What were flour sacks used for?

A flour sack, feed sack, or flour bag is a cloth sack, usually made of cheap cotton, used to store flour or animal feed. Flour sacks are often printed with simple designs and trademarks to indicate the millers and companies making or selling the flour.

When were flour sacks used?

Flour sack clothing was a staple for many from the 1920s-1960s. But, let's take a quick look at the history behind those flowery flour sacks! Let's go back to a time when everything was all about scrimping and saving on behalf of the war effort. These dresses were worn by women young and old.

When did they stop using cloth flour sacks?

Sadly, packaging changed in the 1950s. Flour companies found an easier and cheaper way of packaging their products with paper sacks. This decreased the use of flour sacks, but it is a trend that has not completely died. In fact, flour sack towels are a vintage item that is found in homes all over the world.

What can you make out of old flour sacks?

What were old feed sacks made from?

Feed sacks were initially made of heavy canvas, and were used to obtain flour, sugar, meal, grain, salt and feed from the mills. They were reusable, with the farmer bringing an empty sack stamped with his mark or brand to the mill to be filled.

Why Flour Sacks During The Great Depression Were So Important

What is a vintage feed sack?

Related Categories. eBay. In the mid-19th century, heavy canvas or linen feedsacks (sometimes spelled as “feed sacks”) replaced many barrels and tins for the storage and transport of flour, animal feed, and other bulk goods.

When were feed sacks used?

In truth feedsacks were used for sewing well before the depression and for several years after. The evolution of the feed sack is a story of ingenuity and clever marketing. Initially farm and food products were shipped in barrels. Between 1840 and 1890 cotton sacks gradually replaced barrels as food containers.

What were flour sacks made of?

A flour sack, feed sack, or flour bag is a cloth sack, usually made of cheap cotton, used to store flour or animal feed. Flour sacks are often printed with simple designs and trademarks to indicate the millers and companies making or selling the flour.

Are flour sack and tea towels the same?

Tea and flour sack towels are interchangeable terms, both characterized as flat-woven towels used for drying without leaving any traces of lint.

What are flour sack tea towels used for?

A flour sack dish towel is typically a large piece of cloth that is made of cotton or linen. They are most utilized to dry dishes, and had a spot in history for serving tea in Ireland and England, as well as other countries that have daily tea rituals.

Why are they called flour sack towels?

Flour sack dish towels are called "flour sack" because they're modeled after the thin woven cotton bags that flour and grains used to be packed in, which were re-used as towels. That thin cotton yarn and the looser weave make for a towel that's extra absorbent.

Why is flour sold in bags?

The reason flour is in paper bag (either 1kg/2lbs bags from supermarkets, or 25kg for bakeries) is to let it "breath": to get it oxidized. If you see an old (vintage) bag it's made of a net that lets a lot of air to get in.

Is flour sack and cheesecloth the same?

Flour sacks are not really sacks at all, but sheets of fabric made of very thin cotton threads. The weave is tighter than cheesecloth, but loose enough that you can see through the cloth. They're not really intended to be used as dish towels, except for maybe polishing streaks. What they are perfect for is straining.

What were burlap bags and feed sacks used for by poor families?

Commodity textile bags—more often called gunny, feed, or flour sacks—were frequently repurposed during the first half of the twentieth century. Women in rural parts of the United States used them to make clothing and home goods for their families to save money.

What did pioneers use for towels?

Knitted pads, rabbit fur, even grass were all used by women to handle their periods. In America, Johnson & Johnson developed their own version in 1896 called Lister's Towel: Sanitary Towel's for Ladies.

How old are feed sack quilts?

development during Depression

… of the 1930s popularized the feedsack quilt. Cloth sacks in which animal feed and flour and other staples were packaged were produced in a wide variety of cheerful prints.

How do you clean flour sack towels?

Make sure that you always choose a delicate cycle setting and use cold water for flour sack towels. Some people even prefer to hand wash the items. When drying the items, it is recommended to let them air dry. If you do not have time or space for this, then make sure to tumble dry the towels.

What is a bakers flour sack?

Floursack towels are made from lightweight cotton, and are designed to mimic the functionality of vintage grain bags that were used for decades as all-purpose, durable kitchen towels.

How can you tell if a fabric sack is flour?

How do you know if what you find is really a feed sack? The most obvious way is if it's still sewn into a sack shape. If it's not, then the best way to tell is to find the stitching holes around the selvedge edges and across the width of the fabric. You'll often see the remnants of a curved seam, as well.

What kind of fabric is flour sack?

The sacks, made from finely-woven pure cotton, were strong, soft and durable. As such, the sacks were repurposed following a thorough wash and bleach into everything from towels and polishing cloths to bed linens and underwear! Today, flour sack fabric is still made from 100 percent cotton.

What was a sack dress?

a loose, unbelted dress that hangs straight from the shoulder to the hemline.

Why do you think quilts were popular during the Depression?

Quilts were popular during hard times because quiltmaking was a cheap hobby that made use of small scraps left over from other sewing. Makers often incorporated feedsack fabrics, which appear today to be the ultimate in recycling and frugality.

Why do horses have feed bags?

A feedbag, feed bag, feeding bag, nosebag, or morral, is a bag, filled with fodder, and attached to the head of a horse, enabling it to eat. The main advantages are that only a small amount of the feed is wasted, and it prevents one animal consuming the ration of another.

Who created the sack dress?

In 1957, the fashion houses of Givenchy and Balenciaga introduced the “Sack Dress” in their spring collections, a formless, waistless dress that narrowed down severely at the hem.