This ain't a joke ... it's the truth. My mother's older sister used to set aside some of their feed sacks. All that we used were burlap (aka gunny sack). Some of theirs were rather nice fabric, some quite pretty floral prints. My aunt would set the nicer ones aside and give them to us. More than a few of my mother's dresses were made from those feed sacks ... and my very best shirts came from that fabric.

I always find it amusing when one of my tenants tells me how "Granddad or Great Granddad was a share-cropper, down in 'bama .." They're always shocked that I grew up in a share-cropping family. I believe that I was fifteen before my folks had set enough aside for a down payment on "our" first farm.