Feed Sacks

Feed for livestock used to come in cotton print sacks. They were stitched together at the top in much the same way as large bags of dog food are today. You could pull one end of the thread, and the stitching would rip out to open the bag. When empty, women laundered them to use as cloth. When I was a young child, most of my dresses were made from them. Making larger items required two or more sacks with the same print. Some of the sacks were even designed white with a wide colored border to be used as pillow cases of cafe curtain panels. Many a feed sack ended up in a patchwork quilt.

On top of that, large bags of flour also came in cotton sacks. Flour sacks, however, were white with the brand stamped in black or blue on the front. They could be used also, but they needed to be bleached to remove the printing. Country women often sewed these together to make bed sheets or quilt backings. Mother sometimes dyed them for her quilt backings. Feed sacks were common before the sixties.

Even earlier, sugar came in cloth sacks. I don't remember this, but I've heard stories of children wearing underwear made from these and being made fun of because of it. Ironically, today such sacks would be worth something.

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