Story: Sewing, knitting and textile crafts

Boy’s shorts lining made from a flour bag, 1930s

Boy’s shorts lining made from a flour bag, 1930s

During the depression of the 1930s, people who couldn’t afford to buy new material made clothes and kitchen items like aprons and oven cloths out of sugar and flour bags and sacks. ‘Making do and mending’ was not a new practice but it was particularly widespread in this time of economic privation. This lining for a pair of boy’s shorts is made from a Crown Milling Company cotton flour bag. The material was soft and prevented the legs and buttocks from being chafed by the coarse wool of the shorts. 

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Owaka Museum
Reference: CT81.1561k

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How to cite this page:

Kerryn Pollock, 'Sewing, knitting and textile crafts - Home sewing', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/object/40527/boys-shorts-lining-made-from-a-flour-bag-1930s (accessed 30 March 2024)

Story by Kerryn Pollock, published 5 Sep 2013