What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/1439406
DECEMBER 26, 2021-JANUARY 1, 2022 WHAT'S UP! 9 Some feed sack patterns even reflect popular culture of the time, as do these from the Kansas State University Historic Costume and Textile Museum. Among sack prints featuring American Wild West themes for children was the iconic cowboy Red Ryder. Today we mostly associate this character with the famous Daisy Airgun Rifle of the same name. (Courtesy Photo/RHM) In 1945, the women of the Rogers Christian Science Church were making garments from feed sacks as a war relief project. The sacks were donated by a sack manufacturer and by area farm wives, and the garments were put on display at a local department store. The ladies also were gathering costume jewelry to raise the spirits of women in war-devastated Europe. Rogers residents had already donated 9,000 pounds of clothing to be sent to Europe. (Courtesy Photo/RHM) Another of the feed sacks from the Kansas State University Historic Costume and Textile Museum is the Rag Darling Feed Sack, c. 1940, manufactured by Percy Kent Bag Co. of Kansas City, Mo. (Courtesy Photo/ RHM) memories of your family's "make do or do without" ethic? A: My grandmother and her three siblings were young children during the Great Depression. I have heard her recall how she only had two dresses, one to wear and one to wash. Living on a farm, her family was able to grow some of their food, but once the drought came, that wasn't even an option. Like so many families from Arkansas struggling to make ends meet, my great-grandparents moved the family to California for a while so that my great-grandfather could find steady work. He was lucky and found employment as an auto mechanic. Money was still tight however, and my grandma remembers how her parents told her and her older sister one Christmas that they couldn't afford to give them anything that year as they wanted to be sure to give her younger brother and baby sister, who were too young to understand, something from Santa. Q. How do you see people practicing make do or do without in 2021? A: In recent years, there has been a resurgence of upcycling with the increased awareness of environmentally friendly practices to keep items out of the landfills. People are finding creative ways to recycle materials, using everything from plastic bags to make floor mats to wooden pallets to build furniture.