(She had only one dress.). If you require a personal response, please use ourContact page. It's fun that this system reached the other side of the Atlantic. And as late as 1955 or so we were selling feed in bags that had bright colors and flower patterns that were made into pillow cases, some unused bags that I still possess.Most were made by the Bemis Bag Company, but other big bag makers such as Fulton and Chase made theirs as well.The other heavy duty seamless bags for grain and ground feeds were reused many times, and often had patches over patches by the frugal families of that period. I am 69 years old.I remember my dresses and my brothers shirts were made out of colorful flour sacks.My mother saved either our clothes or some of the flour sack material.She had me a quilt made out of them.I love my quilt.Im reminded of the beautiful memories of my child hood every time I look at it. She still used it though. [3] By 1936 the Staley Milling Company of Kansas City, Missouri was marketing "Tint-sax" in pastel shades. My Grandmother was a beautiful seamstress her quilts were made out of the scraps from the dresses so they sometimes did not follow a pattern. She spoke of her mother, an excellent seamstress, sewing pants for toddlers in the neighborhood, with the "Pillsbury's Best " emblem centered on the seat! She would ask me for my favorite colors/patterns. This dress was crafted in the 1950s as part of a bag sewing contest in Kansas. Note: Comment submission is temporarily unavailable while we make improvements to the site. I do! I vividly remember embroidering tea towels as a child made from flour sacks and the many quilts made using the pretty flour sacks and the added material that used to be on the end of the flour sacks. Newspapers and publishers also began printing patterns and ideas for getting the most out of the small yardage of a flour or feed sack. [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. We lived in rural north GA, but nonetheless I was teased by my parents friends about my feed-sack dresses. My Dad would holler from the garage door, "going into town to buy feed", and we all three , Mom, my brother and me, would scurry out and hop in and away we went. Feed sack dresses, flour sack dresses, or feedsack dresses were a common article of clothing in rural US and Canadian communities from the late 19th century through the mid 20th century. Visit the IIIF page to learn more. Other mills caught on to the tactic and then started developing their own fashionable packaging. It didnt take long for manufacturers of flour and feed to start printing their sacks with colors and patterns that women would want to buy. His family were African-American farmers with no money to spare. We apologize for the interruption. by Lisa Cooke | Nov 1, 2017 | 01 What's New, Heirloom, History, Memory Lane | 4 comments. [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. They weren't thought of as precious at all, so no one ever thought to keep them!". One of the most interesting innovations came when women began using cotton flour sacks to make dresses and shirts for their children. Some sleeveless, some with little puffy fifties sleeves, some with self collars some with contrasting solid collars. But, my greatest memory was of my friends who were identical twins. Fast forward a few years to the 1940s, and the United States was engaged in World War II. "Mama always sewed on a Singer treadle sewing machine and made our dresses from flour sacks. [2] Families sometimes saved sacks and traded with neighbors to get sufficient sacks in a particular print. The second Feed sack quit is a nine patch design. This trend quickly caught on and once the flour companies got word of this, they chipped in by beginning to print patterns on their bags -- and even adding color! ", "I was born in 1941 & lived on an IL farm. Some put patterns for dolls or stuffed animals on the bags. Thank you so much for sharing your memories here in this forum. ", "I LOVE that dress! After the war, women continued to make these dresses, encouraged even further by national sewing contests. Some of my older cousins even have their photos taken wearing the feed sacks. Specifically, Asa was assigning his patent to the George P. Plant Milling Co. in St. Louis for their new line of Gingham flour. 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. Judy, Thanks for stopping by our place today and sharing your story , COPYRIGHT LISA LOUISE COOKES GENEALOGY GEMS -, Feedsack Secrets: Fashion from Hard Times, Vintage Feed Sacks: Fabrics from the Farm, Fancy to Frugal: Authentic Quilt Patterns from the 30s, How to Archive Family Keepsakes: Learn How to Preserve Family Photos, Memorabilia and Genealogy Records, http://www.goodminds.com/flour-sack-flora-out-print. In Reconstructing daily life through historic documents." I do have the ribbon I won. My grandmas house dresses werent made from flour sacks, but theyre from the same era. On April 28, 1922, The Washington Post announced, Farewell to the Old Flour Sack. Millers thought replacing the cotton sacks with paper cartons would be more convenient, both for distribution handling and storage for the average housewife. This sparked families to get incredibly creative with how they handled meals, clothing, and rationed water and utilities. They might have been embarrassed but nobody was kinder or sweeter than these two girls.". Looks like that book is unavailable, but I would guess a copy might be available on ebay. [2][4], Several people from rural Virginia spoke about their clothes made from sacks during the depression. T. Bales.. I was blessed to have a Father that worked all of his life for the Flour Mills of America in Kansas City, MO, Valier &Spies Co in St. Louis which was later purchased by Pillsbury Company and later by Archer Daniels Co. But, According to Feed Sack Secrets: Fashion from Hard Times, In just a few short years, however, both the city and rural housewife would see the old flour sack in a new light. Flour sack dresses were all the rage up until around the 1960s. ", "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. [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], During World War II, as textile shortages limited production of both commercially made garments and the retail yardage to make garments at home, feed sacks were still available. For the first four-five years of my life, all my dresses were sewn by my paternal gradnmother from feedsacks. Both are out of print today. 