Trade industry groups and governmental agencies promoted the manufacture and use of dual-use packaging—flour, sugar, and feed sacks printed to appeal to farmwives, an effort that also supported struggling cotton farmers after the price of the commodity plummeted. The Textile Bag Manufacturing Association and government-funded classes provided tutorials to repurpose sacks to make children’s bedcovers, comforter covers, and a whole array of garments.

Governmental home economists encouraged women to integrate pieces of sacks into their quilts, bleaching the labels. In the 1930s, cotton sack manufacturers began printing the sacks with the intent that creative housewives would select the sacks they found the most attractive in order to reuse them in home beautification and clothing projects.