I have been sewing for three years and I want to reupholster the leather seats in my 1995 Volvo. I thought I could take the coves apart and use them as patterns. I don't want to risk damaging my Husqvarna Scaninavia 300 but I can put my hands on a Singer Merritt 3130. Will it handle that kind of leather? Thanks Ted
NO You will need an industrial walking foot machine
Like my Thompson Walking Foot machine that I would like to rehome?
No. A real industrial
Ted, I've done a lot of leather and vinyl on both walking foot and non-walking foot machines. As an example, I have a Juki DDL-552 (not a walking foot) that will sew through 8 layers of vinyl. The one thing you have to watch out on leather is that you should only have 4-5 stitches per inch otherwise you are perforating it. Many machines will not produce such long stitches. While a walking foot machine is nice to have (I have an old Singer that will punch through 1/4" masonite) it is not mandatory. Some of the industrial machines without walking feet seem to press real hard and feed quite well.
Ivan
Not so much that it will not feed through it is the non walking foot machines do not like the heavier threads used for that work.
Ron, I am trying to sell a Juki DDL-552 through Craigslist. Had a gal call me saying she needs to sew through 4 layers of vinyl which also contains a piece of 1/4 inch foam in the middle. Yes, I know she needs a walking foot machine, but, I thought my Juki could handle it. Before I had her come out I place a 6 layer vinyl sandwich in the machine and it handled it quite well. Had to play with the upper tension to find the sweet spot that gave me good stitches. I told her to common over.
Utter failure! Every time we tried to sew her sandwich the thread would break after about 5-10 stitches. We would place in my 6 layer vinyl, and no problem. We repeated the above two scenarios about a dozen time. Thread always broke on hers but not on mine. What's going on. Yes, I have a looooot of tension. Tried less tension, same results. I only have one style of needle and it has an extremely small eye. The cheapo wire threader thingy has a hard time going through the eye.
Any thoughts or ideas greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Ivan Vegvary
Poor quality thread, incorrect thread for the application. Wrong needle thread combination. You are pushing the limits of the machine.
I did this, years ago.. (I sewed a whole naugahyde tuck 'n roll interior for a car on an old kenmore).. This is not something I would willingly repeat. I had to scour all over for a special "welting" foot (like a cording foot, but the tunnel is very big), and for special, larger diameter needles, and the correct heavy thread..... And I still had to fight with it every inch of the way.. I got it done (finally), and said, never, ever again.
This is one of those cases where you really need to get "the right tool for the right job".... trust me.
me
Thanks Ron,
You are very right!!!
Ivan Vegvary
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