Fabulous Feedsack Fabric

Hi guys! I found a fabulous stash of vintage feedsacks at an estate sale a couple weeks ago. These are the printed midcentury feedsacks. A savy mid century salesman noted that housewives were reusing feedsack cloth to make utilitarian pieces of clothing and housegoods like quilt backs and underwear. He brilliantly deduced that if his company printed patterned fabric on their feedsacks that farm wives would tell their husbands to buy that brand (which they did!) Shortly other feed sellers followed suit. Soon there were also flour sacks and sugar sacks in these cheery prints.These were especially popular in the Depression years as money was tight. These feedsacks supplied about a square yard of cheerful fabric. The small yardage was used for a lot of children's clothes and smaller projects such as aprons and quilt pieces. I have seen feedsack children's clothes, curtains, feedsack table toppers, pillow shams, and feedsack trimmed dishtowels and pillowcases. I have an amazing feedsack quilt in my antiques booth that I am planning to list online shortly. It was made from large matching feedsacks in the same pattern but different colorways. If you bought a couple matching bags, you had enough for larger projects like women's dresses.
This lady was a quilter and had a large stash of feedacks. I almost hyperventilated! These are all opened full sacks except the ones from the red and white polka dot piece on down are smaller flour sacks.The blue one on top with rosebuds may be staying with me!
I have seen and sold a lot of feedsacks..I always look for them, but I am amazed at how many patterns crop up that I have never seen before! (The green one on the bottom may be staying with me too.)
These are a few favorites from the first dozen I took pictures of to list. Some of the bags have small spots and I will be selling those as is. Some have larger spots that I am going to try to soak out before I list them. This one is bright orange.
Mid green with purple pansies..or violets..
Cute aqua daisies..
A wild green and orange and tan floral..
A cute geometric floral in aqua and yellow and white. I think I have an apron in my booth in this same pattern in apple green!
This one is very intriguing..I have never seen one like this. I love the silhouetted black ferns and the red florals..sweet william?
This is a striking Deco pattern..I think these may be azaleas. These are going on EBay first with a starting price of what I usually ask for them on Etsy. Some patterns go a lot higher than I would think to price them and even though I love them, I really don't know a good pattern from a common one..I just know what I like! If they don't get a bid at my start price they will be heading to Etsy next. My Ebay ID is dakotakid59 (actually that is my husband but I list under his ID too) if you want to follow them. I probably won't get them on til Monday. Hope your week sends unexpected treasures your way too! Until next time! Julia

Fabulous Feedsack

I loooove vintage feedsack fabric. Feedsack fabric was a "child" of the depression and WW2 eras. An astute feed salesman saw that women were reusing feedsacks as fabric for household items and got the brilliant idea of packaging his feed in brightly printed cotton bags. Sales on his brand of feed shot thru the roof and soon other feed companies followed suit. The feed sacks were slightly over a yard of fabric and were often used for children's clothing. If you got a couple matching bags, your project could be larger. I have seen feedsack children's and women's vintage clothing. I have seen it in towels and often used in quilts. It is just so darn cheery! The prints vary from florals to geometric, plaids, solids and novelty prints..some of which are quite coveted!

The fabric has a telltale weave and sometimes you can even see the holes where the thread was removed and the bag opened along the selvedges and top or bottom. Usually I find remnants or opened bags but this summer I hit the bounty. I was late to an estate sale and figured most of the goodies were long gone but went thru the house anyways. In one bedroon was the most gawdawful trunk upolstered in what appeared to be pink shag bathmat! Inside it was stuffed with fabric and I started digging. The first feedsack I saw I almost squealed! I filled a whole large paper bag. There were no prices so I asked the man in charge how much and I believe it was a couple dollars. There were full sacks and pieces parts. Most of these pictured are long sold but I had to do a glamour shot of them to remember them by!

Pinks and blues..

I really liked the one with the red hibiscus flowers..

Here's one with some of my paper peonies.. found a few more this weekend but they have some spots so they are washed and getting the sunshine treatment on the grassy hill behind my house. Hopefully the spots will come out. I soak old linens overnight and spin them out in the morning. lay them out on the dew damp grass and let them dry in the sun. The combination of the dew steaming up through the cloth, the chloraphyll in the grass and the sunshine can take out most stains (not paint, rust or ink) and is easy on the fabric! It is especially good for things that have yellowed in storage. Sometimes it takes a couple treaments, but it is amazing how white they can get!

Last shot..not fabric but I had to share a butterfly I "caught" on my flowers today..a swallowtail I believe..so amazing! They are quick little buggers! Hoping you have an amazing day! Til next time! Julia