GIVEAWAY: “Flour Sacks, Courage+Dreams=”

Thank you for dropping by my Raising Jane Journal to participate in my giveaways! We’ve chosen a winner for this giveaway already, but don’t be afraid to leave a comment anyway. I love reading them.

In the June/July 2022 issue of MaryJanesFarm, “Courage+Dreams=” (on newsstands May 3), I led you here to my journal for a chance to win a stack of vintage flour-sack fabric. 

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For a chance to win, tell me why you connect with the nostalgia of MaryJanesFarm in the comments below. (It might make it into one of our upcoming issues.) I’ll toss your name into a hat and draw a lucky winner sometime soon.

Stay tuned for more magazine-related giveaways. If you’re not yet a subscriber to my magazine, MaryJanesFarmsubscribe here for $19.95/year.

  1. Liz Higgins says:

    Love your magine. Me and my sisters grew up wearing flour sacks clothes. Of course we didn’t know it. we thought we had the best Our grsnmother was a semstress so we were know as the Webb girls with the pretty dresses. when we were teenagers we finally got to buy a dress from a store!

  2. Anne Marie DeBoard says:

    I love Mary Jane’s Farm because I have a secret wish to own backyard chickens. It’s a lovely dream but in reality I don’t have the time, yet. I also remember my Mom putting up jars of jelly. We didn’t grow up with much money, but there was love in everything she did for us. She handcrafted clothing which should have been a joy, but led to teasing because we wore handmade versus “off the rack”. How off to think now that those teasing girls made fun of us for our bespoke attire!

  3. Stephanie Sparks says:

    I received a gift subscription to MaryJane’s Farm several years ago. I never discovered who sent me the magazines, but whoever it was knew me well. This magazine is all the things I love. I had no idea there were so many others like me! I still look forward to every issue and read every article and advertisement.

  4. Alice Wagner says:

    Not sure if I’m doing this right (old lady/new tricks) … I already subscribe to Mary Jane’s Farm magazine and am interested in winning flour sack fabrics. It’s a touch a nostalgia “from the past” … my mom grew up in the Ozarks and one of the things of hers that I had (and have passed on to a niece with tons of family history etc.) was a sun bonnet made from the flour sack fabrics. It “hurt” to let some of those things go, but if I don’t do it now, it’ll fall to my immediate family to take care of them.

  5. Moriah Prange says:

    Mary Jane’s captures the wonder and simplicity of life that we often miss in a hectic, technology driven world. My grandma gave me some of her issues, and I fell in love. I discovered the practic of grounding through Mary Jane’s, and the effects on my life have been truly life changing for me.

  6. Linda Lavelle White says:

    I was raised on a one jersey cow farm, she provided milk, cream, and butter for our family. Once a week the older couple down the road would also get a gallon of milk. We all missed our fresh milk when it was time for her to have her calf.
    Mama always new where to find me when our cat had her kittens whether they were in the barn or in the smokehouse. I’d find a box and fix them a soft bed and play with them after school everyday.
    I remember going to the store with my grandma and picking out the sack of flour that ‘I liked’ for a dress. She would use the material add some lace and make me a dress with a skirt that twirled.
    Your magazine brings back great memories for me!

  7. Colleen Richter says:

    I have been a Mary Jane’s Farm girl for decades and can always relate to almost everything in each issue.
    However, the Flour Sacks really caught my attention. My mom was born in 1929, so lived through the entire Depression. She often talked about her clothing being made from feedsacks. There are a few photos of her and her sister in their new dresses – both things being a rare occurrence in her life.
    As for myself, I’m a sewer and quilter, and the whole feedsack idea really appeals to me. I’d love to win the fabric and then see what I could create from it!

  8. Brandi Waitz says:

    MaryJanesFarm magazine is one I just recently subscribed to, and one I look forward to getting! I love that its pages are filled with useful and inspiring information, and that it’s always FUN to read. Information that both pulls you in with new ideas and also leaves you reminiscing about a simpler time. A time when families worked hard and had to be innovative in their own ideas and creative in nature. I find it refreshing to take a break from today’s world, where “progress” has discouraged so many from any real thought or even movement. And I love the idea of flour sacks and really wish you could still buy flour that way. How fun would that be!

  9. lynne denney says:

    I always learn something new! Such a treasure to pore over the pages! thank you!

