Wizcrafts

If you advertise the Singer 251 as a tailoring/dressmaker's machine it may sell fast. Dressmakers like to sew fast and that machine sure can lay down fast stitching.

The double needle walking foot machine can be operated with one needle and is capable of sewing leather, vinyl, canvas, denim, webbing and fire hose. The 251 is a bottom feed tailoring machine and not for leather or hoses. If you bought the 251 you made a mistake.

They will be metric thread. Contact an industrial sewing machine dealer to get the right parts. Don't ruin the threads to save a few bucks on local, wrong pitch parts.

If you are hoping for replies to your leather sewing machine question, a photo or video of it trying to sew would be more useful than the landscape photo you posted. As beautiful as the scene is, it doesn't show the machine. A close-up of the hook as the needle begins its upstroke would be most useful.

The Juki LU-563 has a double standard capacity bobbin and compound feed walking feet that allow it to sew 3/8 inch. The Singer 29k60 is a shoe and boot uppers patching machine that has a half standard capacity bobbin and top feed only. It maxes out between 1/4 and 5/16 inch of medium temper leather. As for stitch length, the Juki will probably give you at least 4 to the inch while the 29k may give 5 to the inch at best. and less if the feed motion crank is worn out. Both machines top out with #138 bonded thread using a #23/160 needle. This size thread has a breaking strength of about 22 pounds. Other incidentals that will probably come up are the fact that the Juki takes all manner of presser feet, including those with spring edge guides and piping feet. There is no such foot or attachment for a patcher. You may have a hard time sewing a straight line without an edge guide on a top feed patcher. IHTH

Your question is too open ended. You haven't posted a sample of the type of shoes you make that you want to start sewing on a machine. I can tell you that there are some specialized sewing machines that are used to produce shoes that aren't used in general leather work - and vice versa. Once we see some photos of your shoes we can offer our opinions about sewing machines that will speed things up.

Juki is mostly made in Japan and they certainly have post machines. Because they are so well built they last a very long time and the price reflects that fact. Your other options for European built machines include Pfaff and Durkopp-Adler. USA built industrial sewing machines are few, purpose built and expensive. USA modified is another story. The are quite a few dealers who will modify industrial sewing machines to meet a specific requirement. We used to have Ferdinand and Luberto industrial/leather sewing machines made in the USA, but they are long out of business. There are other ancient design American made sewing machines that were specific to the harness, gun leather, saddlery and luggage trades that can still be found used or rebuilt. They are extremely heavy, hard to master and parts can be extremely expensive, if available at all.

All I have is this manual for the Singer 29k71, 72 and 73. I hope that helps you. 29k71-71-73 Service Manual and Parts List.pdf

I see you're located in:Singapore. You could contact CowboySew/HighTex to see if they have a dealer in or near Singapore. They make post bed, cylinder arm and flat bed sewing machines in your part of the World. The have various types of feed, including compound feed.

Reading the operating instructions I saw that your machine uses either DBx1 or System 134 needles. It depends on the diameter of the bore in the needle bar. I would try the DBx1 first. If the shank is too loose the needle will be off center. Then you could try a System 134 needle.Stay with the best fit and fine tune the needle bar height for the best pickoff.

The Sailrite machines are meant for sewing canvas, Sunbrella and vinyl materials. They are dual feed, with teeth on the feet to assist with the top/bottom feeding. The maximum thickness they can sew is 1/4 inch, with up to #92 bonded polyester thread (maybe even #138). If your projects fall withing these specs the Sailrite may be a good solution for your limited space. Because these machines are built to stand up to sewing soft vinyl and cloth, they may be over stressed by leather. Leather has resistance to the needle and thread. The bottom of the needle hole tends to close slightly as the needle ascends. So, you may need to use one size larger needle when sewing leather. This adds to the work load on the take-up mechanism. You should use leather point needles for leather and round point for cloth and synthetics. There is one more factor to consider if you buy a portable walking foot machine. That is punching power. Leather requires more punching power and the basic setup of these portables doesn't provide that much. You may need to upgrade from the Power Plus wheel to the Monster II balance wheel to get the necessary torque. That adds $125 to the price of the machine. The teeth on the bottom of the standard feet will leave marks in leather. you may need to upgrade to the knurled presser feet, which they sell for ~$32. By the time you are through upgrading a portable dual feed walking foot machine you could probably have bought a Consew P-1206RB industrial compound feed walking foot machine.

