Feed-sack fashion ruled in hard times

One of our faithful Inter Lake readers sent me a poem the other day titled “Flour Sack Underwear,” along with a note saying “hope this little poem brings back some fond memories.”

The poem is about a young girl’s memories of her mother sewing her clothes and yes, her underwear, from the sacks that once held large amounts of flour.

Many from my parents’ generation can recall how rural women made clothing from livestock feed and flour sacks when times were tough. They also made dish towels, curtains, quilts, aprons and any number of other items with the recycled fabric.

I don’t remember wearing dresses made from the sacks, so I called Mom to find out. Her memory continues to wane, but she still does pretty well with what happened earlier in her life. Yes, she confirmed, I would have worn dresses made from the sacks, but she couldn’t recall making underwear from them. It’s quite possible her own mother had made bloomers for her from the popular sacks, she added.

Mom also remembered making a sailor dress from feed sacks for a home economics “thrift” project during the early 1940s, dyeing some of the fabric for the blue collar.

Over time, manufacturers realized that increasing the value of the bags could improve profits.

“Bags were stamped with stitching lines for reuse as roller towels and with embroidery patterns like the classic ‘Wash on Monday, Iron on Tuesday, Bake on Wednesday’ series,” an article on the Etsy website noted. “Manufacturers hoped ambitious women would convince their husbands to buy additional feed in order to complete the entire set.”

The bags have an interesting history.

Companies began making them in the mid-1850s when sewing-machine improvements enabled the bags to be stitched tightly. It was much easier to ship the bags rather than bulky wooden barrels.

“Getting the fabric to a pristine state was no easy task and there are stories of the wife who didn’t bother to remove the ‘self-rising’ label from the flour sack she used to make her husband’s underwear, or the young girl who tripped and fell, revealing ‘Southern Best’ stamped on her derriere,” according to Etsy.

It typically took three feed sacks to make a dress. “Bragging that you were a two feed-sack girl was the equivalent of mentioning today that you wear a size 2,” the article continued. “Wives and daughters instructed husbands and fathers to buy feed in sacks with particular patterns so they could complete dresses.”

Blogger Linda LaRoque wrote about feed-sack clothing for the Romancing the West website. She pointed out that in the 1920s, when manufacturers began to realize how popular these sacks were to women, it started a competition among companies to have the most desirable patterns and colors. Pattern makers began creating patterns, even evening wear, specifically for feed sacks, LaRoque wrote. The article shows a feed-bag “formal” and matching stole pattern offered by McCall’s.

“Special was the husband and father who selected several sacks of matching material so his girls could have a new dress,” she wrote.

These days vintage feed-sack fabric can be found on eBay or at flea markets. Some companies still make the bags, but only for special orders or souvenirs.

As I perused the various feed-sack fabric available for sale on eBay, I was hit with a sense of deja vu. I know I’ve seen some of those prints before, perhaps in my grandma’s aprons or quilts or Mom’s dresses. It was a wonderful blast from the past.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by email at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.