Feed Sacks

by Steffani McChesney

When you were a kid did you have some scratchy white underwear that said McCormack’s 100% Pure Sugar, or something about flour or chickens, across the back? If you did then you know what a feed sack is. Feed sacks went by other names according to the part of the country you were from. They could be referred to as textile or cloth bags, chicken linen, or pretties and were used to transport sugar, animal feed, rice, grain, seed, flour, and even fertilizer. Those particular bags required a LOT of washing.

Feed sacks were a technological marvel when they hit the market, the cutting edge in product delivery systems. Before feed sacks, goods were transported in barrels, which were cumbersome and heavy and cost a lot to make. Until the invention of the sewing machine, feed sacks were not feasible because no one could hand sew a strong enough seam to keep the sack together. Feed sacks were a great improvement because they could be thrown over the back of a horse or mule or easily loaded into a buckboard for the long trek back to the farm.

The feed sack was a wonderful bonus for the housewife who made the family’s clothes and quilts. Free fabric! Manufacturers got wise early on and began making feed sacks out of colorful printed cotton instead of the plain white ones with the company logo printed on them.

Pity the poor farmer when feed sacks began to be a fashion statement. He was told by his wife and daughters to make sure that he got four sacks made out of the same fabric because that was what was needed to make a lady’s dress. A one hundred pound feed sack provided one and one third yards of fabric. When I was a little girl, my grandmother was really pleased that she could make a dress for me out of only one sack. I was small for my age.

Feed sacks were made as early as 1846 but the golden era was from the late 1920s to the mid 1960s. They were particularly popular during the Depression and during World War II when fabric was rationed.

Feed sacks are currently enjoying a resurgence in popularity. There are collectors who buy feed sacks for their own sake and then there are quilters who love to use the colorful and unusual fabrics to make reproduction quilts from the 1930s. They blend wonderfully with the popular Depression Era fabrics so popular today.