Framed or unframed, desk size to sofa size, printed by us in Arizona and Alabama since 2007. Explore now.
Shorpy is funded by you. Patreon contributors get an ad-free experience.
Learn more.
July 1941. "Carnival attractions in Vale, Oregon, on the Fourth of July." Acetate negative by Russell Lee for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.
The mother/daughter dresses were likely made from feed bags. In the 1930s - 1950s feed bag companies used fancy printed cloth that farm women could make into clothing for the family.
An unusually spectacular example is here:
http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_1105750
My great grandfather was in management at the Chase Bag Company in Milwaukee. I well remember wearing shirts made of this cloth which my mother's family called "pretty prints."
I notice that the woman and the little girl on the right are wearing dresses made from the same print material. I suspect that the mother made them, from fabric and patterns bought at the local sewing shop.
On Shorpy:
Today’s Top 5