A Dress Made From a Flour Sack

Besides living on a small family farm in a rural area, Ruth and Leland grew up during the Depression. Needless to say, money and goods were scarce. Flour producers began using fabric-quality material for their 100-pound bags, and printing brightly colored patterns on them. The flour sack was then used to make clothing for the family.

Ruth Remembers...

"One of the most exciting days of the year for me was when my dad, Otto, would take me into town to choose the flour sack pattern that would become my new dress. It was always a Saturday in late summer, when the crops were in but before harvest time. He would hitch up the wagon and we would ride into Jimmy Lewis' general store in Damascus, Arkansas. It was only about five miles away, but it seemed like a big trip to me.

Once there I would look over all the sacks to choose the one I wanted. When we got back home, my mom would empty the flour into other containers, wash the sack, and then use the material to make me a dress. This would be my school dress for the new year."

Reduce, reuse, recycle. It was a pretty clever way to solve the need for dress-making material. Maybe the idea will come back one day.

A 1930s family wearing clothes made out of flour sacks. (These are just random people, no relation to us.)