A New Shot Pouch, Powder Horn & Patch Knife

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I recently decided that I have too many historically correct shooting outfits for guns I have yet to build that I never use. Consequently, I resolved to sell those outfits and make an entirely new shooting outfit for myself making the shot pouch, powder horn and patch knife that interests me and not necessarily a cohesive historically correct outfit . I am starting with an embroidered diary case type shot pouch with a little different flap design than on my previous pouch of this type. If you will recall, this pouch is based on one shown on pages 34-37 of Jim Webb’s book on shot pouches and powder horns of Southern Appalachia.

18th Century Diary Case embroidered with linen thread and repurposed as a shot pouch.

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.

Inside of 18th Century Diary Case embroidered with linen thread and repurposed as a shot pouch

I used linen thread for the embroidery; the same type thread I use to assemble the bag. You can get that thread in an unbelievable number of colors. I only used red, yellow, blue, and green as close as possible to the historic fraktur colors. All the stitching that shows is done with red thread. I used natural color thread for the stitches that don’t show.

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