Sugar Sack Quilts

Sugar Sack Quilts
By Glenna Hailey
Gifted by North Light Craft Books
www.mycraftivity.com
Reviewed by Jessica Nichols, Editor of FaveQuilts.com

Sugar Sack Quilts is a book of 12 quilt patterns designed to show off vintage feedsack fabrics from the early 20th century. Glenna Hailey's delightful designs will inspire you to start collecting charming feedsack prints or to begin quilting with the old-fashioned fabrics you already own.

Hailey's introduction to feedsacks at the beginning of Sugar Sack Quilts is particularly helpful to readers who are unfamiliar with vintage fabrics. She gave a perfect overview of what feedsacks are and how they have been used without delving too deeply into the historical details. Hailey teaches readers about the fascinating phenomenon of novelty feedsacks in the early 20th century. In this surprising confluence of thriftiness, marketing genius, and creativity, the fabric packaging used for household goods like flour, sugar, and grain became both an advertising tool for mill companies and a resource for crafty housewives. This section of the book is rich with photography, showing examples of the wide range of prints that were used in feedsacks. After perusing the fabrics shown in these pages, you won't be able to resist hunting down a few feedsacks for yourself!

Luckily, Hailey continues with a few tips on how to start your own collection of feedsacks, so you'll have your own stash of pretty vintage fabrics in no time. She also includes suggestions for designing and sewing quilts using fabric from feedsacks, so you won't be afraid to experiment once you have your own stack of vintage fabrics. The book continues with 12 detailed quilt patterns, including one table runner, a queen size quilt, a doll quilt, and a My Sewing Buddy organizer. Each of Hailey's quilt designs gives you a cheerful new way to display your vintage or reproduction fabrics from the early 20th century. Hailey's quilts are creative and traditional at the same time, adding a whicmsical twist or an interesting border to traditional patchwork patterns. Many of the quilts incorporate both piecework and applique, and full-size applique templates are provided for each quilt pattern in the back of Sugar Sack Quilts. Hailey also provides instructions and ideas for embellishing her quilt designs with rickrack, which she believes is the perfect kitschy complement to feedsack fabrics. Some of my favorite quilt patterns in Sugar Sack Quilts were the red, white, and blue Sail Away quilt and the colorful Daisy Patch Quilt.

Whether you're searching for creative ways to quilt with your feedsack collection or you're just looking for a collection of quilt patterns to use with reproduction fabrics or other pretty prints, Sugar Sack Quilts is sure to inject some life into your next few quilt projects!