Is the needle going through the center of the slot in the cover plate? If not, the needle bar may need to be loosened and turned slightly. However, this will change the alignment of the needle clamp and thread guide. If the needle is already centered, then the shuttle assembly position may need to be tweaked to clear the needle.

I recently bought a 3/4 inch swing out single fold edge tape attachment on ebay and am waiting for a spare bobbin cover sliding plate to J.B. Weld it to. The mouth of the folder (business end) is fairly wide and looks like it can handle almost 1/4 inch combined edge thickness. I will report back once it is mounted and I try it out. The edge tape I bought for it is fairly thin polyester (looks like the equiv of 1.5 ozs). It looks like it can feed leather edging too as long as is thin enough to go thru the bent channel in the binder (guessing about 2 oz). There are certain folders that are extra wide for edging carpeting. I haven't gone there yet. All of these folders are made to feed slippery edging, like cloth, nylon and polyester. They slide through with little resistance compared to leather than may be sticky. Double folders are trickier than single folders with almost any material.

Actually, I proposed to the Admin that we create a new sub-forum for members to discuss old domestic sewing machines. I have a couple myself and until last year I refurbished and sold old iron body Singer home machines. I will let you all know if or when this new forum is created. Until then, feel free to continue this particular discussion.

It may be time for a new sub-forum for discussing domestic sewing machines. This forum, as the label suggests, is for industrial leather sewing machines. The Singer 15-91 is a domestic straight stitch sewing machine for cloth.

The Singer 111W156 and 211G156 have reverse. I have a 211G156. It gets 5 stitches per inch in both directions and the holes match.

These all have 4 motion feed dogs. This is also known as drop feed and it is pretty much the standard feed system in both walking foot and straight stitch machines. Sliding feed is non-standard and is only useful on binder machines. Otherwise, it is an impediment in my opinion. Those who already have such machines either learn to make do with the sliding feeder or sell them off and buy a 4 motion feeder machine.

Don't use a round point needle in leather if you can avoid it. The round holes are the wrong configuration for sewing animal skins. You should use either a wedge, chisel, or diamond/triangle shaped needle. As for matching needles and thread sizes, here is a needle and thread chart.

That machine is a clone of the Singer 45k25. It is similar to other clones, like the Cowboy CB2500 and the ubiquitous GA5-1 models.

Don't expect professional results from one of those Chinese or Vietnamese patch machines.

I was just about to tell him to try this needle system. It may or may not be necessary to slightly raise or lower the needle bar to get perfect timing.

Outsoles are usually edge sewn on a curved needle and awl lockstitch machine, like the Landis 12 series machines found in most shoe repair shops. Sometimes the soles are sewn from inside the upside down shoe. The machine that does this is called a McKay machine and it is a chainstitcher. The chain lies inside the shoe or boot and gets covered by an insole pad. The seams and decorative patterns on the uppers can be sewn on a zig zag or a straight stitch roller foot machine. Sometimes a double or triple needle machine is used, as is done on Redwing work boots. Because the inside thread is hidden a chainstitch machine is sometimes used. There are lots of videos on YouTube demonstrating the use of these machines on shoes and boots. I recommend that you watch everything published by our friend and advertiser Lisa Sorrell. Her YouTube channel is called "It's a Boot Life."

I guess that depends on where in the World you are located! You don't have that info in your profile. I get sewing machine parts from various wholesalers and industrial sewing machine dealers. If there is a dealer anywhere near you, look them up and call, email, or live chat them.

The Singer 29 and Adler 30 class top universal feed machines are known as shoe and boot "patchers." They are staples in the shoe "repair" business, not so much in the shoe manufacturing business. In order to get recommendations for a first machine that is used to make, rather than repair shoes, you need to explain what type of shoes you plan to make. Links and/or photos will help define your end game.

I've sewn end caps on dice cups using a shoe patcher. They usually allow you to get close to 1/8 to 3/16 inch from the edge to the needle. There is no need for an edge guide as long as your edge is even (e.g., sanded and slicked outer edge). The nose of the cylinder arm will stop the shaped item from going any farther in. I recommend a large bobbin model so you can use #138 or #207 thread, depending on the total thickness to be sewn. Most shoe patchers can sew between 1/4 and 5/16 inch compressed leather.