From the ordinary to the treasured...

Wouldn't our grandmothers and great-grandmothers be surprised at how the things they saw as the most ordinary now fetch high prices in antique stores and are treasured by collectors?

Feedsack fabric is a great example. Beginning in the late twenties, through the depression years, and even up into the 1950s, flour, sugar, and other staples were sold in cotton feedsacks. When manufacturers realized that frugal housewives were saving those cotton sacks and making quilts and clothing out of them, they began to create more attractive patterns and colors to entice buyers to select their brands.

Today, feedsack fabric, and old quilts and aprons made of feedsacks are highly prized by collectors, and bring big money online and at antique stores. For fabric in good condition, a half yard can cost $20!

But, as you can see by the picture of my small "stash" of feedsack fabric, the colors, motifs and general look is hard to resist. Because I know that I will be cutting whatever fabric I buy into pieces to use it in my clothing or accessories, I look for pieces that have holes or stains I can work around. That makes the piece more affordable! Most of what I find is no longer strong enough to use for clothing, but if I combine it with a lightweight fusible interfacing, it works very well for lining or trim.

This skirt is an exception; the turquoise feedsack fabric was strong enough to use. 

This purse (shown under construction), which also incorporates portions of an embroidered dresser scarf and an upholstery sample square, uses feedsack fabric as a lining, as does the purse below.

I wonder what ordinary items in our lives will be treasures to our grandchildren? Maybe we should hang onto a few old cereal boxes, soda cans, and magazines; they might fund our kids' retirement!

Contact me if I can make something for you from my stash or yours!