Making fabric strap for pouch or haversack

[wet willy]

Suggestions needed for making a fabric strap.

I'd like to make a fabric strap for a hunting pouch or haversack, using cotton duck canvas or fustian cloth. Clearly a single layer of this material would need bound edges to keep from unravelling, but to me this would be too thin and curl up like a rope around one's shoulders.

Doubling it over seems better, but how to hide the stitching? Could you make a 40" strap inside out, then turn it so rightside is out and stitching is on the inside?

Or use 4 layers, so a 2" wide strap would need an 8" wide piece, plus some allowance for stitching?

[david50]

i just finished making a linen haversack and made the strap just as you described,sewed it together then turned it inside out.

[wet willy]

How wide is the strap after stitching and how did you manage to turn this tube inside out?

[david50]

it is about 2" wide. i took a dowl rod and run it through the tube,took a small tack and tacked the end of the tube to the rod then pulled it through its self.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

You can make the strap in the form of a tube.  Once sewn up, turn it - I work it down over a broom handle or some such.  Then work the stitched seam into the centre of the strap, and iron it.  The seam will stay down the middle and the strap will be quite comfortable.

[Luke MacGillie]

The surviving Brit haversack strap is made by folding a length of cloth in half, whipstiching it closed, then turning.  But the most important thing is 2 running backstiches that go down each edge of the strap, giving it the "umpth" it needs to not roll. 

[art riser]

http://contemporarymakers.blogspot.com/search?q=jan+riser&updated-max=2012-05-05T07:01:00-04:00&max-results=20&start=16&by-date=false

an example of what Luke said...

[david50]

The surviving Brit haversack strap is made by folding a length of cloth in half, whipstiching it closed, then turning.  But the most important thing is 2 running backstiches that go down each edge of the strap, giving it the "umpth" it needs to not roll. 

will add this to my strap...thanks!

[Chris Treichel]

I think your talking about Najeki's pics of an origional British Army haversack...
http://www.najecki.com/repro/misc/Nannos/HaversackBody.html

[wet willy]

Thanks, let's exactly the kind of haversack I'd like to make.

Any info on the dimensions? Images from your link are very nice.

[wet willy]

Thanks to all for the suggestions on making a fabric strap for a haversack. I checked the Najecki site and got back to their info page: their haversack is 16 3/4" wide, 13 1/2" high. I'm a rank beginner at sewing these things, and I've learned a few things about working with canvas and/or flax-linen material.

(1) Strap: using 12oz cotton duck, a finished 2" wide strap is tough to turn inside out after edge sewing. Dowel 5/16" OK, but coat hanger wire even better for pulling it through.

(2) Washed vs unwashed fabric: washed some duck, shrunk alot. Glad I didn't cut to final shape before washing. Tried another with unwashed, which appears to be more water resistant than after washing.

(3) Water resistance: looks like beeswax, turpentine, linseed oil brushed on is HC. Modern spray stuff works OK and does not change fabric color. Not HC but then who knows?

[Luke MacGillie]

A haversack, used in the way it is supposed to does not need any waterproofing, as its a food bag designed to carry greasy salt pork, not your camera, car keys and wallet......

in the European military tradition they were quickly sewn up and used for a campaign season and then discarded.  During the Revolution very few American soldiers happened to have both a knapsack and a haversack, carrying their food in their pockets or some other way. 

Here is JJ Henry's account of what they call a "Pork Bag" and how they used it when they needed to repair their bark canoe.  Henry, of Course was in one of the PA Rifle companies headed to Quebec with Morgan.

"A lucky thought occurred to the youngest of the company, that the pork bag, lay empty and neglected, in one of the canoes. The thought and the act of bringing it were instantaneous. The bag was ripped, and as if it had been so much gold dust, we scraped from it about a pint of dirty fat."