Back by popular demand is the series that I have not posted for awhile, the way grandma used to. Sometimes this is a section I share personal stories from my very own dear grandma, other times its the notion or idea of the way things were in times past always in an effort to connect is to the way things used to be.
"Henhouse Linen" is the name of the memory that my grandmother wrote in a book full of beautiful stories that she has shared with all of us, memories of how things were in her childhood growing up, and in her young married years as well. These are grandma's words and memories.
Come with me as I take a peek into times past when money was tight and the depression was raging...
"Henhouse Linen" is the name of the memory that my grandmother wrote in a book full of beautiful stories that she has shared with all of us, memories of how things were in her childhood growing up, and in her young married years as well. These are grandma's words and memories.
Come with me as I take a peek into times past when money was tight and the depression was raging...
Henhouse Linen, that was just one name for the feed sack material. Barnyard linen, as it was also called, wasn't just for dresses- they made good aprons, table cloths, curtains, quilts and children's play clothes.
Back in the days when no amount of money was considered "chicken feed" folks made do with what they had.
Feed sacks were plentiful on most farms, and the fabric they were made of clothed countless families during the depression.
Mother raised rabbits when I was young and the feed for the rabbits came in colored printed sacks. After the contents were used the sacks would be put into a salt solution to set the colors, then washed and ironed to be kept for sewing projects.
Mother didn’t sew much. In school I had a teacher, Miss Mary Ryan who taught me everything I know about sewing. Our class was made up of farm girls. Sewing opened up many new ideas for us. Miss Ry7an had books of decorating ideas and she encouraged us to make good use of the feed sacks. We were proud of the dresses that we could make form the material that was available to us
We would always tell my daddy to get at least three bags of feed in the same pattern design. If we had a special project going, often my daddy would buy more feed at one time than he had intended to, just to get the bags alike.
The dress that I made for my sewing project was made from feed sacks and all of my mother’s aprons were made from the sacks as well. My daddy would proudly show me the newest feed sacks that he had purchased feed in knowing that I would have ideas as to what to make from the material.
My mother had a special drawer in the dresser that she kept the sacks in. Anytime that I needed material for something, I always knew that I could check out what was in the drawer. When I had children of my own most of their little dresses were made from that same feed sack material, the girls were able to have pretty little dresses with very little expense that way.
Back in the days when no amount of money was considered "chicken feed" folks made do with what they had.
Feed sacks were plentiful on most farms, and the fabric they were made of clothed countless families during the depression.
Mother raised rabbits when I was young and the feed for the rabbits came in colored printed sacks. After the contents were used the sacks would be put into a salt solution to set the colors, then washed and ironed to be kept for sewing projects.
Mother didn’t sew much. In school I had a teacher, Miss Mary Ryan who taught me everything I know about sewing. Our class was made up of farm girls. Sewing opened up many new ideas for us. Miss Ry7an had books of decorating ideas and she encouraged us to make good use of the feed sacks. We were proud of the dresses that we could make form the material that was available to us
We would always tell my daddy to get at least three bags of feed in the same pattern design. If we had a special project going, often my daddy would buy more feed at one time than he had intended to, just to get the bags alike.
The dress that I made for my sewing project was made from feed sacks and all of my mother’s aprons were made from the sacks as well. My daddy would proudly show me the newest feed sacks that he had purchased feed in knowing that I would have ideas as to what to make from the material.
My mother had a special drawer in the dresser that she kept the sacks in. Anytime that I needed material for something, I always knew that I could check out what was in the drawer. When I had children of my own most of their little dresses were made from that same feed sack material, the girls were able to have pretty little dresses with very little expense that way.
I read this memory of grandma's and I found myself wishing that the feed we buy for our livestock came in such feminine and pretty patterns rather than the plastic type ugly bags that we often toss to our burn pile.
I also began searching around the web a bit and I came across a book on Amazon that looked quite interesting, there are just so many things we could learn about the way women did things when times were even more tough and women still liked to appear neat and tidy.
I also began searching around the web a bit and I came across a book on Amazon that looked quite interesting, there are just so many things we could learn about the way women did things when times were even more tough and women still liked to appear neat and tidy.
Here is a blog post from another blogger about her quest to reproduce the classic feed sack dress. The Feedsack Dress.
Do you know of any other good uses for feed sacks? Comment below.
