Flour Sacks Update
 

My friend came over and ended up giving me 20 pieces! I've washed and ruler folded them. Quite a few of them still had the holes where the sack's stitching was. They are authentic. I was thinking of making a Yellow Brick Road. Any other suggestions?

I would want to use them in a vintage or traditional type pattern.

such as? I keep drawing a blank

Oh my gosh!! Those are beautiful!! I'd suggest selling them to me! hehehehe! I love the old feed and flour sacks. If you ever run upon any more that you don't want...... I'll be glad to take them off your hands.

Oh, to answer your question, I am making Dresden Plates out of mine. That seems to be a traditional pattern of that time period.

Are such sacks available now?....where would they be sold? I never knew.

beautiful
how about a dresdon plate quilt

Those fabrics would look nice in a bow tie quilt.

Gorgeous! What a treasure! Love the bow-tie quilt idea. My grandmother loved bow-ties!

How about nine patch,churn dash,spool blocks,grandmothers fan?

wow, lucky you, jealous me. I wish I had those. I'd do a dresdan plate in them. they are so luscious.
have loads of fun with them. Ho big are they?

Do you think they were the very old ones - or the newer, reproduction feed sacks that were made about the late 70's or 80's ????? The colors just look very bright to me compared to some of the old ones in the quilts that I have here.

What a blessing! I don't think I'd have the courage to cut them.

I grew up with feed sacks and do not remember plain colored ones. Especially like the purple one. Do you know what area of the country they came from?

These are for sale at estate auctions sometimes; e-Bay etc. I love them & have some solid color ones.

No I do not think they are reproductions. Several still have the homes where the sacks were sewn together and the fabric seems a little coarse.

I don't know where they came from. My friend said her mother was the quilter and gave them to her to sell on eBay. Lucky me, I stopped her :P. I offered to make her a quilt in exchange for the rest of the fabric, then she said she'd just give them to me since quilting wasn't her thing.

Since you have so many of them and fabric to sew with it would be a concern, I would more than likely do a Turning 20. What you use on the back could be anything. The old flour sack fabric I have seen is rather heavy, so I could be a chore to do a Dresden Plate. What size do they measure? It would seem that there is about a yard of each fabric.

Log Cabin Rail Fence Ohio Star.

In the late 70's and early 80's we had chickens and my husband would bring home the chicken feed in the cloth feed sacks. They would be sewn together and when they were empty I would sit outside and take out the stitching and shake them out vigorously and then wash them. I still have some and the stitching holes are still in them. I assume that the prints were reproductions of the older ones. The fabric on mine are coarse also.

What a treasure - I thought of a Dresden plate first - but a nice ohio star with irish chain would be nice - what a great pile of fabric.

Dresden Plate or snowball blocks. Check Darlene Zimmerman's books for great ideas on 1930s fabrics. You have a wonderful assortment.

They are 36" across and a little over a yard long

Thank you for sharing those as they brought back wonderful memories of my youth. When I was a little girl my Grandfather would let me go to the feed store with him where I got to pick out the sacks of feed he bought and my Mom would make me something to wear out of it. It always made me feel so special. I can't imagine kids of today wearing clothes made from a feed sack. LOL Not my kids or my grandkids anyway.

What a treasure! I would do a Churn Dash, but what ever you do, it will be beautiful!!

I'm seeing a Dresden plate pattern where each of them can have a blade of their own! Like this:

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There you go-------feed sack cloth--------from real feed sacks----------are a very course weave. And the thread holes are the real thing! I'm guessing easily 50+ years old. The designs look like the designs I remember

how about Eleanor Burns' Hole in the Wall? That would allow you to feature each fabric, with a solid sashing to tie them all together.
http://www.quiltingboard.com/main-f1...n-t250649.html

(Great find, by the way!)

I went to the Quilt Expo in Madison, WI in Sept and while there I listened to an appraiser. She said the only true way to determine that a feed sack was a feed sack was to see the holes. Fabric was sold off the bolt as well as just feed sacks according to the appraiser. I asked her how to show that on a quilt since I really didn't want needle holes in my quilt. She suggested we use the part with holes as an outline on our labels or make a small envelope on the quilt back and put some of those pieces with holes inside...I liked this idea best because if you ever had to do a repair you would have little fabric pieces to do so. I find feed sacks at estate sales if I am really lucky. Also, on Ebay and at antique shops. Since I prefer '30's quilts they are what I love to work with.

I also like the idea of using them with a traditional quilt pattern.

Churn Dash
Tumbling Blocks
Bow Ties

I would steer clear of patterns that require light/dark variance (log cabin & split 9 patch) as most of your fabrics fall into the medium range with not a lot in the light or dark.

Same here!! But let's say I DID cut them, what white could be used as the background?

If you do applique, how about an old fashioned butterfly block pattern?

Love the, fabrics.Churn Dash blocks are always nice.

They are beautiful. You are fortunate to have a friend that would give them to you. I am always looking for feed sacks.
As another poster noted, I too had all my summer shorts and tops, grandma made from feed/flour sacks. I was one lucky girl.

Beautiful fabrics. I see churn dash, bow ties and dresdens. have fun with what ever you decide.

I'm thinking Dresden Plate too. Beautiful fabrics.

Check out Darlene Zimmerman's patterns. She is the Queen of Feedsacks. Lots of ideas.

Send them to me???

WOW these prints sure are prettier than when I was growing up.

WOW, they are really beautiful, what a wonderful gift to receive.

Bow tie!! I will send a pic of mine shortly