Taking up Sewing - Need Advice

I do leatherwork on the side and handstitch most of my items, but I did pick up and industrial leather machine a couple months ago to help with bag making.
I have Cowboy CB4500 for this, which would be overkill for the needs you describe. I do have a second machine picked out and its specific purpose will be for canvas and cordura type fabric, Juki 1541S. The Juki is pretty pricey new but they can be found used and also copies from other manufacturers. I believe Cowboy makes a copy and is quite a bit cheaper. A Consew 206 would also be comparable to the Juki and great for canvas. Consews are typically easy to find on the used market.

If you want to check out any of my work. www.upnorthleather.com

Thanks Max. Your input on the machines is a lot of help. I’ll take a look at your site - sounds pretty cool.
 
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My dad was a parachute rigger in the Navy back in the 60s and from what he learned there (sewing and repairing the parachutes), he upholstered multiple hot rods and other large projects in our home shop. I believe he always had an old Weaver machine.

Another skill I wish I had learned from him before his passing...
 
Thanks so much for taking the time to respond, Jeff. Great information, especially on the machines. I’ve spent some time on the Sailrite site, and was actually considering their Ultrafeed LS - I tend to jump in with both feet on projects like this - but having some guidance on what to look for in machines on the used market is a lot of help.

I’ve always enjoyed following your designs. I really appreciate the feedback, and the offer on guidance going forward.

You can take my feedback on the sailrite machines with a grain of salt because I have no experience with them, but in my research for a machine, I found mostly negative reviews of sailrite sewing machines. I did research for probable 2 years before pully the trigger on a machine. It's a lot of money to drop on something that has the potential for lots of headaches. If you can find a local dealer, that is also a benefit to have for repairs.
 
I have zero experience with upholstery, so I don't even have a starting guess, what kind of time frame does it take for you to put together something like a bag?

The answer of course it "it depends" on the complexity of the bag. Here are a bunch of examples:

A simple bag like something for this folding bike rack that's part of my tailgate cargo system prototype might take an hour:

BikeRack.jpg



I made this next bag to store my solar panel when it's not on the Jeep, the material is from a used Wrangler tonneau cover I found on eBay for $20 and it also took about an hour to sew:

SolarPanelBag1Resewn.jpg


Something slightly more complicated like this roll bar bag with zippers and piping around the ends will take a little longer, maybe up to 2 hours (in these photos I was showing how a tool roll can go in it):

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Something like the Tactical Tool Bag I pictured in my earlier post might take a full day to sew, although that depends on whether you're sewing the first prototype and have to figure out some of the details as you go along or if you're sewing a second one after all the pattern details have been worked out, the first one usually takes longer than subsequent ones.

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An example of the difference in time between a first example and a second - the first of these bags I sewed to go on the side of the spare probably took me about two hours because I was figuring out some details as I sewed it; the second took just over an hour because those details were already figured out. Also on the first one I made my own MOLLE straps for the back and on the second one I used commercial ones I found on eBay.

TJTSCSpareSideandMOLLE.jpg


There are lots of videos showing how to sew various bags on the internet, here's a list of some from Sailrite:
https://www.google.com/search?q=sailrite+bag+video
 
Howdy, I must come in on the side of Sailrite. I've been doing business with them almost since they started business and they have always been absolutely top notch. I own a Consew 220 industrial machine ( kind of a knock-off of a Singer) and I have owned a Sailrite Ultrafeed-LZ for about 12 years now. I've sewn all kinds of storage bags, tool pouches, upholstery, telescope covers, repaired sails, sewn leather, and all kinds of other things as well. The Ultrafeed has worked flawlessly all this time. I recommend spending the extra money to get the "LZ" so you have the option of zig-zag stitching which is great for some applications. After I got my Consew 220, which is a straight stitch machine, I found I really wanted a zig-zag capability. My Ultrafeed has sewn everything from 0.75 oz. ripstop nylon to many layers of heavy canvas and cordura nylon. Just use the appropriate needle and thread. Speaking of thread, Sorry for yelling but, ONLY BUY TOP QUALITY THREAD!!! I can't emphasize this enough. You will only generate headaches by trying to save money on thread.
Another plus for Sailrite is they have their own service staff on-site and they keep any parts you might need in stock. You can also call them and talk to their techs about the machines, sewing projects and materials. They have always been very helpful to me. Man, I sound like an advertisement, sorry.
Anyway, good luck with your sewing projects!!!
 
OK - In for a penny, in for a pound. Or in this case, about 1600 pounds...

