Beginning in the mid-1850s, a plethora of cotton made bags cheap to produce and improvements in sewing machine design enabled bags to be stitched tightly shut. Barrels fell by the wayside as goods were shipped in bags, including flour, sugar, seed, animal feed, fertilizer, hams and sausages, and even ballots.
At a time when many rural families had limited resources, these bags were considered nearly as valuable as the items they contained. … Thrifty women used the whitened textiles to stitch clothing, curtains, sheets, and towels….
Over time, manufacturers realized increasing the value of the bags could improve profits and started including instructions for removing labels right on the bags. 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. Manufacturers hoped ambitious women would convince their husbands to buy additional feed in order to complete the entire set.
In the mid-1920s, mills started producing sacks in printed fabrics. More than 40 mills made fabric for bags in thousands of different patterns. Instead of printing directly on the sack, factories affixed their logos to easily removable paper labels. A typical women’s dress took three feed sacks; bragging that you were a two-feed sack girl was the equivalent of mentioning today that you wear size 2.
Above: “Left: Two women in feed sack dresses, National Geographic, 1947. Right: Instructions from a chicken feed sack.”
Read the rest of this fascinating writeup here: Feed Sacks: A Sustainable Fabric History :: Etsy Blog
I think this is so cool!
