Wizcrafts

I am a professional patch sewer. Bikers bring or ship their vests to me and include embroidered patches they want me to sew on, along with a photo of the patches in place, or by taping or pinning them in place. They have their patches sewn at embroidery shops. Have you considered simply working with an embroiderer to have your designs digitized, then sewn onto a leather vest? Yes, the patches will cost actual money. But, those designs can be stored and repeated if others want a similar patch job. If you really want to hand tool a vest, you'll need to construct it of vegetable tanned carving leather, about 4-5 ounces thick. Make sure you don't carve the lines so deeply that they get perforated and separate under use. If you cut too deeply, the vest will be ruined. I recommend carving the patches on 4-5 ounce leather panels, then use double-sided tape to hold them in place and have them sewn on by an upholstery shop that has walking foot sewing machines. Note, if you intend to place any patches over pockets, it takes a special "patcher" machine to sew them on without closing up your pockets. These patchers are usually found in shoe repair shops. Many professional leather crafeters own patchers and walking foot machines.

I've been buying servo motors from Bob Kovar, at Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines, since 2011. All of the recent motors have a 45mm option You just have to call him and request that pulley when you order the motor and new v-belt.

I have a drop-box reducer under the table for my post bed machine. Here are some photos, which include a ruler, showing the distance above the carpet.

Get you a couple packs of #18 in Schmetz Serv 7 round points in System 135x17. They have a larger eye and are reinforced to resist bending. They cut through double sided tape well. The next best are Gross Beckert Gebeder in system 135x17. They are titanium coated.

Sewing on patches is a large part of my business. When I first got into that field, I was using v92 thread and a #19 (120) leather point needle. I have since moved to only using v69 thread, top and bottom, with a #18 round point needle (GB Gebeder, or Schmetz Serv 7). I also recently bought 7 spools of v45 thread and some #14 round point needles (Serv 7) for poorly edged patches. My round point needles are all System 135x17. The reason I switched to round points has to do with the embroidered (serged) edges. I found that leather points were actually cutting the thread on the edges, rather than separating them. Round points don't do that as much. I also prefer round holes to anything with a shift between stitches. Most of the patches the customers bring in have tight border stitching. But, some are overly loose. When I run into trouble using #69 thread with a #18 needle, I can move down to #45 thread and a #14 needle. I crank down the foot pressure screw to minimize any deflection from the patch, leather and lining. In case you're interested in the machines I use to sew patches, they are as follows: Adler 30-7 patcher with a long arm and large bobbin (in shop) Singer 29k71 short arm, small bobbin patcher (at home) Singer 168g101 compound feed post bed machine (at home) Singer 139w109 long bed walking foot machine with a Juki LU bobbin conversion (in shop) Singer 111w103 walking foot machine (at home) The reason for the split between home and shop machines is that the place of business that hosted us closed up on December 31, 2022. That put me and my partner out of work. We finally found a new location to setup the shop, but there just wasn't enough room for the three other machine. Also, I was able to sew patches at home for a few local MCs. They still prefer to come to my house, so the three machines will stay in my expando.

You have two things going against you when you sew thin or flexible materials. 1: the feed is strictly on top. 2: the gap between the toes is too wide to hold down the material as the needle comes up with the two threads overlapped. Here's what you can try to do. 1: use the thinnest needle and thread combination that will secure the seams. 2: Add some liquid steel between the legs to reduce the width of the gap. It would be safer to do that to a new, aftermarket foot than an original Singer foot. File the gap smooth and use Emory cloth to slightly radius the top, and smooth out the bottom. Also, reduce the bobbin and top tensions to the minimum that will form a decent stitch that lays tight on the material.

They must have tweaked that machine to sew 1/2 inch and, do it with #277/207 thread. I have tweaked a few of my Singer walking foot machines to sew thicker than normal, or to use heavier thread than the standard limit suggests. One of those tweaks is changing the needle system to a longer needle, allowing me to raise the alternating height of the feet. But, this had an adverse effect on thinner work.

Looking for a used, but not abused belt embossing machine, preferably with some wheels in good condition. I only respond to existing members of the forum.

Try contacting @CowboyBob to see if he has some old stock. He owns Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines, which has been in business since before Singer's industrial division went out of business.

