Feed Sacks: The Colourful History of a Frugal Fabric, Linzee Kull McCray

Feed Sacks is a stunning visual ode to one of the most inventive intersections of everyday thrift and design—cotton feed and flour sacks repurposed as fabric. Linzee Kull McCray traces their evolution from plain utilitarian bags to boldly printed, household canvas that became dresses, aprons, quilts, curtains and more during the 20th century. Brimming with vibrant swatches, original print motifs, and at-scale panels, the 544-page volume reads as both cultural document and design treasure trove, evoking a slower, richly resourceful era of domestic ingenuity.

This book surpasses mere documentation; it is a historical homage woven with personal narratives, ephemera, trade excerpts, and instructions for domestic creation—forging connections between maker, material, memory, and community. It situates feed sack textiles as both functional and fabulous, essential to understanding how rural and urban creativity endured through economic highs and lows.

About the Author
Linzee Kull McCray is a textile historian and collector whose fascination with feed sacks began with a transformative encounter at a quilt guild talk. This led her on a decades-long exploration into the world of printed cotton sacks and their cultural afterlives, culminating in this richly illustrated and personally informed volume.

Publication date: 2019
Publisher: Uppercase Publishing 
Pages: 550
ISBN: 9781927987032