Feed Sack to Shopping Bag

Tote bag made from a feed sack.

During the Great Depression farm women made do by fashioning clothes out of flour and feed sacks.  Chicken feed and flour came in 50 pound cloth bags or feed sacks back then.  The women could bleach the sacks and use them to make tea towels, diapers, children's clothing etc.  Eventually the feed sack manufacturers started using pretty printed cotton fabrics to entice the women to buy their feed and thus gain a pretty printed cotton feed sack. These vintage feed and flour sacks are in great demand.


Fast forward seventy years and here comes Purina chicken feeds taking advantage of the craze for back yard chickens by producing very pretty pastoral farm scenes on their feed sacks made of woven poly fibers.  I can buy the feed store's very good no name brand chicken feed in a plain brown bag, but if I buy Purina with the pretty picture I can turn it into a tote bag to take to the grocery or where ever.

Pipster had to check it out.

It wasn't too difficult to make. Here's a link to directions. http://www.instructables.com/id/Feed-Bag-Tote-Bag/
This being my first, it took about an hour. The  sewing machine needle that was in the machine when I started was a number nine and it broke half way through the process. Fortunately, I had a number fourteen, which had been the recommended sewing machine needle by several websites I visited for directions.  I would also recommend wearing eye protection, just in case a needle breaks.

This makes a nice big shopping bag sized bag. I'm going to fill this one with diapers and give it to my niece for her baby shower!