Exhibit at the Old Church Gallery

Sweet and Sassy Feed Sack Exhibit

We hope you will join us at the Old Church Gallery for our SWEET AND SASSY feed sack exhibit beginning May 2019 and extending through December 2019.

The Old Church Gallery hours are Fridays 2 PM to 5 PM and Saturdays 10 AM to 1 PM. The Old Church Gallery is tucked behind Finders Keepers on 110 Wilson Street, Floyd, Virginia, and is free and open to the public. The Old Church Gallery is a non-profit, tax-exempt organization. All donations are used for facility and program development.

A Bit of Feed Sack History

For farmers in the early 1900s, going to mill meant carrying sacks of shelled corn or wheat berries they had grown themselves. They would bring home freshly ground meal or flour in their own clean sacks, which would be washed and used repeatedly. Farm women soon put the extra sacks to good use. Diapers, cleaning cloths, towels, sheets, and underwear sewn from the bleached white cotton became a frugal way to have common fabric goods.

In the 1920s manufacturers began printing patterns on the sack material. Sales took off as thrifty farm women turned the cheerful and sometimes whimsical patterns into shirts, dresses, aprons, curtains and stuffed animals. Scraps were incorporated into quilts and patterns swapped among the neighbors. Men learned they had to buy enough sacks with the same pattern for their wives’ projects.