  10. Amy says:

    With everything in the world being so complicated, I embrace what Mary Jane’s farm stands for. I love doing things the old-fashioned way, and learning new “old” things. Though I live in a small apartment I’m an old-fashioned farm girl at heart!

  11. Carolyn Peery says:

    I love Textiles my Auntie use to sew bags at Bemis bag company in Los Angeles,Ca 1950s/ I was learning to sew she use to make clothes for my cousin’s toddlers. Also Bemis Co. had a contest at Christmas to see who made the fanciest dress. I moved back to midwest and realize going to Auctions in Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri lots of feedsack. The print were always cheerful and fun. I Started collecting! Anything made of feedsacks.
    I have a real weakness for them.

  12. Stacy Stump says:

    This magazine is timeless. All that is old is new again….. in every issue! Have subscribed for years it’s my lucky day when it comes in the mail. Grab a cup of tea and the latest issue and set on the front porch and melt into it. I find something in every issue to inspire me. From recipes to crafts to just good reading! Best one this issue “Creativity takes courage” by Dori Troutman. Keep the ideas coming, just love them.

  13. Marsha Tennant says:

    MJF gives me permission to step back into ordinary and simplicity at the same time. I find myself wanting to make sure my footprint is true to all things healthy and safe. MJF is the road map!

  14. Wendy Schmidt says:

    I love MaryJane’s because it warms my heart to be reminded of the simpler times. My husband and I bought a farm 3 years ago in The Pacific Northwest and we are in the process of following our dreams. My grandmother, whom I am very close to and recently passed away, grew up on a small farm in rural Wisconsin. This had greatly influenced my mother and, therefore, me. I always loved scouring the forest for berries to make pie and repurposing every speck of fabric into quilts and small art projects. I am so excited when MaryJane’s shows up in my mailbox, I will make a cup of tea and devour every page. MaryJane’s Farm is a beautiful magazine and by far, my favorite.

  15. Carole Nicholas says:

    I love this magazine which my neighbor shares with me as I am on a limited budget, and she gets to repurpose after taking out and saving what she wants. We both win! I am a quilter and would love to win a stack of feed sack fabrics. As a child in the 1950’s I remember my aunts and mom talking about clothing made from these sacks. My mother sewed our dresses as there were 7 children in our house. I remember hours spent skinning tomatoes to can as well as peaches. This magazine is filled with wonderful things, I especially enjoy alot of the quotes in them and cut them out to put in my journals.

  16. Ronald and Robin Grubb says:

    I love your magazine! I save every issue. I am a quilter, crocheter, and knitter. My husband has honeybees and gardens. We are big glamping fans! We make fresh strawberry jam and apple butter. Love old tablecloths and linens and would love to win these flour sacks. We believe you are never to old to play outside!

  17. shawna matos says:

    I love MaryJanesFarm because I love the simplicity of the “old days”. I know the work was harder & longer, but the distractions of life today wasn’t there. In my home, in my relationships, in the way I speak & treat people, in my kitchen, in what I do with my hands I try to model the MaryJanesFarm mentality & the way my grandmother & great grandmother would have lived.

  18. Marci says:

    Years ago, I spent as much time with my Grandmother Nellie as I could, and frequently hid to keep from going home. I loved it there! I didn’t know then that I was a country girl at heart and her lifestyle was what I wanted for myself when I grew up. She was never still… always cooking, tending her garden or her chickens and rabbits, canning, crocheting, making clothes from feedsacks, and embroidering on whatever she made. To this day, I still think like she did in my homemaking, emulating her as much as I can in this day and age. I have changed a lot of things as I’ve grown older, but I’m still that country girl at heart!

  19. Lori Jensen Vranish says:

    When I see flour sack material, I see the utilitarian but attractive aprons that my great-grandmother and great aunts wore every day on their farms in North Dakota. When I was a child, the aprons were just a part of their uniform, their identity as the bakers and cooks and gardeners that they all were.

    But now . . . they are a nostalgic reminder of tomatoes served fresh from the garden. A cool drink of water from the galvanized bucket from a semi-rusted enamel dipper as you walked into the mud room. I remember snug sleeping porches, feral, mysterious barn cats, old sheds smelling of hay and the simple joy of family gatherings.

    Those simple, solid matriarchs wore their uniforms with honor and I’m proud to call them my own.

