Nina Stahlschmidts with her oldest feed bag from 1917, a World War I embroidered "relief flour sack"
The Guild's first meeting started off with a fascinating presentation by Nina Stahlschmidts, who has been avidly collecting “feed sacks” for many years. When she first started her collection, she said she would pay about $2.00 for a sack in good condition, and now may pay upwards of $40.00.
Many of the bags she brought were from the mid 19th century yet still retained their colour in the logos that were printed on them. Each feed sack had a logo of a company, such as Robin Hood Flour, that made a specific product for early settlers use. The bags were filled with flour, milled corn or other grains and would weigh about 98 lbs with the tops sewn by a sewing machine that would come down from above to sew it shut with string.
Nina also showed us some of her doilies made into quilts which were so beautiful. The work that went into them, superb!
Each of the quilts shown was unique and lovely and it was a
pleasure to see how someone could make something out of what others may throw away.
Oh, she also mentioned she could show us how to make a quilt using our “grannies' hankies and doilies” if interested. That could be another fun workshop!
Many of the bags she brought were from the mid 19th century yet still retained their colour in the logos that were printed on them. Each feed sack had a logo of a company, such as Robin Hood Flour, that made a specific product for early settlers use. The bags were filled with flour, milled corn or other grains and would weigh about 98 lbs with the tops sewn by a sewing machine that would come down from above to sew it shut with string.
Nina also showed us some of her doilies made into quilts which were so beautiful. The work that went into them, superb!
Each of the quilts shown was unique and lovely and it was a
pleasure to see how someone could make something out of what others may throw away.
Oh, she also mentioned she could show us how to make a quilt using our “grannies' hankies and doilies” if interested. That could be another fun workshop!
Below are some samples of printed feed sack fabrics and several of Nina's feed sack quilts:
The morning ended with Show and Share:
Sample of a typical baby quilt and pillowcase for the guild's outreach with The Children's Hospital.
