I decided to try my hand at the embroidered diary case/shot pouch on pages 34-37 of Jim Webb’s book on shot pouches and powder horns of Southern Appalachia. This is my interpretation of that bag.
I made a few changes. I only put one extra layer of leather in the flap instead of the three of the original and only created one front pocket instead of the original two. This reduced the number of layers of leather I had to sew through to a max of five. I also used 2 oz veg tan cow hide instead of buckskin. I used 6 oz veg tan cow hide for the strap.
It took a while to work out the pattern, but the shot pouch actually went together much easier than I expected. I cut out the leather very precisely making sure all the mating edges (and punched holes) lined up exactly. I punched all the holes for the embroidery and used my own design. Once the embroidery was done, I glued the pieces together along the edges using white glue. I think this was the key to being able to easily sew it all together; that and the precise matching of the holes. In case you were wondering, the glue mostly dissolves away when the bag was soaked in warm water to turn it.
The bag is stained with vinegar and iron. That was done right after the parts were cut out. I like vinegar and iron because it is a traditional stain, It stains through and doesn’t wash out. I put a lot of Mink oil on the bag once it was all done and dried out.
By the way, the bag finished up a little under about 7″ x 7″. The original was listed at 6 1/2″.
On someone’s recommendation, I decided to add a little banded southern horn to this pouch. It is a left hand horn that is fairly straight and was intended from the beginning to be carried on the right side. Actually all the horns on my personal outfits are left hand horns carried on the right. I always thought that worked the best. It was only later that I learned that, historically, left hand horns were generally carried on the left and right hand horns where generally carried on the right. Of course, I still carry a left hand horn on the right. 🙂
This horn (#56) is approximately 12″ around the outside curve, 10″ tip to tip (not including the stopper), with a base plug about 2.5″ in diameter. The base plug is Cherry, the tip is Axis deer antler, and the stopper is Black Walnut. The base plug is hollowed out about half it’s depth.
If you like this, perhaps you might be interested in some of my other fraktur such as my Birth/Baptismal/Marriage Certificates or paintings.