This is a small, serviceable and well-used sewing kit, the kind the soldiers carried in their knapsacks or haversacks to have available when clothing items needed repair. Some were made by mothers, sisters, sweethearts, and some were purchased from sutlers. This was probably a sutler item as the outside is covered with water repellent oil cloth. It is cylindrical and closed measures 4" x @ 1_". It unrolls to a length of 7". The base is solid and the ends serve as pin cushions while the center has an insert for a thimble (still present). The inside is made of a tartan plaid material; there is a holder for thread (none there) and three swatches for securing needles (8 still remain). It probably once had a ribbon to secure the closed device, but that is long gone. A nice, representative piece, one that was, indeed, carried and used.