The Keats and Bexon shoe repair machines were built in Staffordshire, UK, from 1894 through 1926. The only hope of finding any manual or instructions is to find somebody who owns one and has a manual they will photocopy, or mail to you. The stitchers haven't been produced in many decades. You might try contacting the people who maintain and sell Landis 12 series sole stitchers to see if they are aware of any intentional or unintentional similarities.

This post is a duplicate of an ongoing topic started by the same member. The author should post any further questions in the previous topic he started.

Always hold back the starting threads for about three stitches on these machines. This helps set the tensions and prevent the top thread from jamming in the shuttle. Consult this needle and thread chart to use the right combination for a given thread size. Larger threads need bigger needles. The shuttle needs to have sideways clearance for larger thread to pass freely and the hook must not hit the needle. You may be able to tweak the check spring so that thicker thread can be properly tensioned as the machines cycles. You may have exceeded the machine's thread handling capacity.

I second that! Good parts maker.

I'd get a hold of @CowboyBob - Bob Kovar, at Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines. He may know about the bobbin and case for your machine.

Here is a video of a Keats and Bexon stitcher sewing shoe soles. It looks just like a Landis 12 series machine. https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=357374289648482

Hey Glenn, that's a Cobra Class 4. The Cowboy equivalent is a model CB4500. That's what I have.

Welcome aboard, Jose! I mentioned masking because we sometimes get trolls from Eastern Europe and Africa, and India/Pakistan who are spammers or scammers. Some of them try to mask their actual geo-location, but I track them down anyway. Many years ago, I had a Juki LU-563 walking foot machine that was used to sew orange honeycomb vinyl safety vests for road workers. We cut the vinyl out with a motorized saw blade fabric cutter, but the edges were sharp. So, the boss decided we needed to cover the edges with bias tape. I tried the cheap folders that were readily available from sewing machine dealers, but they couldn't navigate the inside curves of armholes. So, I went and talked to the dealer where I got the machine and he sent me to a guy who custom made folders. The guy had me bring the cutout vest parts and the bias tape. He made us a right angle folder that laid the tape into the material perfectly, whether on inside or outside curves or straightaways. The advantage of using the Juki was that it didn't lose stitch length. I sewed at 4 to the inch on some parts and 5 to the inch on others. I just turned the dial. I never experienced any problems with the path of the platter holding the tape roll to the folder. Fortunately, we didn't need a cylinder arm machine for those workers' vests. Another advantage of the walking foot machine was that I just swung the folder out of the way to sew on reflective tape and official patches. Again, it maintained the desired stitch length. You can't beat a compound feed walking foot machine when sewing difficult or slippery materials.

According to his ip address, he is posting from Palermo, Buenos Aires F.D., Argentina. Of course, he could be using a VPN to mask his true location.

The blind stitch machine uses curved needle and may or may not be able to sew through a blanket. The one I had was portable and only good for light weight pants and skirts.

It is what we call a "darning machine."

It should always be possible to tighten the bobbin spring to exert sufficient tension on the bobbin thread to keep the knots centered inside the leather. Make sure that you feed the bobbin against the direction of the slot in its case and snap it under the tension spring. Then tighten down the bobbin tension screw until there is a reasonable pull required to get the thread out. Make sure that the top thread isn't getting caught under or around something it shouldn't. That includes the spool it is wound on.

If you're referring to a band knife splitter, I made my own skivings box out of suede and hung it under the opening in the table on 4 hooks. I put grommets on the holes to prevent wear. I pull it off the hooks to empty it. It's been working fine for about 5 or 6 years. I believe my skiver is a model 10.

Not according to your ip address. You are in Florida, using Hotwire ISP services..

These machines were made to fix shoe and boot uppers. That doesn't require thick thread. Most people use #69 (T70) bonded thread in their patchers. I do too. They can sew quite a long run with #69 thread in the bobbin. You can sew even farther if you move down to #46 (T45) thread.

For adhering canvas to vinyl, or vinyl to vinyl, I recommend HH-66 vinyl adhesive. It is a contact cement (applied to both pieces) that won't melt your vinyl like some other brands that contain aggressive (and dangerous) solvents, like toluene. You might want to buy an 8 ounce can first to test it out. If you buy another brand, make sure it says it is safe for use on vinyl on the label.