Quiltingboard Forums - Ideas to use old feed sacks

Quiltingboard Forums (https://www.quiltingboard.com/)

- Main (https://www.quiltingboard.com/main-f1/)

- - Ideas to use old feed sacks (https://www.quiltingboard.com/main-f1/ideas-use-old-feed-sacks-t184577.html)

Ideas to use old feed sacks

We are sorting and cleaning out my Mom's house. I brought home a box of about 15 to 20 feed sacks. One is a blue print and the rest are the basic tan. Some of them are pretty course and have rows of red and blue thread. Some have been undone and hemmed to use as towels but the rest are still sewed together as sacks. Some of them have the words very faintly but a couple are still very dark. I know they are old and need to figure out what to do with them. Should they be used in something or do I pick out the best one and have it framed? Do I take the best one and use that as the middle and make a quilt around it using reproduction fabrics? I'm open to suggestions.

I might line the one with the darkest writing with flannel and make it so a little shows at the top. The I would store some of my stash in it... I have country decor in my house. That way I would have a decoration and storage all in one.

Hmm. I know that years ago people did use sacks in quilting. However, I believe the most common ones that were used were flour sacks. My grandmother told me stories about her mother making clothes from sacks.

I'm not sure what you could use the corser ones for. A wall hanging might be an option for using the sacks if you use reproduction fabrics and possibly consider framing it. Just my two cents.

I had dresses made from those sacks. I remember going with Dad and choosing the prints I liked.

I was able to get chicken feed sacks at auctions in Delaware and made quilts from them. The feel of them in the quilt was really soft and awesome. I washed them thorougly first as they had been stored in a barn.

Sew the beige ones together and back a quilt..make the quilt in a '30's style using the colorful feed sacks. That is what I would do!

My first suggestion is to soak them overnight in hot water and some BIZ, then wash without detergent in the washing machine (there's plenty of cleaning agents remaining in the wet sacks) I have found a good Biz soak of old linens removes accumulated dust and debris and softens the harshness out of the fabrics. And no matter how clean Mom's house was these old fabrics have dust and debris.
1. Maybe your Mom was saving the light colored ones for dish towels. You could do some embroidery work on a few and keep them for yourself.
2. Stitch blue work designs (matching the the blue in the colored sack) on some of the plain ones. Use the blue to surround the blocks either with sashing or alternate blue fabric block and stitched block, then use other plain pieces for the backing.
3. Find some old feed sack fabric to complement what you have to make the quilt larger or use the blocks made from blue and plain sacks as a central focus and use add new 30's fabrics for blocks around the center. This keeps your special fabric the focus of your quilt.

Cleaning out a parent's home is a daunting task. Trying to decide what to keep, what to give away or just get rid of is such an emotional experience. Been there, done that.