Wizcrafts

Your needle is much too small for the thread you are using! For v138 thread on top and v92 in the bobbin, you should use a #22 needle. It should be a leather point, preferably an S or LR point. If you must have the tightest holes, try a #21 needle. Here is a needle and thread chart that may help you choose the best combinations.

Needle feed machines work best if the material is slippery on top. Otherwise, it will drag against the presser foot. The amount of drag depends on how much pressure is applied to the foot. That pressure varies with the thickness and density of the material being sewn as well as the sizes of the top and bottom thread and the needle. The lockstitch "knots" may be very tight inside the holes and can fight against the pressure spring and actually cause the leather to lift with the needle on the way up. This leads to skipped stitches. If you are buying this machine to sew veg-tan leather, you'll probably need to crank down the pressure screw to keep the leather from lifting with the ascending needle and thread. The more pressure you need to hold down the leather, the more drag the foot has against the top layer. The foot will fight against the feed.This is not a good situation. OTOH, if you are buying the machine to sew heavy cloth or synthetics, like buffing wheels, smooth Kydex, bioplastics, or webbing, it should be a good match.

It takes System DBx1 needles.

Read this topic from 2020 about setting up a Fortuna skiver.

These are clones of the Fortuna bottom feed bell knife skiver. Techsew has four bell knife skivers listed, including one with a vacuum hose port. What you need to know is that the drive is accomplished by an oblong shaped wheel that revolves under the round blade. There are soft rubber, hard stone and serrated metal wheels available. The soft wheel is strictly for garment or chap leather. The stone wheel is pretty standard and can push along cowhide garment leather (but probably not soft Plonge), up to medium temper veg-tan (up to maybe 12 ounces). The steel wheel is meant for hard belt, sole and saddle skirting leather. Some used skiving machines may have more than one roller and presser foot included from the previous owner. That will save you a lot of money over having to buy them later. Most parts for Fortuna clones are commonly available, especially the material rollers, presser feet and bell knives. Other parts that wear and need replacement are the movable disks that sharpen and hone the top of the cutting blade and an optional roller under the blade to remove burrs after sharpening the top. My machine lacks the bottom deburrer so I use a fine hand held sanding stick that came with the machine.

Sewers in factories may just sew and somebody else may change spools of thread. Just saying. I always change my own when I sew for others, but, I sometimes change thread for my replacements and oil the machines when they are done.

Yes, you are correct. It is only on machines where one shuttle turns clockwise and the other counterclockwise that different thread twists are advised. The Landis 12 series sole stitching machines all require right twist (waxed linen) thread. It's likely that other old shoe sewing machines have that right, or S twist requirement.

There is only one foot pressure screw on the 441 clones. It affects both feet If the pressure spring is too stiff after backing off the top screw, order a softer spring from any dealer who sells these machines. Our supporting dealers are Leather Machine Company (Cobra), Techsew (Your brand) and Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines (Cowboy). All have banner ads in rotation on top of each page. Reloading the page loads a new set of 6 banners. The cost of a softer or harder pressure action spring is trivial.

The check spring setting affects the quality of the loop.

Since the subject of using hand sewing thread on a sewing machine came up in this topic, here is something new sewers need to know. Due to the manner in which sewing machine shuttles revolve as they pick off the thread loops, most modern single needle machines will cause multi-strand thread to separate unless it is left twist thread. In the case of twin needle machines, one side must be left and the other right twist to keep the thread intact. This is important whether the thread is bonded or not. Another matter that sometimes comes up is overly twisty and stiff bonded thread. This thread will coil clockwise as it comes off the spool and tends to form knots as it turns on itself on the way to the needle. Certain black and dark brown threads are double dyed and are extremely twisty. The best solution I've found to offset this is to feed the thread counterclockwise through two holes in a thread guide on top of the machine. The farther apart those holes are the better. I use the top and bottom holes in the top guide on my Cowboy CB4500 to counter the overly twisty thread from Weaver and others. I feed it through the top inline hole, then around towards the front, then through the bottom inline hole. This counterclockwise turn helps with twisty thread while creating the least drag on the thread. It still adds top tension that must be dealt with on the tensioners.

I don't have any experience with this machine. That said, if it is shredding the top thread and it gets jammed in the shuttle, it could be caused by an improperly set, or actually bypassed check spring. That spring comes after the top tension and any secondary disks and before the take-up lever. It would help if you could post a photo showing the top thread path from the top tension disks until it goes through the take-up lever (and on to the needle).

Let us know if you run into any roadblocks. I'm sure we have experienced them and learned the solutions. One thing I can suggest is to remove the faceplate every now and then and oil the cranks inside the head. I use precision 4 ounce oilers with thin brass ferules. I get them from Bob Kovar.

I usually buy two spools of any color and size together and use one for the top and the other to wind bobbins. Most thread stands hold two to 4 cones. But, you can cut the thread on top and use it to load a bobbin. Then clip the excess and tie it onto the remaining cut thread and pull it through the machine, stopping before the knot hits the needle.

First, is the thread coming off the spool smoothly, without getting hung up along the way? If the thread is hanging up between the spool and top tensioner, your tension disks will always be unpredictable. If there is anything amiss in the top thread feed, fix it. If the top thread is feeding smoothly, tighten the bobbin tension enough that you also have to add more top tension. Also, make sure the top thread stays inside the tension disks and doesn't lift out as you sew. That is instant zero tension.

