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Stitch Slap the Recession

Forget high-density thread counts. In the Depression, the most popular fabric for quilts was feed sacks, or the cloth bags that packaged flour, sugar and animal food. They were first recycled by thrifty women during Civil War shortages. But by the 1930s, the sacks began to be designed specifically for reuse, with label names on easily removable stickers and decorative prints replacing
solid fabrics- clever eco-marketing a whole 75 years before “I’m not a plastic bag.”

At the recent “Recycling and Resourcefulness: Quilts of the 1930s” exhibit at the American Folk Art Museum, Depression-era pieces on loan from the International Quilt Study Center showcased ingeniously pieced together quilts made from everyday material like dressmaking scraps, commemorative ribbons and even worn-out clothing, from old jeans and sweaters to my personal favorite: the front and back of a men’s red and navy striped, suspendered bathing suit.

According to quilter and pattern and fabric designer Glenna Hailey, the recycling of feed sacks and cloth bags was an incredibly aggressive and successful tack. “Everyone jumped on board, from the feed and flour companies to pattern designers. The Cotton Council issued booklets with ideas for making clothing and other items for the home from feed sacks; the bag companies even advertised in magazines to encourage consumers to buy and reuse cotton bags.”

Says Hailey, “If a husband knew what was good for him, he’d buy all [the sacks] his wife needed.”

The quilts of that era reminded me of an old maxim my grandmother used to repeat: “use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.”

Aside from the economic perspective, the sheer aestheticism of Depression-era quilts is stunning. One in particular seemed right out of a Design Within Reach catalog: a crazy quilt, circa 1930, crafted by a New York City tailor out of leftover suiting wool. The subtle grays, dark browns and pin-striped black patches were painstakingly laid out in small rectangles, producing a soothing, stacked geometry embellished only with diminutive knots of yarn. The pattern and demure colors were modern and masculine — unlike any quilt I’ve ever seen — perhaps causing the barely repressible urge to take it off the wall and wrap it around me.

The creativity that stemmed from such poverty and bleak days is all the more inspiring when you consider that the need to stay warm, not making a home look like Martha Stewart’s, was the quilters’ motivation. In the struggle for survival, they still created art.

Solace in Stitches

Squeezing between shoulder-to-shoulder shoppers at Purl, a popular knitting and quilting shop in SoHo, it’s clear that the craft is still going strong, despite such pressure on retail and luxury spending. With the vibrant, modern and free patterns the store has to offer, it’s apparent that quilting is still as accessible as ever.

As longtime Detroit-area quilter and Guildcrafters teacher Amy Lobsiger points out, the process of “turning inward and finding comfort in the tactile pleasure of sewing, and in making a useful, visually appealing item” is a powerful — and timeless — one. And while Hailey notes that sales of her vintage-inspired patterns and feed sack fabrics are still solid, she, like Lobsiger, believes that tighter budgets are just causing people to use up their stashes as rather than buying lots of new material-
following right in the Depression quilters’ frugal footsteps.

I know I’ve been eyeing some of my old shirts that I can’t seem to sell on eBay. Thankfully, I have enough blankets to keep me warm, but I still can’t stand that sense of uselessness that unemployment brings in waves some days. Maybe I need to start on my own quilt, and in the process, gain the perspective I had after the exhibit. The intricate details of the quilts’ fabric and the handcrafted shapes of the patchwork elements invited such close viewing, but it was only after taking several steps back that I could absorb and appreciate the graphic impact of the whole piece. Instead of focusing on the minute worries of the moment (Am I going to be able to pay my rent this month? Will I ever get a paycheck again?), I could take up quilting — and reassure myself that creativity flourishes in the face of adversity.

Tags: Great Depression, quilts