Gump

At dead slow, you can pretty much feel the fields of the motor as it almost bumps from one to the next. With a needle positioner you get 1 stitch for one tap of the pedal.

I can run the needle slow enough to thread it on the way down. Ramp up is as slow as you can ease the pedal down. Slowing down is a little more abrupt, but that is because of so little resistance from the pedal.

Your speed setting doesn't have any bearing on slow speed start. My Sewquiet 6000 is set on maximum with a speed reducer. I can do 1 stitch at a time or 1183 spm flat out. Without reducer I get max machine speed at setting 22 out of 30. For high speed work the motor can be set higher, but you lose slow speed start. I got this from the manual, as it isn't in the spec. literature. So apparently it has slow start speed built in.

I have a pattern pack from McCall's, #6289, that has a similar hat plus a ball cap and sun hat. It also has a tie pattern and men's vest patterns. The pattern pack is copyright 1992 so may be hard to find. If you can't locate one, message me as I will part with mine.

Gil has Fiebings much cheaper than Tandy.

So maybe hope for Lonsdale Leather as they import and bottle their own dye. Not Fiebings, but alcohol based quality dye.

Gil runs a one man show, and runs it out of his house. Give him a call, he loves to talk shop.

Dwight; I got a 8 oz spool of bonded white nylon with my Toro Artisan 3200, that left fine waxy flakes on everything. It looks and feels like regular nylon, but left a ring on the needle and dust/flakes on everything. It's called Artisan "Sewbond". Don't know of any other waxed nylon other than spools of waxed hand sewing nylon/sail makers thread.

Hello from next door, I'm in NS. I buy a lot of my hardware from Atlantic Leather in Moncton. Gil has the best prices I have found in Canada. I don't know what part of NB you're in, but I drive up a couple of times a year to check out his leather stock, as he gets some nice deals at times. Gil Vineham 506-856-6837.

I have 2 Sewquiet servos, and startup is as slow as you would like no matter motor what setting you use right up to max.

Acrylic craft paint works fine, but you have to thin the first coat to get good penetration, and build up from there to your desired look. But it is only a matte finish and needs clear coat for a gloss finish.

In your first pic you show, the thread is the same diameter as the threads of the material, so you can't hide a two thread knot in material only one thread thick. I have had similar problems when sewing Sunbrella fabric with 92 thread. On a single layer the knot would be on one side or the other. A larger needle does help, but on long runs it will tend to shrink your fabric, [lost 1.5" on a 60" run]. Depending on strength requirements, you could use 46 with a size 16 needle and more stitches per inch. I gave up doing boat tops because their not fun and leather still is !

The Singer screws I have measured have all been standard [SAE] fine thread, which are hard to find, but can be turned on most modern lathes.

Have you tried it with the needle positioner stopping in the up position? Also try a size 18 needle as it will allow the material to grip the thread more, causing more resistance to stitch pull through.

Tandy website shows all Fiebings dye as sold out. Local Tandy manager said no more coming in as of Jan. '24. There is currently stock at my local Tandy, but word is out, so buy what you need.