# Vintage fabric /feed sack fabric and aprons too. Help.



## emandeli (Jan 28, 2010)

I have always had a love of vintage fabric. There is something that vintage items bring me and I just love them. Anyhow, I have been looking around my area locally for some vintage fabric pieces and then discovered feed /flour sack fabrics from a long time ago. They are stunning and beautiful! I love the patterns, the prints. I especially love the paisley and floral motifs and the colours. 

The problem? I live in Canada and where I live...we never ever had these!   So, I started looking online on ebay and etsy. *gasp* They are so expensive!!! Even the little pieces  I am a newbie sewer but lover of fabric and fibre arts for a long long time. Some people hate shipping to Canada too so they mark up the post so much. So, I feel sad but still want to see if anyone can help me locate something that doesn't cost so much. It's basically because we *can't* afford that not just don't want to. I would really like to make a simple quilt at my sewing group of the little squares (or bigger) or rectangles etc. The other thing is that I would like to make myself some aprons out of it. (I have 3 aprons, all vintage and I wear them all day everyday and need some more desperately!). LOL LOL

Have you seen the fabric that I am talking about? Anywhere like thrift store or other place that isn't trying to make huge bucks on it?  Any ideas would be appreciated, thank you. (Also really like vintage aprons)


----------



## Terri in WV (May 10, 2002)

Feed sacks are a hot commodity here. It'd be a rare find to see them at thrift stores. Google reproduction 30's fabric or check out Connecting Threads for repro's. http://www.ConnectingThreads.com/fa...age_Cotton_Fabric__L60020301.html?startRow=25


----------



## Ruby (May 10, 2002)

Someone gave me a quilt top made of flour/feed sacks. Problem is someone washed it and it wasn't quilted so it's frayed. It was hand pieced. There is a couple places where the seam is frayed so bad I don't know if it could be fixed, but the fabric is pretty.


----------



## Molly Mckee (Jul 8, 2006)

I would look for reproduction fabric. It isn't that people don't want to ship to Canada, it's that it either goes quickly or takes forever because it sits in customs while someone in Canada is getting mad!

I sold some flour sacks to Japan. I thought they were expensive, the buyer thought she got a deal.


----------



## Dandish (Feb 8, 2007)

If you search "vintage apron" on ebay, you'll see a lot of them and I think they are VERY reasonably price - often sold in lots - you could use them as it or cut them up for your quilt. Cheaper than outright looking for feedsacks, which are expensive!

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=vintage+apron&_sop=12


----------



## RedDirt Cowgirl (Sep 21, 2010)

Since you want to make a quilt (not collect pieces of fragile vintage fabrics) you should check out all the reproduction prints available - lots have been cited in this forum. The old stuff sometimes doesn't even survive construction, and some of the dyes eat through the cloth. Cutting up old aprons same deal. You can always age/distress your new fabric if you want that worn-out look.

They'll have the original collections for the different prints too, I think they are more fun to work with and make your finished piece more like the original era than a bunch of old oddments cobbled together.


----------



## scooter (Mar 31, 2008)

Feedsack material brings back memories. When I started school, I had pinafore's made out of them. For those that don't know what a pinafore is, it's like a jumper that you wear a blouse under. I had several new ones to wear to school. I remember how they would save the sacks and then try and get more of the same material so that they would have enough to sew an outfit with. Any remnant's were saved for quilts.


----------



## emandeli (Jan 28, 2010)

Interesting! I want to see pics of your pinafores! And pieces of the feedsack fabrics (not for sale) just for sharing purposes! I like the tip about it not holding up. Maybe I could try to make something more as a wall hanging  I really like knowing it was from years ago, someone had in their hands before me. It brings me a sort of comfort for some reason.


----------



## Dandish (Feb 8, 2007)

Here are some links to some reputible places selling very nice reproduction fabrics. There are, of course, many others...

http://www.grandmasatticquilting.com/

http://www.keepsakequilting.com/products/U3/U5/U5.L2/Circa-1930's.htm

http://www.fabric.com/quilting-fabric-reproduction-fabrics.aspx

http://www.cvquiltworks.com/shop/category/fabric/collection/1930s-reproductions/


----------



## Maura (Jun 6, 2004)

On a side note: saw this on PBS's show on the dust bowl. When the manufacturer of feed sacks discovered that mothers were using the sacks to make clothing for their children (really really poor), they decided to make the sacks pretty. Sort of a little gift for the little girls.

A quilt made out of feed sacks would command a pretty penny. Those old feed sacks are considered antiques. The only feed sacks I have found have been plain.


----------



## emandeli (Jan 28, 2010)

Oh my goodness-I am going to look for that show! How neat


----------



## Classof66 (Jul 9, 2011)

I am on the mailing list for Grandma's Attic and she has a lot of new reproductions! Grandmasatticquilting.com

I have a box of feedsacks or pieces of them. I think the new fabrics are a lot more sturdy. The problem is feedsacks have been popular for quite awhile and they just aint makin them anymore! 

Check Grandma out, they are gorgeous!


----------



## RedDirt Cowgirl (Sep 21, 2010)

Ah - I get your feelings about the original old thing itself.It's so hard to have them out to enjoy without getting dusty and dirty. I use those plexiglass box frames to display stuff, you can make acid-free inserts that allow for the depth of the things. I like seeing the old seams and how some of them have ties sewn in to make cinch sacks.

Maybe a soft book cover/portfolio/album/box coffee-table kind of thing would be fun.

I remember sacks in the 60's for rice in the grocery stores, and still see them pop up occaisionally.


----------



## Ann-NWIowa (Sep 28, 2002)

I agree with using reproduction fabrics. I've collected quite a few and they are lovely. 

I too remember wearing feed sack fabric clothing. I can recall mom sorting thru bags of chicken feed to find matching fabrics. I also recall ladies getting together with their bags and trading to they could get enough of one fabric to do a project.


----------



## cc (Jun 4, 2006)

My mom and grandmother would tell daddy and papa to get "matching sacks". If they forgot or didn't "do it right" they would threaten to go with them the next Saturday and since it would have been terrible to have the ladies come to the feed store they usually did pretty good! I'm not sure what the men did at the feed store but it was like a boy's club, no girls allowed...


----------

