I received a ton of comments over the weekend asking where I buy my grain sacks, so I thought I would share.  Unfortunately, I don’t have one magic hookup, but I get them here and there as I find them.

I’ve bought a bunch from Pete, my fellow vendor at Lucketts.  He doesn’t always have grain sacks, but he has them pretty regularly.  The nice thing about buying from Pete is he buys grain sacks that aren’t in pristine condition.  That means they’re not expensive (about $25-$30/each.)  It does mean you might have to wash them or work around some stains or patches, but I’m fine with that.

I’ve bought a few grain sacks at antique fairs, but those were quite a splurge at $65/each.  They were in amazing condition, though, with very cool embroidery.

Another source has been some of my readers living in Poland and Germany.  Some sweet ladies sourced a few for me and mailed them my way.

 The source I have to share that’s going to be most helpful to you is Etsy.  I have bought several grain sacks from THIS SHOP.   (FYI…This shop is not a sponsor and this is not a sponsored post.)  The cost is reasonable, but shipping is pretty high.  I buy 3-4 at a time to save on the shipping costs.  I definitely view grain sacks as a splurge.  I doubt I’m ever going to have a huge cabinet stacked full with them, but I love buying a few a year to use for upholstery, pillows and table runners during photo shoots (and yes, I have a few folded and stacked.)

When shopping for grain sacks, I look for a few things.  I use them mostly to cover chairs, so I look for sacks that are wide (about 20-24″.)  I have found the skinnier sacks (16-19″) are too narrow to cover a seat.  I try to calculate the overall yardage (remember you get double the length, since a sack has two sides) to make sure I’m getting the most bang for my buck.  I look for colors and patterns I like.  I’m partial to blue and red with stripes and/or a monogram.  Lastly, I check the condition.  As I said earlier, I don’t mind stains and patches, but I just make sure I can live with them.  There can be some pretty unsightly imperfections…they are grain sacks, after all…so I have to think through whether they’ll work or not.

If you love the look of grain sacks, but you just can’t afford them, you can make very convincing replicas by painting stripes and initials on canvas drop cloths or nubby hemp fabric.

Happy grain sack shopping!!