diff --git a/swift/common/swob.py b/swift/common/swob.py
index 19ac4f02df..25435fd1fe 100644
--- a/swift/common/swob.py
+++ b/swift/common/swob.py
@@ -767,10 +767,16 @@ class Request(object):
         self.headers = HeaderEnvironProxy(self.environ)
 
     @classmethod
-    def blank(cls, path, environ=None, headers=None, body=None):
+    def blank(cls, path, environ=None, headers=None, body=None, **kwargs):
         """
         Create a new request object with the given parameters, and an
         environment otherwise filled in with non-surprising default values.
+
+        :param path: encoded, parsed, and unquoted into PATH_INFO
+        :param environ: WSGI environ dictionary
+        :param headers: HTTP headers
+        :param body: stuffed in a StringIO and hung on wsgi.input
+        :param kwargs: any environ key with an property setter
         """
         headers = headers or {}
         environ = environ or {}
@@ -811,6 +817,16 @@ class Request(object):
         req = Request(env)
         for key, val in headers.iteritems():
             req.headers[key] = val
+        for key, val in kwargs.items():
+            prop = getattr(Request, key, None)
+            if prop and isinstance(prop, property):
+                try:
+                    setattr(req, key, val)
+                except AttributeError:
+                    pass
+                else:
+                    continue
+            raise TypeError("got unexpected keyword argument %r" % key)
         return req
 
     @property
diff --git a/test/unit/common/test_swob.py b/test/unit/common/test_swob.py
index fd461ac261..5dc82379ab 100644
--- a/test/unit/common/test_swob.py
+++ b/test/unit/common/test_swob.py
@@ -314,6 +314,110 @@ class TestRequest(unittest.TestCase):
         self.assertEquals(req.headers['Content-Type'], 'text/plain')
         self.assertEquals(req.method, 'POST')
 
