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Show Woman's Wdrld Using Cotton Bags for Garments Reduces Fabric Cost to Trifle i3u Crtta Jlaieu THESE days there's a price tag on everything, so when we do come across something free we really real-ly stand up and cheer. What is free, you ask? Flour bags, for instance. in-stance. Those of you who buy flour or feed in large quantities know that the material in the bags is well worth sewing effort, and they can be made into some of the most attractive garments gar-ments you've ever seen. I've seen many attractive prints in such bags that make lovely blouses or table linen. And that doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of their possibilities. pos-sibilities. Don't scorn the white bags either, not with all the attractive colors that are available in dyes. Two or three of the white bags can be dyed at the same time, and there's at least three or three and a quarter yards of material "there for an attractive at-tractive school dress for the teen-aged teen-aged daughter. Most women recognize the value of flour, feed, sugar and salt bags, but too often their eyes are closed to their possibilities for anything except ex-cept towels. However, experience proves that we can use bag fabrics for not only those things already mentioned but also skirts, draperies, coveralls, lingerie, pillows, etc. Just ask some bright 4-H girl how many things she can name that can be made from cotton bags, and she'll amaze you. Cotton Bags Make Year-Bound Dresses You don't have to confine wearing apparel out of cotton bags for just the warmer months. After all, cottons cot-tons are a year-round fabric. Before Be-fore you begin a dress project, for example, collect enough of the bags so you can cut out an attractive attrac-tive pattern. Then rip these apart and dye them carefully to a shape that will fit you perfectly. material, and the results will be well worth the effort. How to Prepare Cotton Bag Goods Get the whole family to help you in collecting the bags and make sure you have enough of them before be-fore you start on your pet project. As soon as you get a bag, rip it apart and remove the labels. The different type labels respond to different dif-ferent methods of removal. On some bags, they can be removed by soak- 1 Ing in warm soapsuds overnight. Preliminary scrubbing, soaking and boiling will take out others. Exposure to direct sunlight is a good method of bleaching the bags in many cases. . When labels do not respond to the above outlined treatments, soak the bags overnight in kerosene or turpentine, tur-pentine, then wash in soap and water. If any color remains, treat them with a commercial bleach. Always remember which treatment works best with certain kinds of bags vand file the informatibn for future reference. If you are unable to remove all trace of the label, finish the job by dyeing ont of the darker colors that will cover up the last trace. Dark brown, navy blue, dark gray, green or black are deep enough for this. Black is the only one which will completely cover a black ink label. If you want to use bag material for lingerie, use the light-weight material ma-terial and dye in lovely pastel shades such as pale pink, yellow or blue. Heavier bags may be used for coveralls, cov-eralls, work smocks, skirts and slacks. In-between weights of material ma-terial are good for draperies and curtains, pillows and table linens. Trimmings of all kinds add a dressed-up, finished appearance to any garment, especially cotton bag material is used. Select it with as much care as you do the colors of your dress. Collect several cotton bags . . . Dry the material and press very carefully. It's no fun trying to cut and sew something that looks worn and wrinkled, so prepare the material ma-terial to look like freshly cut bolt goods. Some of the choices which you can sew beautifully from cotton bag fabric fab-ric are these: A tailored but casual cas-ual dress with long or three-quarter length sleeves with contrasting colored stitching as the main trim-. trim-. ming; a full-skirted dress with touches of dainty eyelet or lingerie trimming in the sleeves and at the edge of the skirt; a tailored dress made of two different colors that blend well together. This may be print and plain material combined, or two solid colors combined. Lay out the pieces of your pattern pat-tern on the material before you do any cutting whatsoever. The fabric guide of the pattern will not be of too much help, inasmuch as you are using material which will not fit regulation reg-ulation yard lengths. Do not cut until you have fitted everything together to-gether and then pinned the pattern to the fabric. Pinking shears are ideal for finishing the edges of this cotton material. To make pretty dresses. After the material is cut, sewing is done just as you would on any other dress, no matter what the fabric. fab-ric. Just because you are using cotton cot-ton bags, however, don't get careless care-less with the sewing. Give it all the care you would if you were making mak-ing a dress out of ten dollar a yard |