• This community needs YOUR help today. We rely 100% on Supporting Memberships to fund our efforts. With the ever increasing fees of everything, we need help. We need more Supporting Members, today. Please invest back into this community. I will ship a few decals too in addition to all the account perks you get.



    Sign up here: https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/account/upgrades

Leather Portmanteau Pattern?

Muzzleloading Forum

Help Support Muzzleloading Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Joined
Nov 3, 2021
Messages
513
Reaction score
796
Location
Texas
Hello,
I’m looking to make myself a portmanteau, kind of like the one that Townsends sells. Do y’all know where I can find a pattern for one? I’d rather go off a pattern on the first run so I don’t end up wasting a bunch of leather if I mess it up. Thanks.
 
Sorry, I do not know where you may obtain a pattern. Tandy used to have a lot of resources but they have changed significantly/downsized in recent years. But it is a simple roll, I have made small versions in the past. The tricky part is getting the lip on the end circles so you can sew the parts together. The ones I made were based around a tennis ball can but slightly shorter. I made them for bicycle bags that hung under the back of the seat. I found another can that was slightly larger than the tennis ball can. Soak the end piece and using the tennis ball can pressed it into the other can forming the lip. I weighted it down and let set overnight to dry. That worked well, not sure how you would scale it up to size? Maybe a wooden mold?
 
Ha,
I was just going to pick up the supplies to do that this weekend
This is from book of bucksking 2
0A03363D-BD81-41C0-B624-633E648181AC.jpeg
9DFF11C1-CAA0-400C-BCCF-148FBCD5510D.jpeg
053AF878-242A-4EAD-8EE6-9BB0E8985554.jpeg
7FD69CC7-5AB6-4144-B445-58E93CDE158B.jpeg
266A6665-A03C-41F1-9962-1300E10949B7.jpeg
D001D77F-F28B-4D23-A8EA-2902808EF4C2.jpeg
 
I can make you a pattern, but I'll need to know what size you want and if you want it round or with a flat bottom. you'll need the leather, tools and buckles. and to look good the edges on the ends will need to be skived to fit together well. They are not that complicated, but they do take time to make well.
 
I can make you a pattern, but I'll need to know what size you want and if you want it round or with a flat bottom. you'll need the leather, tools and buckles. and to look good the edges on the ends will need to be skived to fit together well. They are not that complicated, but they do take time to make well.
I’d greatly appreciate that, luckily I’ve already got a good collection of tools and material. I’d like it to be round, 24” long, and 10” wide. Thank you sir.
 
I have made them in the oval shape before(Figure 14). Not too difficult, cut grooves for the stitching, use a sharp awl and a stitch marking wheel.
 
Wow that’s an excellent idea! I take it you punch the holes after the end pieces are fitted to the body, rather than before and hope they line up?
Na, I punch the holes in the wrap then glue the plugs in place roughly where they go. After the glue dries, I use a Dremel with a 1/32" drill bit in it and drill through the plugs through the wrap holes. I sew it then cut the excess off the plugs. It's not perfect but it works pretty good.
 
Last edited:
Hello,
I’m looking to make myself a portmanteau, kind of like the one that Townsends sells. Do y’all know where I can find a pattern for one? I’d rather go off a pattern on the first run so I don’t end up wasting a bunch of leather if I mess it up. Thanks.

Not sure if you already have the excellent book, "The Art of Handsewing Leather," by Al Stohlman, but if not, there are techniques in the book that would aid you greatly in making the Portmanteau and a whole lot of other projects.

In the below link, I suggest looking for these pages:

Page 10, Stabbing with the Awl - to show you how important it is to get the correct angle on the stabbing for the neatest hand stitches.

Page 24, Sewing a Miter Joint - to show you how to skive the edges at an angle, if you want to put the ends of the Portmanteau on that way. (Personally, I would do it by flat sewing the ends, but that technique comes later)

Page 31, Curved Needles and Curved Awl - I never had good luck with heating/bending these to a curve, but you don't need to as they are quite easy to find already formed that way

Page 33/34/35, Sewing with Curved Needles - This technique will be quite handy for leather sword or bayonet scabbards, if you ever decide to try that. It also can be used for attaching the ends of the Portmanteau. It is commonly called "butt sewing" or less frequently sewing ends to ends flat.

Page 35/36/37, Sewing the Bottom - This is the way the Colonial Williamsburg Cordainer made a Dice Cup end and is how I learned to use a curved awl. I think it would make a stronger way of attaching the ends of your Portmanteau.

Page 58-60, Sewing Rounds - The technique to make leather handles for the ends of your Portmanteau.

Page 68 -71, How to make the Stohlman Stitching Pony (with or without rear legs, depending on your needs) Though this one is made a bit differently than period Stitching Pony's, it gives you some idea how to lay them out, if you would like to make one.

The art of hand sewing leather - PDF Free Download (epdf.pub)

More coming, but I don't want to lose this typing.

Gus
 
DiMarco_Mercantile,

I'm not sure using a pattern will help you make your portmanteau to the size you need. Do you know how to make your own pattern, to suit what you want to carry?

Gus
I do, I initially asked because I didn’t know how one would be constructed properly and had some trouble visualizing it. I’ve gotten a bunch of good replies to help with that :thumb:
 
Do you still need the pattern? The circumference of a 10-inch bag is 31.4 actual, then you'll need at least a 3 inch overlap. The end pieces need to be pretty heavy, at least 10-12 oz or a double equivalent. Some of the bags of the time had wood in the ends for added strength.
 
Do you still need the pattern? The circumference of a 10-inch bag is 31.4 actual, then you'll need at least a 3 inch overlap. The end pieces need to be pretty heavy, at least 10-12 oz or a double equivalent. Some of the bags of the time had wood in the ends for added strength.
I think I should be good on my own now. Thanks for your offer.
 
Back
Top