  20. Shawn Morrow says:

    Flour sack dresses were featured in The Four Winds, a Depression era book I just finished for my AAUW Bookclub. I envisioned plain and course “sack cloth”. Your article was enlightening.
    I know we would all be thrilled to experience the actual fabric and the sewers among us in the bookclub will have no shortage of ideas to put the fabric to use!

  21. Cyndi Harrison says:

    I love your magazine because it takes me where I wish I was. Even though the work is hard, it seems satisfying and peaceful. I love the idea of reusing flour sacks.

  22. Kitty Darnell says:

    My parents homesteaded in Alaska from 1954-1963 & raised us to love the repurposed & repaired, the worn & comfortably mended. To live off the land as much as possible, to work hard & play well, too. My mother & her mother & aunt made us quilts one summer so we wouldn’t freeze. So quilts have always been in my life & I have too many these days! But that’s wonderful because I’m passing them on to the younger ones & they are enjoying them, too! I still can’t possibly leave one I find needing a home. Especially if it’s made of old flour sacks & hand stitched. I’ll just pass it on. A quilt & a cast iron skillet makes a great wedding present!
    I love to sew when I find wonderful vintage fabric. I wonder what I could made with the flour sacks if I was the one to win? Thanks for the fun! Your magazine always makes me feel like I can do it! Whatever it is!

  23. Roxann Jaimez says:

    The first time (which was years ago) I purchased Mary Janes farm book, I immediately felt a connection, so much of the content makes me reflect on my childhood at my grandma’s. The tidbits of advice, the recipes and the many projects in the magazine are doable and enjoyable! This is my 2nd-2 year subscription..and I always can’t wait for the next magazine!
    Thank you Mary Jane!!
    P.S. And …I keep every issue!

  24. Edith Chapman says:

    I love Mary Jane’s Farm because of all the healthy tips, recipes, and all things country. I especially like it when Meg does a DIY. (I wish I knew more about using tools!!). I also love Rebekah Teal’s page!! I’m happy to see more gluten-free recipes as well. THANK YOU

  25. Shannon Lynn Wheeler says:

    I love all things gardening, outdoors, old fashion ways and the simplicity of life. Cooking and keep up to date on environmental issues, new tips, inspiration, connection and learning from others is why I love this magazine so much!

  26. Melanie Files says:

    My grandfather was a full-time farmer and a post office employee in Princeton WV. He saved his patterned feed sacks for my mother. My sister and I wore lots of summer clothes made from those sacks. Makes me smile just to remember–as I’m sure many others do also.

  27. Jennifer Filby says:

    I love everything country especially the items you feature about sewing. A fun story. I made the Dresden plate hot pad you featured a while back. I’ve given a few away as gifts.
    My son in law was talking to a co worker and he showed him a picture of something unrelated to the hot pad but it was in the picture. His co worker asked where he got the doilie ”hot pad” and he said his mother in law made it. He said forget the item he was showing, he asked how he could get a hot pad. When
    my son in law told me about it I made one that night and just finished it up the next day when he came to pick up my granddaughter the next day.
    Thank you for not only sharing all the things that bless my life. But it’s given me opportunity to share it with others. I tell everyone about your magizine.

  28. Donna Mcwhorter says:

    My mother has taught me to quilt and I just love vintage fabrics. They are so very classy.. sewing with my mom is slways a treat and she introduced me to your magazine! Just love it!

  29. Natalie Busby says:

    My Mom who is 87 now, has always talked so endearingly about flour sacks and how amazingly creative the woman of her time were! She’s speaks of when a dress was made for her and her doll. I would love love love it if I was able to present Mom with some of these vintage flour sacks! There was eight of us and it was quite miraculous how we all faired so well, on so little. We threw very little away! She saw a use for just about everything, she looked at it as a challenge, a game if you will! Hot fire makes strong steel she would say! My Moms stories read like a book and while her physicality may be failing, her unending mental fortitude never seems to wane! It sure would put a smile on her face and a tear in her eye if she possessed some of those old tyme fabrics.

  30. Donna Lund says:

    My connection with the nostalgia of MaryJanesFarm began after my mother, grand-mother and several aunts died. These women had taught me what little I knew, because they were always doing the work, about sewing, gardening, nature-watching, for signs of course, and many other practical things. Who would answer my questions now? I had been pondering this for some time and was in Lowe’s one day, standing in line next to the magazine area. I picked up Mary Jane’s magazine and have been enjoying it ever since. Often times, there are articles containing containing advice, tips or information that remind me of a beloved woman that I had the privilege of learning from.

