Snapsack

[Stophel]

Just finished my new snapsack. Made of hemp canvas, heavy, but not all that tightly woven. The strap is an old Wilde strap that I found in my box of old stuff. Sewn with flax linen thread, of course, and the drawstring is a piece of linen rope from Lithuania. I was very tempted to wax it, like I did with my earlier one, but I figured that beeswax was fairly expensive in the 18th century, and if it could be acquired at all, it probably wouldn't be wasted on something like this. A wool blanket should afford a reasonable measure of water repellency should I get caught out in the rain.

 

[Alden]

Not seein'g the scale or strap connection clearly but OK, looks nice for machine sewed (I presume including "button holes"?).

A wool blanket is not waterproof. Wool does insult even when wet though as the fibers are hollow. I don't see the connection between the tumpline and a snapsack in any case...

 

[Stophel]

"Machine sewed", are you serious? Every bit of everything I do is sewn by hand.

The blanket is carried above the snapsack.

I never said that wool is waterproof. It is, however, somewhat water repellent. It can help a little bit until you get in out of the rain.

 

[S.Kenton]

Not seein'g the scale or strap connection clearly but OK, looks nice for machine sewed (I presume including "button holes"?).

A wool blanket is not waterproof. Wool does insult even when wet though as the fibers are hollow. I don't see the connection between the tumpline and a snapsack in any case...

 

[Alden]

Sorry, looked machine sewed from my perspective...

Can we see closeups of the sling into the bag? Never saw a different material used for a strap on a snapsack butit is nice looking and good use.

I presumed you reinforced the holes around the cinch-cord... Apprently you hadn't then, at least not yet.

And where are you wearing your snapsack relative to the "water repellent" wool blanket which LOOKS like you intended a tumpline!?

 

[Stophel]

I try to make my stitching neat, even, and straight, as it should be.

No more photos at the moment, but the strap is inserted between the two sides in the seam at the bottom and sewn on the outside of the bag at the top, with a leather reinforcement inside the bag near the top of the strap stitching. The strap is angled a bit to hang naturally on my back without kinking.

The eyelets are all hand bound.

Again, the blanket can be carried on its own sling on the back above the snapsack.

 

[coloradoclyde]

I like it .....would love to see more. :thumbsup:

 

[davidmc62]

very nicely done!

 

[Stophel]

There's not a whole lot to one, they're pretty simple and straightforward. It's something that was absolutely common as dirt in 18th century Europe and America. I see scads of them in period illustrations. At least by the time of the Revolution (maybe or maybe not before), the word "snapsack" had become clearly a different item from "knapsack", as military stores list them separately. I still plan to make a knapsack, but this will do.

I made one earlier, and I waxed it, this one I did not. It is slightly larger than the earlier one, and I angled the strap so that it would lay naturally on my back without twisting and kinking it up. When I figured out the length I wanted, I had a lot of strap left over... too short to do anything else with, so I said why not, and just folded the end under and sewed the whole thing down to the bag! :haha: Makes for a pretty sturdy attachment, really. The lower end is sewn in between the two halves. Simple design, I made this one to finish out at 14" wide by about 25 1/2" long. Some people make them of enormous size, very long, and they hang all the way down their backs and under their arms, sagging and loose. I have to have mine snug and relatively high on my back (which is the way I usually see them in 18th century pictures too). If you're a smaller person than me (and most everyone is smaller than me) you might want to make one a little smaller. It's all kind of an experiment to see what works. Most old images show ones that appear to be made like this one, with a rounded "corner". Others look like a tube, tied closed on both ends. I have yet to see one with a square bottom corner (I don't think it would "fill out" well anyway). Many images clearly show leather straps and buckles, others are nondescript and probably are just cloth/woven straps. I've seen one that even has a small padlock at the closure!

 

[Alden]

They were sorta like old modern sea bags...

You might find the strap is gonna be short if you actually use one and fill it the way they were. The older trick was to leave a long strap and tie a knot in it the size you need to adjust the length.

Good luck.

 

[tenngun]

I am making some saddle bags right now and will be making a snap sack next on my list. I have been doing more and more hand sewing of late,and your looks great. I have said in the past that good hand sewing cant be told from machine until you look very close, bad hand sewing looks bad across camp.
I would like to see your pattern as that looks like what I'm planning. Its a little early for my time 1810-30. As Alden pointed out it looks much like a duffle bag and I think it would be handy for trecking. If taking to a camp I would be using it for transport instead of direct demo Although I noted in photos from the Alaskan gold rush show a lot of what looks like snap sacks, so I don't know if they ever realy went out of style. I have tried true trumplines but found it uncomfortable and never tried it afild.
Any way would like to see your pattern.

 

[Stophel]

Yeah, a lot of people who simply don't know how to sew think "hand sewing" must mean "looks like it was sewn by a drunken farsighted chimpanzee". I'm not the finest tailor around, but I'm fair at it, and I can make a nice backstitch.

I didn't really use a "pattern", just figured my size and drew it out on a piece of paper then marked it off and cut it out of my fabric. Again, there's not much to them at all.

I do not know how long they hung around, probably rather longer in Europe than America, I would imagine.

 

[BillinOregon]

Very nice project, Stophel. I've had a snapsack on my list for a long time. Was thinking of using fustian, but really, hemp canvas makes more sense.
The snapsack just seems the "right" size for carrying a reasonable number of useful things, and more secure and comfortable than a market wallet.
I must congratulate you on your sewing skills. It is a satisfying compliment to have it mistaken as machine stitching.

 

[JOHN F]

S, bag looks great !!! I use my Snapsack when I portray militia and it is like a cavernous gym bag. Much better than a haversack. Nice stitching , consider it a complement that it looks machine stitched. My hand stitching is never that nice or equidistant. I would love to see you make an 18 th century sailors ditty bag. You do really nice work...

 

[Carl Fowler III]

Yeah I have to admit I too thought it was machine sown....very nice and the stitching is excellent!