile Bags in American Households from 1890 1960", "2. [2][4] Most feed sack production ceased by the early 1960s. We lived in rural north GA, but none-the-less I was teased by my parents friends about my feed-sack dresses. I'd love to have a photo of that! The second Feed sack quit is a nine patch design. [3][5], Fashion historian Kendra Brandes found that "as an element of material culture, the clothing and clothing practices of rural populations reflect the life and times of the era to the same extent as that of the general population. (Click to view.). Mom was born in 1932. Wish I knew who got those quilts? It meant you were poor and low class. I am completing a project on the Goodbody's of Clara, Co. Offaly, Ireland, who had a textiles mill. My Greatgrandma Edna (b 1901) used in for "housecoats " if she was going to be at home all day she would wear one of these in the summer, in the winter she might wear it over her dress.My Grandma Leona (b 1910) used it for every pot holder, apron, basket lining and dishrag she had. ecrater mariasdiscoveries nmi potpourri Washington, D.C. Email powered by MailChimp (Privacy Policy & Terms of Use), International Media Interoperability Framework. ", "I was born in 1942. Many households would cut the ugly, plain bags into chunks and would use them for dish towels. My Aunt even made me Barbie clothes when the Barbie first came out from scraps my Grandmother had saved in her sewing machine, a Singer I still own today and it still works. These plain cotton sacks would be used until 1922, but the impact and usefulness of them would continue long into the future. Below are a few of the patterns that came from the bags: This fun pattern could have been used for all kinds of designs and garments. sacks sack anelder Some sleeveless, some with little puffy fifties sleeves, some with self collars, some with contrasting solid collars. The sides would be stitched together with bottoms and tops hemmed and openings for their arms (which were turned under and stitched, of course). Adrosko, R. J. I do! My mother grew up during the Great Depression. The following photos tell the story about how everyone truly played their part during this era. "[2] As garments wore out, they were often recycled again into quilts, rugs, and cleaning rags. [12], During World War II it was estimated that 3million women and children in the United States were wearing feed sack clothing at any given point in time. America.https://archive.irishnewsarchive.com/Olive/APA/INA.Edu/SharedView.Article.aspx?href=OFINA%2F1955%2F11%2F05&id=Ar00308&sk=C664FA4E. Constitution Avenue, NW I suggested he look up the feed sack history, and now, here am I . It made some wonderful memories for us after the war was over. We had ruffles, ties and puffed sleeves, and of course, these all had to be sprinkled, rolled and then the bushel basket of ironing had to be ironed!! Women even sold off their extra flour or feed sacks to others who wanted them. embroidery machine sea fish patterns tropical designs baby library emblibrary tessa el It's fun that this system reached the other side of the Atlantic. ", "I was born in 1936 and spent my growing up years in/around my parents' feed mill that produced its own brand of feeds for poultry/hogs/beef and dairy. And the Smithsonians National Museum of American History has an online article about a feed sack dress from 1959, because these didnt go out of fashion when the Great Depression ended! She could see a dress and make her own pattern. by Lisa Cooke | Nov 1, 2017 | 01 What's New, Heirloom, History, Memory Lane | 4 comments. What weight sack would be enough for a dress for a petite 5 year old ? View More, Your favorite bread has taken a long journey to arrive at your kitchen table. Symposium conducted at the Third Symposium of the Textile Society of America. She would ask me for my favorite colors/patterns. These dresses have an interesting past behind them, all dating back to when the world was at war and Americans were dedicated to recycling. She would then add different details to each dress. She says: Click to view my Facebook post about my grandmas 1940s house dresses. She used to tell me that her mother had a slip made out of a flour sack. I also have memories of feed sacks. The marketing worked. "[2] Banning notes that 20th-century costume history "has traditionally focused on fashion designers and the styles they created," resulting in a "top-rail bias," defined as history written from the perspective of the upper class. This was to enourage the farmer husband to buy a specific brand. What a response from everyone there and on Facebook! During WWII we had to conserve everything, nothing was wasted. "[11], A study by fashion historian Jennifer Lynn Banning analyzing 37 garments made between 1949 and 1968 by one Louisiana farmwife found that the garments and textiles were similar to those being shown contemporaneously in Good Housekeeping magazine to its middle-class reading audience and "had many of the same fashion features as mass produced garments that could be purchased in department stores nationwide". "Dresses made for my sister and me were sometimes made out of cotton feed bags (I guess my brothers were lucky)." Pretty prints. [8], By the 1930s companies regarded the sacks as a crucial part of marketing product. [12] The garments are held in the collection of the Louisiana State University Textile and Costume Museum. She was born in N. Florida in 1919 and was an accomplished, self-taught seamstress. I just have a few photos. ", "I was born in 1941 & lived on an IL farm. Everywhere you looked there were flour sack dresses. I was born in 1934. For the first four-five years of my life, all my dresses were sewn by my paternal grandmother from feed sacks. But they werent the only clever onessee how savvy flour and feed companies responded to their customers desires for cuter sacking. [2][3][4] By the end of the decade Bemis Brothers in Tennessee, Fulton Bag & Cotton Mills in Georgia, and Percy Kent of Buffalo, New York were producing decorative sacks. Nothing like the good ol days! net wt." Well I wish id