Depression Era feed/ flour sack dresses

Depression Era flour sack Dresses




The first mass-produced flour sacks were made of rough fabric that rural families repurposed as rags and towels. But once the bags became available in tighter weaves, frugal homemakers altered them into everything from underwear to curtains, and even dresses. As the flour sacks also held commodities such as sugar and animal feed, these homespun outfits became known as feedsack dresses.

For many families, disposable income was scarce, and the durable fabric from food sacks offered a rare opportunity for new clothing. To hide any sign of poverty, home sewers soaked off labels, dyed the fabric, and added embellishments. Eventually, distributors noticed the second life their bags were getting and saw an opportunity to make their products stand out. By 1925, Gingham Girl Flour offered bags in a variety of colors with labels that were easy to wash off, and the Textile Bag Manufacturers Association published a how-to book on sewing dresses from flour sacks. As even more households made use of feedsack dresses during the extra-frugal years of the Great Depression, other brands followed suit. One flour sack manufacturer even started offering “Tint-Sax” in a variety of pastel colors. Floral flour sacks were all the rage.Demand for inexpensive textiles remained high throughout World War II, and wartime rations put strict limitations on ready-made women’s clothing. Because cotton was restricted to military and industrial use, cloth from flour bags was among the only material available for homemade clothes. Suddenly, sewing with sacks became a mainstream, patriotic act, and women would buy, sell, and swap bags with neighbors. Department stores such as Macy’s even began stocking fashions made from sacks. In the 1950s, bags came in even more fabrics and styles, including denim and Disney prints, and trade groups held sewing contests to keep up interest — one second-place dress from 1959 is even part of the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History collection. By the 1960s, however, interest in feedsack dresses started to wane, and manufacturers increasingly packed flour and sugar in paper bags instead.

I think hilliary wears a version of that.

There's always someone industrious enough to know how to cash in on a trend or necessity.

With the earlier ones I can see them being made into curtains and clothing but underwear? That sounds kinda ouchy!

Calypso Jones wrote:I think hilliary wears a version of that.

Hillary was never much of a " trendsetter"

When I was a child, I wore many feed sack dresses made by my mother and grandmother. Both were excellent seamstresses and my clothes were beautiful.

Red Lily wrote:There's always someone industrious enough to know how to cash in on a trend or necessity.

With the earlier ones I can see them being made into curtains and clothing but underwear?  That sounds kinda ouchy!

You'll need a lot of Woolite to soften these things up

Jen wrote:When I was a child, I wore many feed sack dresses made by my mother and grandmother.  Both were excellent seamstresses and my clothes were beautiful.

It was a necessity back when money was tight and we didn't have the hang ups of being cooler than the next door neighbor . I'm wondering if we can survive that way if those times come back .

Daily Bread wrote:

Red Lily wrote:There's always someone industrious enough to know how to cash in on a trend or necessity.

With the earlier ones I can see them being made into curtains and clothing but underwear?  That sounds kinda ouchy!

You'll need a lot of Woolite to soften these things up

Our ancestors were tough.

Daily Bread wrote:

Red Lily wrote:There's always someone industrious enough to know how to cash in on a trend or necessity.

With the earlier ones I can see them being made into curtains and clothing but underwear?  That sounds kinda ouchy!

You'll need a lot of Woolite to soften these things up

Reminds me of the pair of shorts one sister crocheted for another sister for Christmas! LOL

I'm kinda grateful that I've never even seen, let alone had to wear, anything pictured in this thread lol.