+    def test_blank_req_environ_property_args(self):
+        blank = swift.common.swob.Request.blank
+        req = blank('/', method='PATCH')
+        self.assertEquals(req.method, 'PATCH')
+        self.assertEquals(req.environ['REQUEST_METHOD'], 'PATCH')
+        req = blank('/', referer='http://example.com')
+        self.assertEquals(req.referer, 'http://example.com')
+        self.assertEquals(req.referrer, 'http://example.com')
+        self.assertEquals(req.environ['HTTP_REFERER'], 'http://example.com')
+        self.assertEquals(req.headers['Referer'], 'http://example.com')
+        req = blank('/', script_name='/application')
+        self.assertEquals(req.script_name, '/application')
+        self.assertEquals(req.environ['SCRIPT_NAME'], '/application')
+        req = blank('/', host='www.example.com')
+        self.assertEquals(req.host, 'www.example.com')
+        self.assertEquals(req.environ['HTTP_HOST'], 'www.example.com')
+        self.assertEquals(req.headers['Host'], 'www.example.com')
+        req = blank('/', remote_addr='127.0.0.1')
+        self.assertEquals(req.remote_addr, '127.0.0.1')
+        self.assertEquals(req.environ['REMOTE_ADDR'], '127.0.0.1')
+        req = blank('/', remote_user='username')
+        self.assertEquals(req.remote_user, 'username')
+        self.assertEquals(req.environ['REMOTE_USER'], 'username')
+        req = blank('/', user_agent='curl/7.22.0 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)')
+        self.assertEquals(req.user_agent, 'curl/7.22.0 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)')
+        self.assertEquals(req.environ['HTTP_USER_AGENT'],
+                          'curl/7.22.0 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)')
+        self.assertEquals(req.headers['User-Agent'],
+                          'curl/7.22.0 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)')
+        req = blank('/', query_string='a=b&c=d')
+        self.assertEquals(req.query_string, 'a=b&c=d')
+        self.assertEquals(req.environ['QUERY_STRING'], 'a=b&c=d')
+        req = blank('/', if_match='*')
+        self.assertEquals(req.if_match, '*')
+        self.assertEquals(req.environ['HTTP_IF_MATCH'], '*')
+        self.assertEquals(req.headers['If-Match'], '*')
+
+        # multiple environ property kwargs
+        req = blank('/', method='PATCH', referer='http://example.com',
+                    script_name='/application', host='www.example.com',
+                    remote_addr='127.0.0.1', remote_user='username',
+                    user_agent='curl/7.22.0 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)',
+                    query_string='a=b&c=d', if_match='*')
+        self.assertEquals(req.method, 'PATCH')
+        self.assertEquals(req.referer, 'http://example.com')
+        self.assertEquals(req.script_name, '/application')
+        self.assertEquals(req.host, 'www.example.com')
+        self.assertEquals(req.remote_addr, '127.0.0.1')
+        self.assertEquals(req.remote_user, 'username')
+        self.assertEquals(req.user_agent, 'curl/7.22.0 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)')
+        self.assertEquals(req.query_string, 'a=b&c=d')
+        self.assertEquals(req.environ['QUERY_STRING'], 'a=b&c=d')
+        self.assertEquals(req.if_match, '*')
+
+    def test_invalid_req_environ_property_args(self):
+        # getter only property
+        try:
+            req = swift.common.swob.Request.blank('/', params={'a': 'b'})
+        except TypeError as e:
+            self.assertEquals("got unexpected keyword argument 'params'", str(e))
+        else:
+            self.assert_(False, "invalid req_environ_property "
+                         "didn't raise error!")
+        # regular attribute
+        try:
+            req = swift.common.swob.Request.blank('/', _params_cache={'a': 'b'})
+        except TypeError as e:
+            self.assertEquals("got unexpected keyword "
+                              "argument '_params_cache'", str(e))
+        else:
+            self.assert_(False, "invalid req_environ_property "
+                         "didn't raise error!")
+        # non-existant attribute
+        try:
+            req = swift.common.swob.Request.blank('/', params_cache={'a': 'b'})
+        except TypeError as e:
+            self.assertEquals("got unexpected keyword "
+                              "argument 'params_cache'", str(e))
+        else:
+            self.assert_(False, "invalid req_environ_property "
+                         "didn't raise error!")
+        # method
+        try:
+            req = swift.common.swob.Request.blank(
+                '/', as_referer='GET http://example.com')
+        except TypeError as e:
+            self.assertEquals("got unexpected keyword "
+                              "argument 'as_referer'", str(e))
+        else:
+            self.assert_(False, "invalid req_environ_property "
+                         "didn't raise error!")
+
+
+    def test_blank_path_info_precedence(self):
+        blank = swift.common.swob.Request.blank
+        req = blank('/a')
+        self.assertEquals(req.path_info, '/a')
+        req = blank('/a', environ={'PATH_INFO': '/a/c'})
+        self.assertEquals(req.path_info, '/a/c')
+        req = blank('/a', environ={'PATH_INFO': '/a/c'}, path_info='/a/c/o')
+        self.assertEquals(req.path_info, '/a/c/o')
+        req = blank('/a', path_info='/a/c/o')
+        self.assertEquals(req.path_info, '/a/c/o')
+
     def test_blank_body_precedence(self):
         req = swift.common.swob.Request.blank(
             '/', environ={'REQUEST_METHOD': 'POST',
@@ -323,6 +427,20 @@ class TestRequest(unittest.TestCase):
         self.assertEquals(req.body, 'hi')
         self.assertEquals(req.headers['Content-Type'], 'text/plain')
         self.assertEquals(req.method, 'POST')
+        body_file = StringIO('asdf')
+        req = swift.common.swob.Request.blank(
+            '/', environ={'REQUEST_METHOD': 'POST',
+                          'wsgi.input': StringIO('')},
+            headers={'Content-Type': 'text/plain'}, body='hi',
+            body_file=body_file)
+        self.assert_(req.body_file is body_file)
+        req = swift.common.swob.Request.blank(
+            '/', environ={'REQUEST_METHOD': 'POST',
+                          'wsgi.input': StringIO('')},
+            headers={'Content-Type': 'text/plain'}, body='hi',
+            content_length=3)
+        self.assertEquals(req.content_length, 3)
+        self.assertEquals(len(req.body), 2)
 
     def test_blank_parsing(self):
         req = swift.common.swob.Request.blank('http://test.com/')
diff --git a/test/unit/proxy/test_server.py b/test/unit/proxy/test_server.py
index e25379669b..4798f8b0a4 100644
--- a/test/unit/proxy/test_server.py
+++ b/test/unit/proxy/test_server.py
@@ -1739,7 +1739,7 @@ class TestObjectController(unittest.TestCase):
             def test_status_map(statuses, expected):
                 set_http_connect(*statuses)
                 self.app.memcache.store = {}
-                req = Request.blank('/v1/a/c/o', {'REQUEST_METHOD': 'POST'},
+                req = Request.blank('/v1/a/c/o', {}, method='POST',
                                     headers={'Content-Type': 'foo/bar'})
                 self.app.update_request(req)
                 res = req.get_response(self.app)