USSC Patterns

[Spinster]

Re: USSC Patterns

This does seem a lovely time a year to piddle with ideas--and my thoughts last week also went to the basic USSC bag pattern --in this case, in an attempt to solve a packing and transport problem.

I have a number of small hand thrown crockery bottles that hold anywhere from one to two pints of liquid, and close with a small cork. Wrapping and packing them is always a risky chore, and left them subject to breakage when various folks reached into our stock box, not realizing that a tightly wound piece of toweling was not there for hand drying, but for holding the molasses bottle intact.

I utilized scraps of heavily fulled or boiled wool to cut and sew bags on the same lines as the USSC ration bag. A good steaming with a heavy flat iron produced a flat bottomed thick sack that stands upright easily. The fulled wool fabric gives a bit to conform to the bottle shape, and fit snugly, allowing the bottles to be packed without extraneous paddling, and the various labels to be visible on the neck once the draw tie is let loose.

[lukegilly13]

Re: USSC Patterns

Troy,
Thanks for posting these....i've made several ration bags using the pattern you posted...they are VERY usefuly in the haversack and protecting their contents....I made mine from cotton drill but didn't paint them. Might try painting them now that ive seen yours.

[Marc29thGA]

Re: USSC Patterns

Nice work Troy!

I have made several out of various materials; a good way of using up scrap material; only one of these was painted. Yours are top notch.

Anyway – I’ll have to take some pictures and post.

Y.O.S,

[AZReenactor]

Re: USSC Patterns

I'm glad to know the patterns have gotten some good use.

Anyone know a good source for period Silesia?

[GreencoatCross]

Re: USSC Patterns

Silesia?! SILESIA?!?!?! :angry_smi

Yeah, I have a ton here. :) I got about five yards of black cotton silesia from a tailoring supply warehouse in Cincinnati...it's about a mile away from where I am now. Let me know if you want me to pick some up for you; the five yards I have is back home in Michigan.

Those bags look stellar, by the way. I scaled the shirt patterns and want to produce a few "hospital shirts" from our remaining stock of canton flannel but I first have to find the time. Can't wait to see what else you come up with..keep up the good work!

[Marc29thGA]

Re: USSC Patterns

Troy,

As promised, here's a picture of some of my attempts at the bags & variations there of. Nothing too spectacular, but a fun evening project just the same.

You posted earlier in the Thread of the period accounts of enameling. How did you accomplish it? Did you approach it from period painting of fabric?


Y.O.S.,

[AZReenactor]

Re: USSC Patterns

Marc, Thank you for sharing.

Yes, my approach at making the enameled cloth started from period painted cloth. My examples so far are basically the same formula one would use for a painted haversack or knapsack. I'm on the look out right now for an old fashioned mangle at junk and antique stores to try and replicate some of the factory effects described in making enameled cloth.

The painted cloth works well and considering that this were supplied by donation, it makes sense that they wouldn't all be uniformly made and that substitutes for enameled cloth would have been used as well.

[Marc29thGA]

Re: USSC Patterns

Troy,

Thanks for the information. I need to make up a new batch of painted cloth for these type projects. Kind of cold in Maine now for drying - a piece I did last winter dried, but with an ice crystal like pattern.

These painted bags would also make a nice period water resistant barrier for the haversack and knapsack. Although the original intent was more to keep the rations from leaking out, don’t you think?

It does make sense that these bags would be made from material people would have around the house. Enameled cloth would be more expensive for the average person.

I'm thinking I may make some out of scrap jean cloth that is kicking around. Those remnants that are too small even for a vest.

Y.O.S.,

[J. Donaldson]

Re: USSC Patterns

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but I was about to start on a set of the ration bags, and I had a couple of quick but potentially stoopid questions.

1. What seam allowance was used in making the bags? I normally use a 1/2" allowance when sewing, and wanted to see if that was correct.

2. How much material was folded over in order to make the drawstring enclosure?

Thanks in advance for all the help. I sketched the pattern on a manilla folder for permanence, so that if these turn out well I have durable pattern to use in the future.

Bob

[AZReenactor]

Re: USSC Patterns

Bob, reactivating an old thread with good information is a heck of a lot more useful than starting a new thread on a topic that has been beaten to death already. ;-)

As for your questions, one thing I think worth keeping in mind is that the pattern and instructions are what was originally provided to those making these bags. They were home-made and donated to the USSC. Thus undoubtedly had a great deal of variation in them depending on the skill, resources, and interpretation of the person constructing them.

The seam allowances I've used depended a great deal on the material I was making them from. For painted cloth I used just 1/4", for plain cloth that unravels easier or required felling I used 1/2". I've experimented with adding seam allowances to the pattern dimension and making them with the cloth cut out exactly according to the dimensions of the pattern. I've made them both with felled and raw seams. For the enameled cloth bags I use cotton tape or bias cut cloth to bind the edge and create a sleeve to run the ribbon or string in. When I've sewn plain cloth bags I've both added a 1/2" extra to fold over or just sewed so that the top used the selvage and sewed tie strings directly to the bag. As of yet, I have been unsuccessful at locating any extant copies of these rations bags so have only had the pattern and directions to go off of. Given the nature of what you are making I think a little flexibility and experimentation are perfectly in order and suggest that you come up with a pattern that works for you.

My current preferred method is making them from good quality, light weight enameled cloth using 3/4" twill tape to bind the top and 1/4" twill tape for the string.

[J. Donaldson]

Re: USSC Patterns

Mr. Groves-

Thank you for your help. The patterns are great, and I appreciate all your help with the project.

Bob

[AZReenactor]

Re: USSC Patterns

Since I uploaded photos of ration bags to the thread about how to tie a poke sack, I thought I'd upload some more examples of USSC ration bags here. I made the enameled cloth from multiple colors since it came in a variety of colors back then. As items made made at home and donated to the USSC it makes sense that they'd have made use of the variety of material available. This batch of painted cloth was made from a fine quality painted muslin. It is nice and light weigh but quite sturdy after sizing and two coats of linseed based paint.

[NightOwl]

Re: USSC Patterns

AZReenactor, those ration bags came out stunning. I am a civilian member of the 22nd MA Infantry and we started up the Boston Branch of the US Sanitary Commission and the amount of heavy reading I have done thru the bulletins has not unearthed as much as I have found on this thread. Thank you for sharing your efforts.

[Charles Kaiser]

Re: USSC Patterns

Hallo Kameraden,
The cloth for the USSC Bags was painted like Haversacks with cornstarch as sizing, or without, so that the colour was bleeding ?
Did this bags have an inner bag, like the Haversacks ?
A Picture from the inside ?

[AZReenactor]

Re: another tidbit

The bags I made according to the period instructions are made from very light weight pre-painted cloth which has no bleed through. According to the instructions they are not made with liner bags. They are much more like large fancy poke sacks and so for the small lightweight bags they are there really wouldn't much point to adding a bag to them.

The real challenge is not so much in making the bags which are a very simple design, but in replicating the period factory made enameled cloth . Aside from the descriptions of the cloth included in this discussion, I've acquired and examined several pieces of enameled cloth from the era and am even now still working on improving my methods and techniques as well as experimenting with silk and other fabrics that were factory in the period. Starching the fabric has proven to be critically important and significantly affects the finish of the final cloth.