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!! (1992). With all this extra fabric laying around the house and the barns people were starting to get creative with uses. The Amazing Story of Kentucky's Horseback Librarians (10 Photos). The depression mentality stayed with many of the farmer families that we served in the 1950s. I was told. Using her treadle sewing machine, she fashioned adorable sunsuits for me, maybe even a dress. My Aunt Dorothy made all us girls dresses from colorful printed feedsacks, and we were very lucky to have them! In what weights did flour sacks come? They became an iconic part of rural life from the 1920s through the Great Depression, World War II, and post-World War II years. Many of my dresses were made from feed sacks. Oh, do I remember the dresses made from the seed sacks! This afternoon, my grandson and I had an enjoyable family feed sack history lesson as I arranged the squares. It won first place and was displayed in a store window in the county seat in SE PA for 3 months. I was born in 1951. I am sewing a feed sack quilt right now, but using fabric squares from Etsy instead of the old feed sack fabric my grandmother used. I just have a few photos. 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! [2][4] Recycling of them was encouraged by the US government. This trend continued through the WWII era as people aimed to extend their money and materials as long as possible. 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. This 1940 photo of a family shows some of the flour sack clothes up close and in full color. I cant find any today that comes close to the quality of those. "I was born in 1940, the oldest of seven children (five of whom were girls). Flour mills were able to abandon wooden boxes in exchange for the less bulky cotton sacks, thus allowing them to move more product! For the first four-five years of my life, all my dresses were sewn by my paternal grandmother from feed sacks. I'd love to have a photo of that! She could see a dress and make her own pattern. The men had both been born just before the turn of the century, and the women within the following 20 years. The marketing worked. View More, This simple craft is so perfect for school or on weekends! I actually made hair bows, pants and dresses from the sacks." (Click to view.). [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. [4], According to Margaret Powell, speaking at the Textile Society of America's 2012 symposium:[4]. My Mom said they did well turning the depression because they raised most of their food. If you would like to know how you can use content on this page, see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use. Symposium conducted at the Third Symposium of the Textile Society of America. 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. Check out these books: Take better care of your own family heirloom pieces, whether they are photos, vintage fabrics, documents or other objects. Feed and flour sack dresses again became popular. By the 1920s, these sacks had gotten a little cuter, some with gingham checked or striped patterns. That was what the pattern took to make the dresses right." 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! [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. I think a lot of people have fondor at least vividmemories of old dresses like these. I posted a photo of my grandmas old house dresses from the 1930s and 1940s on Instagram. Ill be 80 on Friday. 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. She used it anywhere it wouldn't show. [10] A 100-pound (45kg) bag of chicken feed provided a 36in 44in (910mm 1,120mm) piece of fabric, slightly more than a square yard. I do not have a picture because I wore it so much I wore it out. [8], By the 1930s companies regarded the sacks as a crucial part of marketing product. Female workers pose with sacks of flour in the grounds of a British mill during WWI. 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. Today, we remember the style of these iconic dresses and the historical legacy that they leave! In comparison, three yards of dress quality gingham used in Gingham Girl Flour sacks from the George P. Plant Milling Company could be salvaged after the use of two or three one hundred pound bags of flour. He also worked for Pillsbury in Alton, IL. I also have memories of feed sacks. Wish I knew who got those quilts? Nothing like the good ol days! [2][4], During World War I, US and Canadian flour in sacks was sent to the neutral Netherlands for distribution in Europe. Theres a cute childrens book about these dresses. She would then add different details to each dress. These were only skirmishes, however. If you have a question relating to the museum's collections, please first check our Collections FAQ. [2], By the middle of the 19th century in the US and Canada, the invention of the sewing machine and advances in technology for spinning and weaving changed the