COTTON: A Double Life

In Manhattan last week, R. H. Macy & Co. was hawking an odd item—dish towels made of old flour bags. And they were selling at a furious clip (30,000 in ten shopping days). Sears, Roebuck & Co. was also advertising them in its new spring catalogue (and sales were brisk). In groceries, housewives were buying flour in 25-lb. bags that had sewn-in drawstrings; the buyer had only to unstitch a seam and she had a gaily printed cotton apron. Across the U.S., thousands of women, following instructions in special pattern books, were turning...

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