Medieval Arrow Bag: FINISHED

Hello everyone, thank you for reading this :)  I kind of left my medieval arrow bag build-along about 3/4 of the way finished and I apologize for that.  So, here are some pictures of the completed arrow bag! Enjoy!  If you have questions about the construction of this bag, please comment below and I will answer as best as I can. 

Making a Medieval Arrow Bag, Part 2.

In this post I will provide the pattern and  method for sewing a medieval arrow bag.

Materials needed
-At least 2 yards linen or canvas fabric. Linen being historicaly preferred.
-Appropriate needle for fabric weight.
-Pins, I only had two but more will definitely benefit you.
-Thread of similar color to fabric.
-Your arrow spacer
-A string for the top drawstring
-A leather string, aprox: 6 inches

Here is the pattern...

A- This is the circumference of the arrow spacer and will be the width of the fabric. This is where the spacer will be sewn into the bag.

B- This is where the bottom of the bag will be tied to hold the arrows in.  It is the same measurement as A.

C- Fold the fabric down along this line to make a space for the drawstring. It is the same measurement as A.

Step 1. Measure the circumference of your arrow spacer and add 1/2". As you can see mine measures 22" exactly. Mark measurement A.



Marking measurement A



Step 2. Figuring out where to mark B and C.  To do this it is very handy to have an arrow on hand.  Place the arrow on line A as if it where in the arrow spacer.

Now we can mark measurement B and C in relation to the arrow.  B should be marked about 3 to 5 inches below the tip of the arrow. Be sure that there is enough arrow above line A so that when you mark line B the arrow wont fall through the spacer when the bag is completed.  The distance from A to B should be about 26 inches

Marking line B



Marking line C. Line C would be the one that is farthest left. The other two are not needed, I was just experimenting.

Step 3. Cut out the pattern. It should look just like the pattern up above. A simple rectangle with your lines A, B and C drawn on it.



The pattern as it should  look before cutting out.

Step 4. Fold the entire pattern in half length-wise.  Starting at line A whip stitch all the way to the bottom of the bag.  



The whip stitch almost completed.

Step 5. Now that we have the whip stitch completed, turn the bag inside-out. It will actually be outside-in but, ya know. Now we want to hem the bottom of the bag. To do this I turned the bottom edge of the bag inside on itself twice, so I would be sewing through three layers of fabric.


The double-rolled hem.

Step 6. Sewing in the arrow spacer. Place your spacer inside the bag and align it with line A. Spiral stitch the spacer into the bag.



View from the top.

View from the bottom.

Okay, so that is all I can manage for the time being.  Please let me know if this was helpful and if needed what do I need to change.

Thanks all!

Making a Medieval Arrow Bag

I have reccently decided to make use of my scrap leather pieces and create a medieval arrow bag.  In my own searching I have found very little info on "how to" make an arrow bag so I thought I would take up the task myself! Hopefully you find this useful and interesting!

Here is the leather spacer. It is a piece of vegetable tanned leather I picked out of the scrap basket at Tandy Leather Co. and then cut to this shape. I cut it out with and X-Acto knife.

I used pennies to trace circles for the arrows holes. They leave enough room for the arrow and fletching to pass through cleanly while still holding the arrow solidly.  Several other folks' leather disks were 6 1/2" in diameter and I cut mine at 7" because I plan on hardening by soaking it in hot water and drying it and that will allow it to shrink down a little bit.  There are 24 holes as per leather spacers recovered from the Mary Rose.  Soon I plan on sewing a linen or canvas bag onto this disk to complete the bag! Stay tuned



Two scrap pieces that I used to practice "cuir bollei"



Here is the hardened piece compared to a non-hardened piece.

 To harden the leather, a process also known as cuir bollei, I turned on my kitchen faucet to the hottest water it could put out.  Once it was steaming and uncomfortable to the touch I plugged the sink and allowed it to fill up about an inch and a half with water.  I then put the leather in the water and allowed it to thouroughly soak, about 1.5-2 minutes. then I let dry for twelve hours. The result was brilliant, a hardened piece of leather not to weak and not to brittle.  I highly recommend that you run your own tests first before your actual project.

Here is a quick video of me water hardening or "cuir boillei" (I dont know how to properly pronounce it, so sorry if I said it wrong in the video).  I use the little bubbles coming out of the leather as kind of a gauge to tell when the leather is soaked through well enough.  Then, as I stated in the video I will let it dry for about a day.  Just simply leaving it out in the open sufficiently dries the leather. Be sure to keep it on a flat surface and keep it from curling while drying.

Coming soon: sewing the arrow bag together!