Bags, Books, and Brutal Heat

B8f9148293502317a28cb67c600baa83I learned a lot about the history of feed sacks on Monday.

Yesterday would have been an excellent day to stay in and stay cool. We are experiencing an intense heat wave this week. Temps yesterday reached somewhere around the century mark, with heat indexes well over 100. It just so happened that I had two meetings and some errands schedule for the day, so I got to experience the toasty temps on the streets of Leeds and all around town.

 

541cefc12ec24.imageSarah Bliss Wright of Talladega, Alabama, is an expert on the history of feed sacks, flour sacks, and other cloth bags and their use in sewing projects.

First of all, I attended a lecture at our local library, given by Sarah Bliss Wright of Talledega, Alabama. She spoke about the history of cloth commodity bags, giving particular attention to the Bemis Bag Company, which had a plant in Talledega for many years. I knew about the use of feed sack fabric in the making of clothes, quilts, and other projects. But I learned a lot of interesting things about the evolution of the production of these bags and their uses. For instance, we tend to associate feed-sack quilts and such with the years of the Great Depression, but their heyday actually lasted from 1930 until around 1960. I myself remember that my sister and I wore dresses and sun suits that my mama made from them in the 50s. I recall that she even embellished some of them with embroidery and smocking.I wish we had saved some of them. 

Il_1588xN.1939618812_12d2Feed sack and flour sack material was popular for decades for quilt making. The original bags are collector’s items now, but fabric manufacturers make reproduction feed sack material.

When my husbands 98-year-old grandmother passed away in the 90s, I inherited a large collection of her sacks. They are still packed away. I should really pull them out and make a quilt from them for one of my stepchildren. Maybe one for each.

Bemis_021920Bemis Bag Company was the largest producer of cloth bags in the country. The company is still in operation, but now, sadly, they specialize in plastic bags and products.

After the wonderful lecture and luncheon at the library, I went to sister Ramey’s house for the August meeting of our book club. There we enjoyed snacks and dessert and a discussion of our book selection, Rally Round the Flag, Boys by Max Schulman. I love this book, which I read for the first time while I was still in high school. However, it was not a popular selection with the rest of our club members. Maybe they’ll enjoy the September book more: Furious Hours by Casey Cep.

IMG_20190812_133327145I snapped this photo at sister Ramey’s house where we met for book club. I made the quilt on top sometime in the 90s for an Oxmoor House book I was working on. I subsequently gifted it to Ramey. She and sister Joanne made the Drunkard’s Path (I helped baste it) for the cover of Ramey’s book Sweet Music on Moonlight Ridge.

Today promises to be even hotter than yesterday, and again I’m scheduled to venture out. I have an appointment for a haircut this afternoon. I’m thinking of rescheduling.

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On 08/13/2019, Barbara Anne said ...

The talk at the library must have been so very interesting. I'm glad you ventured out in the horrid heat to attend and then on to Ramey's home for the book club gathering.

The quilts on Ramey's quilt rack and those lovely fabrics in the top photo are wonderful. AMIL made a lap quilt for her mother using reproduction 1930s fabrics and that quilt and AMIL's handwork on it pleased Mama much.

I recommend peach iced tea to combat the heat. Oh, and air conditioning!

Hugs!
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