pioneers of repurposing

My Fourth of July week was spent screen printing flour sack towels. I’m so thrilled to have a new set for my kitchen as well as offer them in my shop. I've always loved the old-world feel and look of flour sack. I envision myself and my customers using them, not only for their intended purpose, but also creating new end uses for this beautiful fabric. 

Originally woven to contain flour, oats and other dry goods, flour sacks were replaced by disposable packaging in the 1950s and this had a huge impact on the availability and reuse of the material. Prior to this modernization, during the Great Depression era, women stitched everything from curtains to underwear with the lightweight sacks after the rice or chicken feed had been used. Many producers even started printing the cloth with floral patterns in recognition of this movement in frugal ingenuity. How wonderful to be scooping sugar from a lovely natural vessel one day and buttoning up a dress made from that very flour sack only days later.