Saturday, February 15, 2020

Old Fabrics and A New Book



 What's better than new books about old fabric?  For me, not much!
This is the book I got this week:  Feedsacks:  A Colourful History of a Frugal Fabric" by Linzee Kull McCray.  I've been collecting feedsacks and the books about them for a long time, so it was great to see something new and fun.
Articles on the history of feedsacks are interspersed in the book with more than 800 color photos of sacks. I was able to find several of my feedsacks pictured.
In the foreground of this photo is the book.  The background is the back of my Buckeye Beauty quilt, an RSC quilt from a couple of years ago.  Blue raspberries!  What a weird and cool idea.
This lovely fabric got its own full page (on the left).  The colors are very true, almost exact.
Sack manufacturers often made the same print in different colorways.  My sack, in the foreground, is mostly purple.  The one in the book is mostly green.

I've been thinking of feedsacks lately because of one particular project I'm making for this year's Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  My house blocks are made from 1930s reproduction fabrics, vintage fabrics, and feedsacks. 

Here's orange house #1.  The light fabric with the orange fish is a feedsack scrap.
The main fabric, orange plaid with daisies, was an unfinished skirt when I found it at a flea market.
House #2 is entirely reproduction fabric.
The window fabric is a cat print.  I think lots of people in this "town" like cats.
For the third block, I went Halloween.  The leaf print on the outside is a feedsack scrap.
More cats!  This time black cats and pumpkins are in the windows.

Obviously, there are WAY more feedsacks in that pile above than I would need for several quilts.  I pulled these out because I have a project in mind.
Every year, my quilt guild has a booth at the local quilt show, where we sell items.  I am not good at making items for sale (that is an understatement).  But I do know how to cut fabric.  So sometimes I cut up feedsacks to sell in packets.
I have a question for you.  If you were interested in buying feedsack scraps, what size would you want?  Do you think quilters would like charm squares, or bigger pieces?  I don't want to sell full sacks, because they tend to cost more than most people would like to pay.  Also, when I cut them up I can cut pieces for my own use too.  Any ideas would be very helpful.

Still on the sack theme, I made a new grocery bag from fabric I bought at a flea market.  The red handles on the bag were on the free table at our last guild meeting, and came in very handy.
I just love these giraffes!  I'm a sucker for novelty prints.
No quilts finished this week, but my Little Buddy posed on a pile of them.
He wanted me to include this photo he took of his favorite T. Rex.  Roar!

I hope you had a nice Valentine's Day, or Gal-entines Day, or just a nice Friday.  We have been eating too many cupcakes and too much candy.  Dieting is coming.

Good luck with all your projects this week, quilting and otherwise.
Cheers for reading,
Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:
Angela at So Scrappy
Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday
Cynthia at Oh Scrap

















27 comments:

  1. I would buy 5 or 10"s squares of feed sacks to get a nice selection some into my stash easily.

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    1. Thanks, Sue! That's just the kind of feedback I'm looking for.

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  2. Your fabric choices for those house blocks make them look like home sweet homes.

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    1. Thanks, Joanne! I have a vision of a seaside New England town. Sort of.

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  3. Isn't that neat to find feedsack fabrics that you have in a book?! Those are so pretty, Sylvia! I think they are fun in the house blocks. I've never had any feedsacks, so if I were looking at them at your show, a charm pack would really interest me.

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  4. I love your feed sack house blocks, so pretty. Not sure I can offer any advice on cutting up your fabric, we don't seem to have feed sacks here in my country. Charm squares would probably be a good idea, 5 in or 10 in maybe?

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    1. Thanks, Jenny! I think feedsacks are a U.S./Canada thing mostly. They're pretty big here in the Midwest since it was a big farming area.

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  5. How cool is that - to find your fabrics in a book!! I love the feedsack prints too - Enjoy stitching thru them!!!

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  6. I like the idea of 5" charms but would prefer 10" squares myself. Would that be too costly? I have no idea. Your house blocks are really coming along. Buddy's dino is pretty awesome too! :^)

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    1. Thanks, Susie H! I'm not sure how much to charge. We try to keep items below $10, just because the cheaper items sell better.

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    2. I'll tell my Little Buddy you liked his dino!

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  7. I love your two-story houses! How big are they? That will be such a fun quilt. I would be more inclined to buy a set of 3-4 fat quarters than charm squares. If I like a fabric, I want enough to make something fairly big with it :)

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    1. Thanks, Louise! The houses are 12 in. finished. I wondered about fat quarters. Quilters are definitely used to them. Maybe I could cut a few of them and some smaller squares? Thanks for the feedback!

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  8. I am really enjoying your house blocks. Thanks for sharing with Oh Scrap!

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  9. Congrats on your new book, new bag, and some lovely ORANGE sewing, too!!

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    1. Thanks, Joyful! The tree blocks your group is sending to Australia are wonderful!

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  10. Linzee, the author, is a member of Iowa City's Old Capitol Quilt Guild. Iam mentioned in her book. I wore feed sack and seed corn sack (the thread is a tightly woven short cotton fiber that creates a heavier than feed sack fabric.) My mother made boxer type underwear for my father from bleached feed sacks and saved the string from opening feed sacks.
    And I own and use treadles and handcranks sewing machines.

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    1. Hi, Phyllis! How great that your memories were in the book! You seem like someone I'd like to meet. BTW, are/were you ever part of Treadleon?

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  11. I have a large stash of 30s reproduction fabrics and some feedsacks because they remind me of my grandmother who taught me to sew. Her quilts were a mix of old 30s dresses, shirts, aprons, etc. (I'm a sucker for novelties too). I don't buy pre cut fabrics like jelly rolls or charm squares and rarely buy FQs. I usually buy 1/2 yards of fabric but haven't bought any fabric except for backings for years.

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    1. Scraps are the best, I think! Especially vintage and feedsacks!

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  12. What a fun post! I have used 30s reproduction fabric, but have not found affordable feedback fabric. I might be talked into charm squares just for fun!

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  13. I would recommend fat quarter size or 10" squares. :) I love the blue raspberry fabric!

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    1. Thanks, mpv61! I'm looking forward to seeing how the fabrics I cut sell next week at the quilt show.

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Thanks for reading! Post a comment--I want to know what you think!