Feed sack fabric - who remembers?
 

My DMIL passed several years ago - she lived in the old family homestead - built in the late 1800s. After she passed, we let our son and his wife live in the house. When they decided to move out, we had to do some serious cleaning out of all the old furniture and things. In a cedar chest in the attic, I found several quilt tops - and these wonderful feed sacks... I remember my grandmother talking about how long it would take my grandpa to pick up chicken feed because he would search for the prettiest feed sacks so she could make dresses for my Mom and aunts. These had to have belonged to my husband's grandma Minnie....who passed back in 1976 !! The fabrics and the quilt tops - which I plan to finish - look brand new. I feel like I have been given a most wonderful gift !!! Right now i'm trying to find a Christmas themed wall hanging that would highlight the red and green fabric. Anyway....thought some of you ladies who know about [ATTACH=CONFIG]445155[/ATTACH]feed sacks would appreciate the story.

Such pretty ones! Enjoy them.

Those are very pretty ones. I have a whole box full of feed sacks in my fabric closet. They belonged to my grandmother. I hope to make something out of them…someday. Maybe I should hurry a little... I only have 18 years till I'm 100 and time goes so fast!!

You lucky sewer! I love feed sacks and collect on eBay and vintage shops. Your story is one I've heard so often about choosing for the next dress. Enjoy them. While they can be found they can be pricey. I dream of finding an undiscovered stash of them. My next quilt (forDd) is being made from the feed sacks she has chosen from my collection!

Very pretty feed sacks. Enjoy them and the quilt tops. I have several of the sacks that were given to me by a very special friend who has since passed. I'm going to make some lap quilts with them - hopefully one for me and one for her daughter.

What beautiful patterns....thanks for sharing the story.

You have a wonderful find there that's made even more special by the story behind it.
The quilt on my bed right now is a hexagon pattern (Grandmother's Flower Patch pattern?) from around the 1930s made with what I'm pretty sure is fabric from flour sacks. It's pretty worn out but is our favorite quilt. One of our local grocery stores was selling flour in cloth bags up until about 5 years ago. I wasn't interested in sewing at the time but I was still tempted to buy it just for the fabric. It's been a while since I've seen any more in there though.
The lady that made this quilt must have been a very patient person. The hexes are about 2 inches across and every single one of them are hand stitched with every hex quilted around the insides of their borders too.
I think there's a forum rule somewhere that says you need to show us some of the tops too.:)
Rodney

I lived in a small town a couple of years ago and was part of their volunteer staff at the local museum. One day a couple brought in two large cannisters (like 3 feet tall) of feed/flour sacks. They remained stored for awhile; and one day I volunteered to make a quilt out of several of the same pattern. It hangs in the museum today as an example of the quilts made by our grandmothers during the 30s, 40s, and even into the 50s. I used a pattern called "Haberdashery" that I saw in a magazine.....because I felt it would showcase the fabric pattern. Be warned, if you plan to use feedsacks, cut away the portion that has the holes for the drawstring closures.....they are not always obvious from the print side.

On another note, my great-grandmother's name was Minnie too, and I live in North Texas......maybe we're related!!!

You have a great sense of humor, made me chuckle!!

Yes, my great Aunt Maude told me of the feed sacks she use to quilt with. She is the one that taught me how to quilt when I would stop by to stay at the farm for a few days in Kansas on my way from CA to NYC, You are very lucky that the fabric was stored safe away from the critters. Enjoy!!