nknown about this at that time mind you , as usual they do appear to pinch the waist so even sacks were worn fashionalbly ", "My Mother was born in 1922 on a farm in NC. It won first place and was displayed in a store window in the county seat in SE PA for 3 months. I do have two quilts that was given to me from my daddy's first cousin, those were feed sack quilts and made in the 1930's. [2] The first commercially produced sacks were made in the late 1800s of osnaburg, a coarse white or brown cotton, and were stamped with a logo or label, and burlap. Many of my dresses were made from feed sacks. [2] The bags of the time were hand-sewn at home from rough cloth made of hand-spun yarn, sometimes stamped with the name of the farmer. This afternoon, my grandson and I had an enjoyable family feed sack history lesson as I arranged the squares. embroidery machine sea fish patterns tropical designs baby library emblibrary tessa el Female workers pose with sacks of flour in the grounds of a British mill during WWI. If you require a personal response, please use ourContact page. sacks sack anelder I cherish the memories of Mama's beautiful Quilts and my Feed Sack dresses.By 1950 I guess we had moved up in the world because all that was left of my dresses were in pictures and I could identify squares of feed sack prints from a dress I had cherished and in a couple quilts mama had left when she died. I regret to say neither feed sack quilt is in the books. Until I saw some photos of them as children wearing the feed sacks. Mom would always insist on going to the store with dad when he was to buy cow feed since the cow feed sacks would come in different colors and prints. [2][4] A paragraph in a short story in an 1892 issue of Arthurs Home Magazine said, "So, that is the secret of how baby looked so lovely in her flour sack: just a little care, patience and ingenuity on the mother's part. [2] Farm women recycled the sacks into clothing, and by 1925 the George P. Plant Milling Company of St. Louis[5] produced Gingham Girl flour packaged in dress-quality red-and-white checked yarn-dyed fabric and used the sacks as a selling point. "You should have done some more research on your story.I can recall vividly, some suppliers attached about a half yard to an extra yard of fabric to the feed sack. Flour mills were able to abandon wooden boxes in exchange for the less bulky cotton sacks, thus allowing them to move more product! All available cotton and wool was diverted to the war effort. This 1940 photo of a family shows some of the flour sack clothes up close and in full color. The depression mentality stayed with many of the farmer families that we served in the 1950s. A fascinating article atOldPhotoArchive.comshows some great images of flour and feed sack dresses. Our moms could also make matching panties, to cover our underpants, for when we wanted to twirl on the bars on the play ground.I dont think there were leggings or tights, then. In Reconstructing daily life through historic documents." (She had only one dress.). Long after the last thread is worn to pieces from those old feed sack heirlooms, the memories warms my heart as I think back on those childhood days of ah and wonder.God Bless America! I was told. This Swiss Roll Trifle is the perfect large dessert for a crowd with layers of chocolate pudding, fluffy marshmallowy topping and tons of sliced Swiss rolls! View More, To learn more and receive updates Contact Us, What you need to know about that viral photo on Facebook, Explore Other Existing Stories, Articles, & Recipes. Flour sack clothing was a staple for many from the 1920s-1960s. Three yards of gingham dress goods could cost forty cents. This early 1940s photo on the left shows two women showing off their hand-made dresses while standing next to a shipment of colored and patterned bags. [2], Brandes notes that fashion history has largely been written without including the fashion of rural communities. The quilt top sacks are red, white and blue, small prints. By the 1920s, these sacks had gotten a little cuter, some with gingham checked or striped patterns. The Amazing Story of Kentucky's Horseback Librarians (10 Photos). That was what the pattern took to make the dresses right." Back in the 40s and 50s, my Dad would buy chicken feed in cloth bags that we called feedsacks.. My Mom would have House dresses and dish towels made from them. My grandmother made all of their clothes out of seed sacks. [2] Mary Derrick Chaney, writing in 1997 in the Christian Science Monitor, recalled that the feed sacks were coarser than the flour sacks, but it was difficult to get enough flour sacks in the same pattern to make a dress. If only he had hung on to those embarrassing shirts! So they looked around the houseand even the barnfor extra fabric they could turn into dresses, aprons, or shirts. They were keen innovators and often traveled abroad to get ideas, including to America. My Mom said they did well turning the depression because they raised most of their food. These Bow Tie Pasta Butterflies are cute and fun and don't take many materials! I remember one hank of feedsack that was so garish to our eyes, Mom made it into pj's for Dad, saying once he takes his glasses off, it won't keep him awake. [14], There was an element of shame experienced by those dressed in flour sack clothing, as it was seen as a mark of poverty, so efforts were often made to hide the fact the clothing was made from feed sacks, such as soaking off logos, dying the fabric, or adding trim. She used it anywhere it wouldn't show. She would layer the fabric two to three layers deep and cut the main dresses from the same pattern. [2][4], Several people from rural Virginia spoke about their clothes made from sacks during the depression. We apologize for the interruption. Desperate for fabric for clothing, homemakers crafted clothes out of the cotton sacks. In the 1980s Wallace Homestead Book Company published my two quilt books, "Patchwork Plus!" [2] Mary Derrick Chaney, writing in the Christian Science Monitor, recalled:[10].

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