  31. Arlis St Charles says:

    I work for a magazine company, where I merchandise magazines in stores. This is where I came across MaryJanesFarm. Oh my, how interesting. I stopped work,for a bit, and leafed thru the magazine, and found wonderful, interesting articles. Not to mention the attractive pictures that drew your eyes in even more.
    So, after purchasing the first magazine several years ago, I’ve saved all along, I keep up on the subscription. Sure don’t want to miss any.
    Just can’t wait for the next issue out, always stops you in your tracks and makes you take a break to leaf thru it. Glad I found this enjoyment.

  32. Arlis St Charles says:

    I work for a magazine company, where I display product in stores. This is where I came across MaryJaneFarm, several years ago. It is a real eye catcher. I had to stop work,and leaf thru the magazine right then. Also purchased it n have been keepin up with it since. Your articles are very interesting, and useful. They pictures are eye catchers.
    I really wish product could be purchased in stores , such as Chillover.

  33. Bette Keehner says:

    I have been sewing all my life and love the vintage fabrics. When I was a child my favorite aunt made doll clothes for my doll from feed sacks. I still have them.

  34. Sheri Stoddard says:

    Mary Janes Farm just plain makes me happy! I raised my own family on a farm growing and processing as much of our own food as possible. I sewed, gardened, made soap and all our cleaning products.My grandfather used to say they worked hard to find an easier way and here I was going backwards! I think he secretly liked the idea! Mary Janes Farm honors the simple things that make a life. Hopefully introducing a whole new generation of farm girls( and boys) to what is truly important. I am proud that my grandbabies are all growing up farm raised!

  35. Jennifer Leatherwood says:

    I’ve I loved Mary Jane Farm Magazine for some years now. After reading the June-July 2022, The Ultimate DIY Flour Sacks article, I was fascinated by the dedication that women showed towards their families, the men and women at war, and America as a whole. How could we not admire the ingenuity and courage of women during WW2 whether in the home front or front lines helping the war effort. Women grew their own food in a victory garden, possibly worked at a factory to provide for family, or sewed, which today seems to be almost a lost art of making homemade clothes. Your article on the Flour Sacks and how women made do with what they had which included
    using the flour sacks for dresses or crafts was news to me. It was so interesting that an estimated 3 million women and children wore these flour-sack garments. Today we talk about repurposing old clothes but shortages in the 1940’s made women in WW2 very frugal and creative with what they had to work with and rationing what they . We can learn so much from our Sisters from the past. Jen Leatherwood

  36. Rebecca Robison says:

    As a child I spent a lot of time with my grandparents on their farm. Those days are my fondest memories. My grandmother taught me how to quilt, can vegetables and jellies. One of our favorite pastimes was going to the general store and looking for a certain pattern of flour sack. She made quilts, sunbonnets, and clothes and so much more from the beautiful prints. She taught me the importance of being frugal. She taught me bein frugal doesn’t mean doing without. It’s about being a smart consumer. She was repurposing before the term became popular. My grandfather taught me the importance of a chemical free garden and how to raise gorgeous vegetables. He made furniture and carved detailed toys for us. We had a great life with fireflies, watermelon and homemade ice cream. That’s why the flour sack stack would be wonderful to win.

  37. Kathy Freeman says:

    I live among nostalgia – through my home, the contents, the land and woods, plus a branch of a creek that runs through the pastures. It is the land of my paternal great-grandparents, and the home of my paternal great-grandparents that I have lived for all my days. I love every bit of it and your magazine fits right in. Thanks for the connections to the past which is a great way to live.

  38. Debbie Larrimore says:

    I remember as a little girl going with my dad to the feed store. I can still see the men loading the beautiful sacks of colorful feed sacks into the back of the truck. I was like a kid in a candy store. I couldn’t wait for him to empty the sacks cause I knew momma would make me a dress from them. My mother made all my clothes growing up,and I wore many feed sack dresses. I wore them proudly because they were so lovely. I still remember a red calico with yellow flowers dress mom made for school picture day. That dress is long gone but the memory of it remains intact . Thank you Mary Janes Farm for your lovely magazine that I can enjoy and reminisce about days gone by.

