A cherished older friend of mine was generous enough to pass along to me all her feedsack fabric stash when she decided it was time to downsize. For those of you who are not familiar with feedsack fabrics, they have a fascinating history in the 1930-1950s primarily when feed companies began to use patterned fabrics to hold the feed they sold to farmers. Many people in rural areas alive during that time had garments fashioned from the sacks whose seams were picked apart carefully, then washed and dried before cutting them into pieces for shirts, dresses and skirts, curtains, dish towels…you name it.
During the Great Depression, the sacks were an invaluable source of fabric and during WWII when so much manufacturing was redirected toward war efforts, feedsacks were a welcome substitute for dressmaking fabric. Farmers were directed, when going to buy feed, to get three sacks of one fabric for a dress or two sacks for a man’s shirt or such. I could go on for eons, but the history of these fabrics is fascinating.
Here is a photo of a Dresden plate quilt our volunteer group made with feedsack fabrics. I just adore these cheerful designs, and Dresden plate is one of my favorite classic pattern blocks.
If you’d like to learn more about feedsack fabrics, here is the Wiki link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feed_sack_dress
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