I was given some old quilt tops, blocks, and quilters magazines by an elderly lady, last year. I discovered that in the bottom of the box were some old feedsacks. I was delighted to get them! Just to see them was a treat! They were a product of the 1800's and early 1900's. Women used them, after their product contents--like flour, chicken feed, and sugar---were gone, to make all kinds of things for home, even undies! I had heard about feedsacks for years, seen quilts made from feedsack fabrics, but never owned one of these treasures! One, I was given, was a sugar sack, one a flour sack and a couple of others were no longer distinguishable, probably because recipes used to circulate among the ladies for removal of the advertising on the fabric. (So prairie pantaloons, or other homemade items made from them would not have writing on them!) This happened until Richard Peek of the Percy Kent Bag Company made a trip to New York to see designers. He wanted to add prints to the fabrics so customers would want them MORE! Feed sacks were a coveted new item , especially in the 1930's. The craze finally subsided in the 1950's when printed calicos became more readily available in yardage shops and there was less of a tendency to be frugal. 
How are you frugal today?
2 comments:
It was fun seeing those old sacks. My mom talked about them and using them. Recycling is as old as civilization I suppose. I reuse anything I can find a use for.
Marlene, I'm with you! I save everything too, although not a hoarder but anything that may have a crafty use later. It makes for a nice little "mercantile" right in my studio!
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