Feed sacks are cloth bags in which animal feed or flour, sugar, coffee or other commodities were packaged. The bags were made in many different sizes to accommodate goods sold in different weights. Originally the feed sacks were made to hold anywhere from one pound to twenty-five or fifty pounds. In 1937 there was a standardization of the sizes, which made product packing, shipping, and storage much easier. The standardization also made it easier for quilters to judge how many feed sacks they would need to sew a project.
Feed sack quilts were made as early as the first part of the 19th century, utilizing the precious woven cloth that was a bonus from store-bought goods. There were different quality sacks, with grain bags being the coarsest and sugar and flour being made from a finer cloth. The early bags were not colored, and women dyed them to meet their needs. Some early bags were printed with heavy ink labeling which had to be removed. Sometimes it required soaking in kerosene or rubbing with unsalted lard to soften the ink before washing the bags in lye soap.
During the 1930s and the Great Depression, printed designs began to be used on feed sack fabrics. Frugal housewives collected bags with identical prints and used the fabric for everything from curtains to clothing to quilts. Many times a swatch of fabric was sent to town with a husband buying feed, and he was given instructions to bring home the sacks that matched.
Manufacturers of feed sacks soon began competing with new printed fabrics and colors, using a wide variety of designs and even popular cartoon characters of the day. The feed sacks became an important marketing ploy for many years, continuing until the 1960s.
In some areas of the country you can still buy feed, grain, and flour in cloth bags, although they are not the finely printed types like those from the early 20th century. Perhaps with our new, greener economy we will see a return of the fabric bags?
