ttownfire

It looks like two barrel knots... To try it out, tie a half hitch on the rope/lace with one end. Then tie another half hitch with the "running end" back onto itself. They should slide and sort of cinch down as you pull them away from each other and loosen as you pull them together. Hope that made sense...

Thank you.

Howdy! I am curious as to what kind of stitching this is? How I find more information about it and if it is suitable for items that are flat instead of round and/or hollow instead of being wrapped... Muchas Gracias!

Wow awesome stuff Forbeskm! What a serendipitous reply, as that is the front runner for shoe schools I've been looking at. Great to hear from someone who actually went there. The more I think about the way I need to manipulate the fabric to do patches on the turnouts, the more I think a post style machine may work better than a cylinder arm. I have 4 angles that need to be sewn per patch and the cylinder will only give me two for free. A post machine would give me 360 degrees. And a post machine seems like a good fit for shoe making as well.... Mind if I contact you via pm/email for more shoe/shoe school related talk?

Hi All, I am a full time firefighter with a sewing habit. I have an Artisan 618-SC that I use for lots of different operations. Examples, I repair firefighter turnout gear which is heavy Kevlar and Nomex fabric. I also make and repair cordura/nylon based products I.e. bags, tactical gear, etc. Lately, I have gotten into more leather after a brief flirtation a few years ago. I am having a hard time sewing patches into arm and legs of the new firefighter gear. It was doable on the Artisan 618-SC with some creative folding of the fabric, but the turnouts have gotten smaller in diameter and that trick isn't working on the flat-bed Artisan anymore. So I am thinking some kind of cylinder arm type machine. I have been hand stitching everything I make with leather as I don't want to damage the machine that funds my leather venture. I've hand stitched some sheaths, a holster and plan to make more. I am afraid to do more than one layer of 5oz vegtan with the machine. To complicate matters, I am currently investigating a few different boot and shoe schools I may possibly attend. I would like to have a machine that is capable of sewing the leathers involved with those industries as well. To sum up my messy mind: A cylinder arm machine. Capable of sewing heavy leather and heavy Kevalar and Nomex fabric. Capable of sewing the leathers involved with shoe/boot manufacture Is there one machine that will do what I want? Can you provide some machines for me to investigate? I've looked at the Cowboy 2500 among others, but would love to hear to some opinions on my particular situation. Muchas Gracias!

If its for your one-off art pieces; I would just represent myself and have a great story for each piece. For off the shelf type stuff: I think the structure of retail is changing. I really think "wholesale" will be a thing of the past in the near future. To me there is a ton of risk from a retail store operator point of view; Order 100 units of "xyz" and hope you can move them. There is a lot of risk from a manufacturing point of view as well; you are committed to the order AND the terms of the deal. If the retailer doesn't move the products; you could be getting them back or you may need to return a percentage of the sale, for example. Your committed either way and discounts don't always work as we've seen this year. Direct to Consumer, which seems like a plethora of people do here, is a GREAT way to make it work. The rise of informal business is going to dominate in the near future. To operate a formal business with a store front and all the associated fees and taxes is not always necessary. In fact, if you really think about it, most businesses could operate from a garage rather easily. Cutting out the government as a middle man is a great way to "vote." I'm not advocating cheating on your taxes, you still need to claim all the associated income and expenses. I'm merely pointing out that we can change a lot of governmental bad behaviour and create sustainable businesses by cutting out the middle men in a legal manner; from retail representatives/buyers to the fee and sales tax collectors.

What size needle would you run for 138 thread? I'm thinking 23 as I run a 22 for 92 thread... could it be 24?

Hello mate - http://www.seattlefabrics.com/webbing.html...Polypro_Webbing This is 2" and I'm not exactly sure what you are looking for, but you might give them a call to see where they get it... never hurts to ask.

Tandy has the Craft tool version of this snap setter on sale right now... at least my local one did. I bought mine yesterday for $90. I also got the L24 dies for $50... I think they are regularly $60. This thing is freakin sweet. My old hand held snap setter was mushrooming bad and has lost at least an inch since I started using it last year. I got sick of smashing my fingers and taking so much time to set a simple snap. Best early birthday present ever!!!!!

Yeah, its just neoprene with a laminate fabric. They do sell "naked" neoprene which is just the rubber compound without fabric, see here: http://www.seattlefabrics.com/neoprene.html#Neoprene There are some other options too; http://www.owfinc.com/Hardware/Shardware/neoprene.asp They sell "land use" or SBR neoprene for considerably less than "normal" neoprene. I will tell you that this stuff was beyond tricky for me to sew, especially at the thicknesses I required. You might have someone that knows how to sew stretchy fabrics come over and teach you. I also realized that an industrial serger would be ideal for the laptop cases I was trying to make. YMMV.

Another quick answer: YES!!! Saying NO here is like saying; you can't make shoes because so many other companies already make shoes. I say go for it! This is not a moral compass issue either. Those that try to make it a moral compass issue have something to gain either directly or indirectly... which is akin to protectionism and protectionism has never really worked; ask Thomas Edison.

I don't think you have much of a case if the item is "knocked off." Even if its damn near identical. Especially if you don't have some sort of protection on that design. Look at the all the Chinese Knock-offs of sewing machines for example. If the major manufacturers thought they had a case, they would sue the pants off these Chinese companies. The simple fact is, most anything is damn hard to protect design wise and even harder if its simply a construction method on the front end. Meaning, its hard and expensive to get a patent, copyright in the first place. Then once you tally up the time in court and fees associated with fighting an infringement case, you're better off just walking away to design something else. There is a reason why "first to market" is better than "protection." People reverse engineer things all the time for mass manufacture. In my opinion, you should just expect it and therefore constantly strive for better designs.

I believe in open-source software. Likewise, I believe in open-source knowledge. To me its funny to think that you have a proprietary secret in the world of sewing, stitching, general fabric or leather work. Patents are good for items that have been engineered and tested with NASA like precision and expense. Items like our Firefighter gear and such. But for consumer driven clothing and soft-goods manufacture I think patents are silly. There are tips and tricks that will help make the job a bit easier, no doubt. However, if someone really wants to copy something you've made, they will do it if capable with or without your help. The only thing you can really control is the creative aspect that went into the design and being first to market. Everything else is replicable for the most part, it will only take time on the part of the person trying to replicate. One should never rest thinking they have a lock on a certain style, method or market. One should always be expanding the creative aspect of the work as everything else beyond that is basically the same. At least that is how I see it... YMMV

I have an Artisan 618... what foot or "feets" would you recommend for this?

Hey Randy! Yeah, what you wrote makes perfect sense... in practice its probably a bit difficult to master. The 31-15 sure looks popular on the boot makers forum, I suspect for the reasons you mentioned. I sold my singer 22U-33 last year and I don't currently own a drop feed machine. I'm not doing rows and rows of stitching on boot tops. However, I want to stitch some fancier "windows" for inlays and overlays, akin to boot tops in some respects. So, do you think it would be possible to use a walking foot/compound machine for top-stitching that kind of work? Thank you for that information! It was very helpful. Someday, I may ask you about that class...