I grew up in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Hayesville, N.C., during the 1950s. Mama made my dresses from feed sacks. She also transformed hand-me-down clothes from my sister and cousin.
Most of the students at Hayesville Elementary School wore clothes their mothers had sewn. Those mountain women were excellent seamstresses and could turn feed sacks into clothes for their children. Chicken feed came in fabric sacks that had prints such as flowers. Sometimes there wasn’t enough that often appeared on the backs of dresses.