Number 18 (metric 110) leather point needle. Number 69 bonded nylon top thread. Number 69 bonded nylon bobbin thread.

I got a flat slotted throat plate with my CB4500. The slot is long enough to allow for a half inch stitch length. The width is just 1/8 inch. I use that plate on the most difficult sewing jobs that call for this machine. Mind you, this was before I got the narrow dog and plate from Brian. My sense is that the flat slotted plate would be an excellent solution for sewing fleece and shearling. The feed dog must be removed to use the flat plate, making the machine dual feed. The consequence is that forward and reverse don't usually match unless you manually watch the needle come down in reverse and fudge the stitch lever to align the needle with the previous holes.

I still see 6 ads on top of each page, as usual.

Here is a web page that explains how to use a roller foot on a domestic sewing machine for difficult to feed materials. If you want a link to buy one, PM me via the forum Private Messages.

Read this topic about the type of machine you need to sew leather.

You may break the 99 trying to sew veg-tan leather that thick. The take-up components and needle bar aren't beefy enough to take the pounding from penetrating medium-hard to hard density leather. You might could use it to sew thin chap leather if you get a roller foot instead of the fixed flat foot. A Teflon foot will also work (until you forget and drop it onto the feed dog teeth! Ask me how I know!). I used to refurbish and sell old Singer iron body machines and sometimes tested them on 4-5 ounce leather. One layer happened, but not two, at least not reliably. The stitch length was unsustainable due to drag from the presser foot having to be cranked down to prevent the leather from lifting with the needle and thread. Further, the top tensioners have soft springs meant to tension cotton thread, not bonded nylon. I found I had to back off the bobbin tension almost all the way to bring the knots into the middle of about 6 to 8 ounces of chap leather. The only models that didn't choke on it were the 27 and 127 with the bullet shuttles. Those maxed out at 8-9 ounces of bridle leather, using #69 bonded nylon thread and a #18 needle. But, they sewed it perfectly.

Here is a video of a Juki DNU-1541 sewing a variety of materials.

Can you get a hold of a Juki DNU-1541 to try out? It may be suitable if the pressures and tensions are reduced. Alexander compares them in this video...

Beware the Pfaff 335 machines. Some of them are specifically built for use as edge binders and will not function the same on broad stitching as a normal walking foot machine. There have been numerous topics posted here by unsuspecting buyers of Pfaff 335 machines and their clones who couldn't use them for normal sewing operations without spending a significant amount of money on conversion parts. Also, a cylinder arm will fight you as you try to sew large flat areas, like the back and front panels. The place where a cylinder arm would be proper is for sewing armholes and attaching sleeves and cuffs. Note, some dealers sell table attachments for particular cylinder arm machines. While they are good for small pieces of flat work, they aren't very good at supporting large pieces, like jacket and vest backs. But, the reality of the situation is that making vests and jackets often requires more than one type of sewing machine. I do repairs and modifications to leather jackets and vests and often use both cylinder arm and (long body) flat bed walking foot machines to complete a job. If there is an industrial sewing machine dealer within driving distance, go there and bring a sample of the work you want to do. They can advise you about the best machines to accomplish the tasks. You will probably see machines made by Juki, Pfaff and Adler. If the Pfaff 335 comes up, ask if it is a binder or standard sewing machine. Don't buy a binder machine unless you know you will be sewing edge binding onto the edges! If there is a jacket maker nearby and they allow guests to see the sewing shop, take a tour. You will learn a lot by watching the little old ladies with babushkas gather cut pieces of leather and cloth from the cutting room/clicker press to the sewing area where they send them from machine to machine to sew them into a finished product. It is mind boggling to watch and hear. Walking foot machines and clicker presses going tapockita tapockita tapockita!

Lambskin leather, or Plonge, is soft density leather that has fairly sticky top grain that will have a lot of presser foot drag on a bottom feed only machine. I used to make ladies vests with Plonge and learned it is best to use a walking foot machine or a roller foot machine to feed it properly. There are two types of walking foot machine that can be used to sew this soft leather. One is a top and bottom dual feed machine and the other is a triple feed machine. Either is preferable to a roller foot machine unless the roller is gear driven (most aren't). I tried converting a straight stitch machine into a roller foot and it worked fine until the roller met a sudden higher layer. Then it sat there and punched the thread into the same hole until I lifted the roller foot with the knee lever. Walking foot machines just walk up onto higher layers, then walk down onto lower layers. Garment leather doesn't usually hold marks from presser feet or feed dog teeth. So, you could get by with a dual feed walking foot machine that has teeth on the feet. This has the most positive feed for slippery materials, but will make deep marks on vegetable tanned (carving) leathers. The leather in your pictures is already textured, so you could get away with teeth on the feet. You asked about the type of thread to use in leather vests. I use and recommend bonded nylon thread. It is very strong and lays tight against the top and bottom. For thin leather use #69, which has 11 pounds breaking strength. For thicker layers use either #92 or #138 bonded thread. The needles for these threads are #18 for #69 thread, #19 or 20 for #92 thread, or #22 for #138 thread. You should use leather point needles, not round points. There are several shapes for leather points. If you want the stitches to lay straight, use D/Tri point, or Diamond point needles. The stitches will be bold on top with these needles. If you want offset stitches, buy LR twist needles. Other shapes include LL and S points.

If that's the style of piping foot you need, you should buy it from Sailrite. Other than Ebay sewing machine dealers, I buy machines, parts, thread and accessories from Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines.