Conservation, throwing away very little, an absence of large land fills for household refuse and frugality were common place in rural America. Such practices were wide spread as
immigrants began their sea and land journeys and took on new meaning in the early 1900's which encompassed the Great depression and two world wars. Reusing virtually everything was very common as many raw materials were scarce. Being diverted for the war
efforts.
Products in bulk were packaged in sacks made from cotton which are often referred to collectively as feed sacks. Traditionally, food was packaged and shipped in tins, wooden barrels or boxes (Connolly, 1992; Cook, 1990; Rhoades, 1997). The flour industry, in particular, was the major purchaser of barrels for packaging and shipping their product (Cook, 1990; Rhoades, 1997).[1] This changed in 1846 when the stitching machine was invented and double locking seams were made strong enough to hold the contents of a bag.
At the height of feed sack use USDA published a booklet in which they stated, "cotton bags make attractive packages; they supply a suitable surface for brand names and make possible effective advertising; they are
durable and little affected by moisture; they represent minimum tare weight; and they have a high salvage value" (Cheatham and Wigington, 1933, p.1).
The quality of cloth varied as did the sizes, until President Roosevelt standardized sizes in 1937. Sugar bags were generally the highest quality and a much finer weave. A 1942 estimate is that almost three million citizens of all income levels were wearing print feedbag garments or approximately two percent of our 134 million population.
Among the various clothing articles made from sack cloth was an apron. The apron was used to protect the dress underneath and grandmother did not have a closet full which is common today. She had very few "Sunday best" dresses. Although a good deal of the precooking had been done prior to Sunday school and church, grandmother merely donned an apron, finished cooking, removed the apron and sat down with the rest of the family for a sumptuous meal. Her apron was in her day, the Swiss Army Knife of clothing. It was great for washing out ears, drying children's tears and was very handy for other everyday chores.
From the chicken coop, the apron was used for carrying eggs, fussy chicks, and sometimes half-hatched eggs to be finished in the warming oven.
When company came, those aprons were ideal hiding places for shy kids.
And when the weather was cold, grandma wrapped it around her arms.
Those big old aprons wiped many a perspiring brow, bent over the hot wood stove.
Chips and kindling wood were brought into the kitchen in that apron.
From the garden, it carried all sorts of vegetables. After the corn had been shelled, it carried out the husks and silks.
In the summer, the apron was used to bring in figs for those delicious preserves and pies.
When unexpected company drove up the road, it was surprising how much furniture that old apron could dust in a matter of seconds.
When dinner was ready, Grandma walked out onto the porch, waved her apron, and the men knew it was time to come in from the fields to dinner.
It will be a long time before someone invents something that will replace that 'old-time apron' that served so many purposes.
Remember when Grandma used to set her hot baked apple pies on the window sill to cool. Her granddaughters set theirs on the window sill to thaw. Daughters would wear their aprons once, wash and store until the next meal, but grandmother's apron always looked clean and
must not have carried any germs because the only think I ever caught from an apron was love.
Early web site efforts involved those of us who had a story to tell. Either about grandmothers apron or just the important facts of life she taught us when we were youngsters. Living on the family farm for the summer our lives were enriched, friendships forged and we never wanted to forget grandmother. So we wrote about her where our children who did not know our precious kin could savor those precious moments in our early life. Hopefully apply some lessons to their lives and their children's lives too.
Our efforts were not fancy and there was certainly room for improvement in our sentence structure and spelling too. If only grandmother were still with us. She would help because as a grade school teacher, she obviously loved to help children.
No grandmothers story never received any awards. Not too much recognition either, until one day our children got their first computer. Connected to the Internet and saw their grandmothers story.
"Where is grandmothers apron, mother?" asked Caroline.
I opened the drawer near to oven, reached in and over my shoulders and a bow tied in the back without a word. Opened the oven door to check on the fig pie.
Caroline went outside to play and a few moments later came in crying with a boo boo! I took a corner of grandmothers apron, wiped the tear, washed and dress her wound.
Years later Caroline took the apron out of her drawer. Just as grandmother and I had done. It was crisp and white expect for one small dark spot. Her daughter, Anna asked, "what is that spot momma?"
Must be a dried tear and love, I answered.
"Whose tear and what love, momma?" asked Anna.
Well I will stop now and tell Anna the story about the Apron and a website, since you have already read the story.
Footnotes and Sources:
[1] Feed Sack Fashions in South Louisiana, 1949-1968: The Use of Commodity Bags in Garment Construction, by Jennifer Lynn Banning B.A., Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, 1997 August 2005
[2] Quilt History
[3] Feed Sacks, by Edie McGinnis, Kansas City Star Publishing
[4] Aprons on a cloths line, Apron Memories, Ellyn Anne Geisel permission on file.
Copyright: 1986-2010