Understanding Feedsack Quilts

For us to grasp the significant of the feedsack quilt, we must first start with the "why" and the "how." Why were people making quilts out of food sacks? How did these even become possible?

Well, we once lived in a time, in this great country, where companies looked out for us, even if just a little bit. We also once lived in a time where we did not waste what was available to us. 

In the later 19th century, and through the depression, quiltmakers aka homemakers made their quilts from material available to them and for the average person, this meant repurposing cloth. This was a time where many average people could not afford fresh fabrics. Instead, makers utilized the cloth from old feed bags of flour, sugar, dry goods and grain, known as the feedsack. In the early 1900's companies became aware of this and did these women a solid, by making the feedsack fabric out of cute patterns and colors. 

I like to incorporate this concept of "wasting nothing" into my values of making custom quilted jackets. Why buy something new, from likely inferior textiles, when we have perfectly good fabrics that already exist, likely sitting unused in a closet? How can I reuse the quilt binding as trim for my raw edges? Can we still be "frugal" and creative while also being fashionable? History tells us, "yes". 

xoxo

Mallory