Cloth Casings

[nepas]

When i lived up in NEPA a seamstress friend of mine made me some cloth casings for SS/Bologna chubs. She asked why and I said because its old order Amish style. So she made me 20dz casings from un bleached muslin......Skip to when we moved to Savannah. Jim Compton stopped by and I gave him some casings...Skip ahead more. Jim took one apart and made his own...Its history now   

Met up with Jim yesterday and split some casings with him that he made up. Always great to see Jim. We are only bout an hour away now.

Couple of these are going to get some garlic SS stuffed.

[ACW3]

I remember you showing me those casings on one of my trips to PA.  I went home and bought unbleached muslin and my SIL made me a bunch.  I still have some left.  They worked great, too.

Art

[teesquare]

That is fun Rick - when you re-discover something forgotten, and find that it is getting a "new lease on life"! Know you and Jim had a big time. Maybe you and Jim ( Sailor1) can teach some of us some tricks on curing and making sausages, etc. I am all ears! ( The Dr. lied to my parents, and said I would "grow into them"....but - so far.... )
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[CANNON-MAN]

Jim was nice enough to share some of the cloth casings with me also. I used them in the last project that I did for myself. They worked very well and I even ran them through the water bath and they did not show any ill affect at all. The give good smoke penetration and a nice tight stuff. Thanks again Jim.
kc

[TentHunteR]

Rick is who turned me onto making & using cloth casings.   My wife and I make them whenever we need them.  They're economical and have a lot of rustic appeal. I love 'em!




A few years ago I designed and had a custom rubber stamp made to dress them up a bit when giving Summer Sausage as gifts.

In case you're wondering the ink is the Ranger brand archival ink (permanent & non-toxic).

[nepas]

Rick is who turned me onto making & using cloth casings.   My wife and I make them whenever we need them.  They're economical and have a lot of rustic appeal. I love 'em!




A few years ago I designed and had a custom rubber stamp made to dress them up a bit when giving Summer Sausage as gifts.

In case you're wondering the ink is the Ranger brand archival ink (permanent & non-toxic).

Nice sewing job.

[Sailor1]

Cliff, you must have one of them fancy sewing machines     My little plastic portable $50 machine don't do that fancy sewing.  Lucky I have a zig sag LOL

[Sandman]

Those casings are pretty cool looking! Anybody have pics after smoking meat with them?

[Sailor1]

I found a photo of a batch from a while back.  The muslin masks the red color of the finished meat.  They take smoke really good.

[Sailor1]

Here is another batch.  These just came out of the cold water bath and the muslin is still wet which allows the color of the meat to show.  Once dry the muslin covers the redness.

[TentHunteR]

Nice sewing job.

Cliff, you must have one of them fancy sewing machines     My little plastic portable $50 machine don't do that fancy sewing.  Lucky I have a zig sag LOL

I buy, size & cut the fabric, but trust me, the nice sewing job is all my wife!

Jim,  You are correct!  Instead of using her regular sewing machine, my wife has a three-thread serger that she uses for these. 
She said if she didn't have the serger, she'd be using a zig-zag stitch exactly as you have done.

[TentHunteR]

If anyone is wondering how to size & cut the fabric for cloth muslin casings, here are a few details.


First, when buying cloth, you MUST use a natural, un-treated (non-permanent press) 100% cotton fabric.  Do NOT try to use a poly-cotton blend and do NOT use one that's been treated for permanent press.


Sizing the fabric is not that difficult. Here's the formula:

Length = Whatever length you want.

Width = "Desired Diameter" X 3.1415 (pi) + 1/2" (for 1/4" seam allowance)


So if you want a 3" diameter sausage it'd be: 

3 X 3.1415 + 0.5 = 9.9245      Just round it to 10"


A  2" Diameter sausage would be:

2 X 3.1415 + 0.5 =  6.783     Just round it to 6.75"