Flour Sacks

Flour sacks were used for all sorts of home sewing projects. My mother told me that when she was young (she was born 1924), her mother gave them away to people who were having a much more difficult time. And most of those flour sacks seemed to wind up in clothing for the children, or sometimes in work shirts for the men. People would swap the bags so they had enough cloth in a pattern for a complete shirt or dress. Apparently, some of the garments were very well made and attractive, while others were just ugly. Since most flour sold then was in cloth flour sacks, it seems that everybody recognized who was dressed in flour sacks and who was not, and some of the children were teased at school. My mother and her brothers were absolutely forbidden to make fun of anybody. Much of their clothing was home made, too, but Grandma was able to purchase new cloth. As I understand it, nobody ever threw a flour sack away!

The flour/feed sacks were used for just about everything. The coarser ones are more likely to be from animal feed than from flour. Flour sacks were usually a finer weave, though probably somewhat coarser than our nice LQS fabric. I had dresses, aprons, pajamas, etc. from feed sacks when I was growing up. I remember going to the feed store with my dad to pick out the prettiest sacks and to make sure he got several alike, so we'd end up with more yardage. I would not hesitate to use them in a quilt, though would use either use only printed sacks or combine them with 30's repros. Both could be combined with white muslin or another solid color. I bought a quilt top at an auction several years ago. Many of the fabrics in it were flour or feed sacks. I hand quilted it; it was a lot of fun to quilt because of the wonderful variety in the fabrics.

Julia in MN

Julia in MN

I'm not sure if anyone out there still sells flour in cloth flour sacks, but about 15 years ago when I traveled from the remote Eskimo village I was living in to another for a school trip, we went to the local village "store" to get a few snacks. I was very surprised to see that their 25 lb bags of flour were in cloth flour sacks. There was no brand on the sacks if I remember correctly, since I did look, because I wanted to know who still sold it that way. Would be really curious to know.

Steven Alaska

It's a fairly coarse woven material that I don't think would feel appropriate in a quilt. So what did they use the material for? Towels, curtains, etc.?

Have any of you made anything cute with flour sacks? I'd like to make something to send back to my s-i-l, who doesn't sew. Each piece is approx. 36"x46".

Denise

My mom made me clothes out of feedsacks -- shorts, skirts. Scraps from the clothing ended up in a quilt. I think my Great-Aunt Margaret also made aprons.

I always thought it was cool that my mom made clothes for me. I had both store-bought and "homemade." Sure can't recall being teased about it, but I wouldn't have paid any attention to somebody who talked like that anyway.

If they're too coarse for a quilt, what about some cushion covers? or placemats? morag

Or even a bathroom floor mat? I keep on thinking about making one of those. . In message , Morag in Scotland writes

I had feedsack dresses when I was a little kid. That was during WWII, so you made clothes out of what was available. Since everyone made clothes from the feedsacks there was no reason for teasing.

Donna in SW Idaho

Up until about 10 years ago Stafford County Flour Mills in Kansas still packed their flour in cloth sacks. The Jersey cow was their logo on the bag. It was called Hudson's Cream flour. When I lived in Montana I used to go into Canada to a grocery store named Overwaitea where I got the best bread flour ever. It was packed in 25lb and 50lb cloth bags. That was almost 20 years ago but I have no idea if any Canadian mills still use cloth bags. Be interesting to find out.....any of our neighbor's to the north out there know? War Eagle Mills, up until just a few years ago, still had their flours in cloth sacks. I used to be able to get WEM flour in Seattle but the store that used to carry it doesn't anymore. I looked on their website and I can't really tell if they still do or if the paper sacks are just printed with the old cloth patterns.

Val

I have recently seen flour in printed cloth sacks at the grocery store here. Also a lot of Mexican flour comes in cloth sacks.

Pati, >> I'm not sure if anyone out there still sells flour in cloth flour sacks, >> but

Howdy!

flour in cloth bags:

This place is selling the fabric bags, in bulk;

We often see food goods sold in fabric sacks at import shops, esp. products hecho en Mexico. The coarse fabrics are good for curtains, hand towels, placemats, as well as for quilts. I backed a sack top w/ muslin, then added batting & back; holds up well.

R/Sandy