On Aug 1, 2004, at 18:15, ann DURANT wrote:
During World War II, and presumably before, flour used to be sold in fabric bags [...]
Once washed, the material was a sort of soft muslin, and my mother, and probably many others like her, used to put a hem on the material and use it as a handkerchief.
Very definitely before... :) When I went to Stanford University in search of their lace collection (Hoover Tower? I'm sure some Northern Californian will be able to tell us the exact name of the building), I got to see some of those, dating to WWI, and also re-used. Apparently, Mr and Mrs Hoover (before he became President), managed to persuade the US government to send help to Belgium, and managed to persuade the Germans to let it through. So, flour went in, and empty bags came back. Empty, but most beautifully embroidered, by the grateful recipients; Mrs Hoover made sure that more than just flour was sent: thread (also thread for lacemaking) was included in the shipments...
The embroidered bags are well worth arranging a visit (they're not on permanent display) to see, if you're going to be in that area; they're beautiful. The story of the lacemaking threads which had also been sent at the same, time is reported in Charlotte Kellog's (?) book, of which fragments Jeri Ames had, kindly, re-typed for us some while ago. The book itself is out of print but may, I think, be available on CD, due to Tess Parrish's efforts...
PS Our Virginia hams (long-cured and very salty) come in similiar (though not sized) bags. The bags are not suitable for embroidery, being printed, on both front and back, with pretty-much indelible ink, but they're still re-usable. Because they're light-weight and they breathe, they serve well for storing fresh produce (carrots, radishes, parsley, spring onions) in the fridge.
--- Tamara P Duvall http://lorien.emufarm.org/~tpd Lexington, Virginia, USA (Formerly of Warsaw, Poland) Healthy US through The No-CARB Diet: no C-heney, no A-shcroft, no R-umsfeld, no B-ush.
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