After digesting all the great advice here, doing a bunch more research, and shopping both the new and used markets, I pulled the trigger on this:

https://www.sailrite.com/Sailrite-Ultrafeed-LSZ-Walking-Foot-Sewing-Machine-110V

The main drivers of the decision where that I wanted a walking foot machine, enough power to deal with most anything I'd want to do - including possibly windows, plastic inserts and maybe some light leather - and I generally look at tools and machines as lifetime purchases.

I spent a lot of time searching the used market, focusing on the brands and models mentioned in the thread, but did not find anything that would work for me.

On the new side, the Sailrite machines seemed to be middle of the line in terms of cost. I did find cheaper walking foot models from Consew, but in my research I found many examples of folks having problems and not getting adequate support from the seller or the manufacturer - often with one pointing the finger at the other. Although as with others, I did take these reviews with a grain of salt.

@MaximusLJR06, I did take your advice to heart, and spent a lot of time looking at reviews on the Sailrite, and there are many bad experiences out there, but Sailrite does seem to support their product - and you deal directly with them if you have a problem.

Finally, and of the most weight, was the direct positive personal feedback from several folks here. I'll take a few personal recommendations over bad reviews any day.

I also took Jeff's (@jscherb) advice and added the speed reduction upgrade, and Fulton's (@Fulton_Hogan) advice and picked up Sailrite's hot knife and basking tape. I also took @Vulture's advice and went for the LSZ model, which has the zig-zag option.

And just by coincidence, if you follow my build thread you know I've just replaced my soft top (among other things over the last few weeks :rolleyes:). I actually had the old top in the garbage can for pickup pick-up today and it dawned on me that it would make great (read: cheap 🙂) material to use for practice. So I yanked it out of the trash and cut it down to useable pieces.

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So off we go with both feet. I'm looking forward to learning a new skill.
 
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A friend of mine started into upholstery and he picked up an older heavy-duty White machine to learn.
Later, when he was still doing it after a few years, he picked up a Juki, don't know the specifics, though.
 
Post-up your journey, even the fuck-ups. I'm interested to see how this works out for some reason, not that I need another hobby or expense.

Learning to sew can be an exercise in frustration. Damn thread gets tangled, needles and threads can break, blah, blah, blah. Get some scrap fabric and practice for awhile. If you value your sanity, don't get a serger! When a serger is working, its the most fantastic thing ever made, when its not, its a HUGE frustration. I'm surprised mine didn't land in the swamp behind my house in California - I threatened it enough times!
 
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Great thread!

I have been sewing for about a decade, but all of my stuff has been ultra lite backpacking and hammocking gear (tarps, hammocks, bags etc) using super light silnylon and cuben fiber (now called Dyneema Composite Fabric) so I can't offer much to the discussion of heavier fabrics but I am loving the feedback being offered!!
 
Check with a local upholstery shop. When I was looking around for a commercial machine I dropped in one day for some advise. Turned out they just replaced all of their machines, and hadn't decided on what to do with them. They pulled out three machines, prepped them and let me try them out. I picked my favorite and we agreed on a price. They threw in spare needles and a box of thread. I even got two of the guys to deliver the machine and set it up in my house for a few more bucks. And if I ever have any problems I can call and they will help me fix it. If you're buying a used machine make sure the seller lets you try it out. If not, walk away.
 
@NashvilleTJ definitely keep the this thread updated! Looking forward to seeing how everything turns out. It’s definitely a learning process but not too bad. I’ve had mine for a couple months now and feel pretty comfortable with it.

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I like the gear reduction on that, adds a bunch of control. When I had the tarp shop, I did similar to the Juki walking foot as well as building a foot pedal with a linkage rod up to the reverse handle. Putting straps on tarps for D rings and whatnot went a lot easier to sew the diamond stitch over them when you can use both hands to guide the heavy material.
 
I like the gear reduction on that, adds a bunch of control. When I had the tarp shop, I did similar to the Juki walking foot as well as building a foot pedal with a linkage rod up to the reverse handle. Putting straps on tarps for D rings and whatnot went a lot easier to sew the diamond stitch over them when you can use both hands to guide the heavy material.

My goodness…what haven’t you done?
 
I like the gear reduction on that, adds a bunch of control. When I had the tarp shop, I did similar to the Juki walking foot as well as building a foot pedal with a linkage rod up to the reverse handle. Putting straps on tarps for D rings and whatnot went a lot easier to sew the diamond stitch over them when you can use both hands to guide the heavy material.

Yeah the reduction paired with the servo motor is pretty sweet. I can stitch up to 7/8" of leather as slow as I want too. Have any pictures of the foot pedal linkage rod for reverse? Would be interested in seeing that.

I have this one pretty dumbed down at the moment for stitching lighter weight leathers. Currently using 138 thread with #23 diamond point needles.

These are some of my practice attempts soon after I got the machine.



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