economies of shipping commodities such as animal feeds, seeds, sugar and flour; it became more cost-effective to package and ship in sacks rather than in barrels, which was what had been previously used. If only he had hung on to those embarrassing shirts! Mr. Bales, Roscoe, Missouri, filed a patent in October 1924 for cotton sacks to have interesting patterns and to be of a decent size, so they could be used for clothing. "Dresses made for my sister and me were sometimes made out of cotton feed bags (I guess my brothers were lucky)." Around 1985 I found a printed fabric resembling a feedsack and made my son a shirt which was a big in our high school and other young men wanted one like it. You might have seen a viral image with a man sitting smiling with a heap of beautifully printed flour sacks claiming that the sacks were used to create clothing for kiddos in times of need and wondered if it was true The simple answer is yes! "Feed sacks in Georgia: Their manufacture, marketing, and consumer use". The quilt top sacks are red, white and blue, small prints. and "The Pieceable Kingdom! I can remember when as a young adult "perma-press " clothing came into being, and I thought it was a gift from Heaven - NO MORE IRONING!!". [2], The use of the sacks in garments meant brand decisions were often being made by women rather than men. Between 12th and 14th Streets They were made at home, usually by women, using the cotton sacks in which flour, sugar, animal feed, seeds, and other commodities were packaged, shipped, and sold. They werent thought of as precious at all, so no one ever thought to keep them!. Their were 6 children two boys and four boys. The following photos tell the story about how everyone truly played their part during this era. 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. Mom was born in 1932. [2][3] A barrel held 196 pounds (89kg) of flour, and the first commercial feed sacks were sized to hold fractions of that amount. Rhoades, R. (1997). Executives of Plant Milling saw this as a prime marketing opportunity, thinking people will see the Gingham pattern and will instantly know it is from their company. [5] In October of 1924 Asa T. Bales, a millworker from Missouri, filed a patent for "a sack, the cloth of which is adapted to be used for dress goods after the product has been removed or consumed. We may update this record based on further research and review. This Time LIFE photo shows a warehouse worker packing up some of the patterned bags for delivery. They were keen innovators and often traveled abroad to get ideas, including to America. I regret to say neither feed sack quilt is in the books. The line split off into different brands including Gingham Girl, Mother Gingham, Baby Gingham and Gingham Queen. There is a record from one of their A.G.M.s that they introduced this system of putting the labels on the bands of the bags and sacks so that the fabric could be used by women, they said it "proved exceedingly popular". I am completing a project on the Goodbody's of Clara, Co. Offaly, Ireland, who had a textiles mill. Many of them were quite beautiful! But they werent the only clever onessee how savvy flour and feed companies responded to their customers desires for cuter sacking. 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. My grandmother always went to the feed store to match patterns on the sack She would layer the fabric two to three layers deep and cut the main dresses from the same pattern. The potholders she made were several layers of this fabric which she would then knit a cover for. I believe they held almost 100 pounds of seeds. But, lets take a quick look at the history behind those flowery flour sacks! [2][4][7], During World War II, dressmaking-quality fabrics became in short supply as textile manufacturers produced for war efforts, and cotton yard goods were rationed. The Amazing History of Flour Sack Dresses (10 Photos). Washington, D.C. Email powered by MailChimp (Privacy Policy & Terms of Use), International Media Interoperability Framework. ", "I was born in 1935 and well remember the adorable dresses Mom made for me and shirts and pants she made for my older Brother. A woman named Denise posted a neat memory at the end of the Smithsonian article. It was important to match the feed sack with the last one so you would have enough material for the dress.The same was true for fertlizer bags in the late 40's and 50's. She was born in N. Florida in 1919 and was an accomplished, self-taught seamstress. 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. [5], Several educational institutions taught classes in how to use feed sacks, including The Household Science Institute, which produced a monthly newsletter called Out of the Bag and a series of booklets called Sewing with Cotton Bags, which gave instructions on how to use feed sacks. 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! As a lining for the dresses she made or pieces in her quilts. [2] However, it is the activities of these farm wives, clothing their families in feed sacks, that offer a view of life that was unique to rural communities during this time period. "When I was small, my mother made dresses for me out of these sacks.. Desperate for fabric for clothing, homemakers crafted clothes out of the cotton sacks. I personally do not recall the dresses being made from the sacks, rather the material that was attached, we lived in a remote and i do mean remote area of west Tennessee. This page was last edited on 25 December 2020, at 06:21. Americans who were not on the frontlines made sacrifices so the soldiers could have provisions. In the rural South, mothers and daughters drew the battle lines not between name brands, but between "homemade" and "ready made." This ad from 1948 shows how the trend evolved. From pastels to novelty prints, the competing mills would play the game of who can develop the most attractive pattern?. I suggested he look up the feed sack history, and now, here am I . ", "I lived with my maternal grandmother, paternal grandparents and for a while with my great-grandparents. Related industries developed, such as the printing of booklets with instructions on how to create garments and other household items from the sacks and specifying how many sacks of a certain size were needed for a particular item and patterns specifically designed to utilize feed sacks. she would layer the faabric two to three layers deep and cut the main dresses fromt he same pattern. This book will help you sort, identify, and preserve your own treasured family artifacts and memorabilia. Given how widespread this became, national publications began to print instructions for how to produce different items. We lived in rural north GA, but none-the-less I was teased by my parents friends about my feed-sack dresses. [3][4] By the late 1930s most companies were using water-soluble ink or paper labels which could be soaked off. I was born in our farmhouse in 1940. He was mightily embarrassed by the homemade feedsack shirts he had to wear to school. Pretty prints. In the 1980s Wallace Homestead Book Company published my two quilt books, "Patchwork Plus!" According to the Smithsonian, "With feed sacks and flour bags, farmwomen took thriftiness to new heights of creativity, transforming the humble bags into dresses, underwear, towels, curtains, quilts, and other household necessities. There were even sewing competitions where women would go head-to-head and show off their sewing skills. The photo on the right shows the instructions that were printed on many of the bags, many of which came with ink that could be dulled or washed out completely. My grandmother made all of their clothes out of seed sacks. She says: Click to view my Facebook post about my grandmas 1940s house dresses. The motto of the Depression Era was "making do" while making sure nothing was wasted and everything was re-used or recycled. [2] One feed store owner complained about purchase decisions moving from the farmer to the farmwife, saying "Years ago they used to ask for all sorts of feeds, special brands now they come over and ask me if I have an egg mash in a flowered percale. The first use of fabric sacks can be traced to the early 19th century, when small farmers strapped a sack to the back of a horse to take their grain for milling. "[4], Sacks were eventually produced in sizes of 49,24,12,6,2lb (22.2,10.9,5.4,2.7,0.9kg), and during World War II sizes were standardized to 100,50,25,10,2lb (45,23,11,5,1kg) to aid the war effort by eliminating waste and making it easier for millers and housewives to estimate required material. There are two different patterns in green prints.. It is amazing the different uses the women had for the sackcloth. Three yards of gingham dress goods could cost forty cents. "[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". [7], After World War II, as many manufacturers switched to cheaper paper package, the National Cotton Council and the Textile Bag Manufacturers Association worked with patternmakers McCalls and Simplicity to promote demand for feed sacks. These dresses were worn by women young and old. I thought material was attached to a flour sack to be used as a kitchen towel? According to that article, World War II caused a cotton fabric shortage. I was also born in 1951 and remember several of my favorite dresses were made by my paternal grandmother from feed sacks. Changes were coming, thanks to a young man named Asa. [2] Mary Derrick Chaney, writing in the Christian Science Monitor, recalled:[10]. These dresses have an interesting past behind them, all dating back to when the world was at war and Americans were dedicated to recycling. Mama had 17 quilts when she passed in 1962. I still have the quilts.. My quilt interest developed into writing magazine articles and two books with original patterns. This fabric is still available, I see it when I go to my local mexican market. Constitution Avenue, NW Women even sold off their extra flour or feed sacks to others who wanted them. we sold feeds in many different colorful patterns that showed up again as dresses, curtains, etc. "My mother made shirts out of feed sacks, which a lot of cow feed, came in. The Early History of Decorative Feedsacks", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Feed_sack_dress&oldid=996218662, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0. "[7], At the industry's peak, 1,300,000,000 yards (1,200,000km) of cotton fabric were used in commodity bags, in 1946 accounting for 8.0% of the cotton goods production and 4.5% of total cotton consumption in the US. View More, Your favorite bread has taken a long journey to arrive at your kitchen table. My grandmother would often go with my grandfather and she chose the feed! Mama made a lot of pretty things for us girls out of flour sacks. In the 1800s, flour, and other bulk products began to be distributed in cotton sacks. I wrote a story about the feedbag dress and it has been published three times in the following places: "Out of the Cradle" Magazine, Fall, 1996; "Fellowship Link" Magazine, Fall, 2002; and "Echoing Memories", Faithful Life Publishers, 2014, page 81, ISBN 978-1-63073-034-5. During the tough economic times of the Great Depression, housewives needed new ways to produce what their families needed, including clothing. I have worn feed sack shirt as my brothers (5) and (5) sisters had skirts and dresses made from feed sacks then it was the normal thing to do.