Hello, I'm from North Missouri, but I well remember both the 50 lb. flour sacks and
the colorful 100 lb. feed sacks. The white flour sacks would be used for dish towels.
The 10 lb sugar sacks were very ckise wiven fabric and we used those for the white pieces
for quilts. The 100-lb. chicken feed sacks were what we used for clothing. It took three
matching sacks to make a dress for an adult. It took only two for a dress and matching
bloomers for an elementary school child. We used the scraps from these colored sacks to
go with the white sugar sacks for quilts. I was always very proud of my clothes made from
feed sacks, for they were new and would fit me as I grew. My old dresses had to be worn
when doing before and after school chores. No girl or woman would be caught dead or alive
in slacks or long pants of any kind, when I was a kid. These were a precious gift as it
didn't cost any more to get feed in lovely printed sacks than it did to get them in a
plain old sack. We saved every scrap of everything. We even saved the heavy thread or
twine, which held these same feed, salt and sugar. Yes, we bought salt in cloth sacks
back then. One of local grocery stores received their meat in cloth bags and he even
saved those greasy bags for my mother. We used them for dish towels, etc. They were
messy to clean up, but washing them with homemade lye soap and hanging them on the line to
blow in the breeze got out all the grease and they would be white and nice. Sometimes,
these sacks had to be washed twice to get out all the grease. My grandnither even made
homemade lye for her soap making. My mother used Lewis brand of lye for that. It was a
time, when we made do with whatever we had and nobody complained. All of us worked hard
in a family for it took all of our efforts to feed ourselves and our livestock. Jennie
(Barnett) Vertrees