  39. Celia Shields says:

    Your DIY on flour sacks brought back the memories shared by my mother of her childhood in Missouri. She was the oldest of 6 children, born in 1920. She would talk of having clothing made of flours sacks that were handed down to her5 sisters. Her least favorite was the underwear, favorite were the floral dresses. When I was newly married, I found flour sacks with purple flowers which I transformed to curtains. Ah, the memories!

  40. Mary Arntson says:

    I love Mary Jane’s Farm magazine because it is full of wonderful recipes and stories. I am a quilter and so enjoyed the Stitching with Dori article. Would love to win the Flour Sacks so I can make a quilt for my great-granddaughter.

  41. Martha Rinker says:

    I heard about flour sack dresses from my mother and grandmother. Grandmother taught my mother how to sew using flour sack material. My mother passed that skill down to me. I would love to have the chance to “connect” with both of them by making a flour sack dress of my own. Thank you so much for sponsoring this giveaway context.

  42. Suzanne Tyte says:

    I loved this article about the flour sack clothing. It brought back so many memories of the beautiful dresses my grandma made for my sister and I when we were growing up. How I cried when I outgrew them! She also made many of her own clothes and they were beautiful too. Thank goodness we can’t outgrow happy memories.

  43. Rea Nakanishi says:

    Just sitting outside with my morning coffee reading the latest MaryJanes Farm Magazine. It is always like a little peaceful getaway from the hustle of the real world. The article reminded me how I grew up having my grandmother sew my dresses with material I got to chose from the fabric store. But it made me think that she was raised in a different era and flour sacks were probably a welcomed gift of fabric. I know times were not easy then and just thinking of how she would have used those pieces of material in her everyday life.. Today we have such an abundance of everything at our fingertips that we don’t take the time to think of how we can live a more grateful life.

  44. Beth Downing says:

    My great grandmother, grandmother and mother would make dresses, doll dresses, quilts, and aprons from those beautiful feed and flour sacks. I have some of the doll dresses and quilts they made. I treasure them and the stories they tell.

  45. Karen Rowell says:

    Why do I connect with the nostalgia? Because I’m just about 69 years old and the nostalgia is speaking my language! 😉 It’s a reminder of my growing up years on a farm (still live on the same farm, by the way). I love rural living so, so much!

  46. Lisa carole LaFave says:

    I look forward to each issue and learn something,every time ..love reminiscing and seeing revival of back home ways,in more people…I am a lover of cooking and baking and have freshened up my menus,thanks to your outlay of ideas..

  47. Nita says:

    My grandmother would make me a little feedsack dirndl skirt each summer when I stayed there for a week. I especially liked the little red-sprigged muslin fabric. It was fun to see the feedsacks stacked at the store!
    After years living in cities for jobs and raising kids, we’re now 20 years out in the country with chickens and acres of pasture and trees. Found Mary Janes Farm at the local Tractor Supply and have subscribed ever since. I love the crafts, recipes, health articles, and stories and especially the can-do attitude of recycle/upcycle. I cook in cast iron several times each week, sew, knit, crochet, and quilt, all skills taught by mothers and grandmothers. I’ve even passed on some to my kids and grandkids. Our DIL gets her own gift subscription to MJF each year and our new neighbors trying to build across the road read an issue and will get their gift subscription as soon as they move in and receive mail here. Mary Janes Farm reminds us what’s real and worth keeping.

  48. Heather N. says:

    I connect with the nostalgia of Mary Jane’s farm (magazine and sisterhood) because it embraces a time when things were not simpler, but rather when things were much more appreciated – from the time it takes to make a homemade gift, the deliciousness of a homemade meal, a comfortable bed after working hard all day, and especially the friendship of wonderful,like-minded ladies!

  49. Pat Frock says:

    I am 70 this summer. I can vaguely remember my grandmother making me dresses from feed sacks. I miss her terribly

  50. Annabel Barnes says:

    Grandpa Tom took a Poultry Inspector and me out back to see chickens when I was five years old. We gathered eggs and went in to eat a few. Grandma Lita cooked in her big farm kitchen with apron on. Playing in front by cotton fields , eating pecans and walnuts under their ancient nut trees was quite a peaceful time. Not to mention wanting to climb stairs to their silo made me want to grow up on farmland. Montana gave me that dream in my heart! Goodbye city and hello God’s Country!

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