Hello everyone, I'm glad to have finally joined this forum. There seems to be a wealth of knowledge here.
From reading on this forum, the juki 441 clones seem to be very popular machines for sewing heavier leather. I produce canvas bags with some leather accents and leather straps. I use a juki 1541, which I love, to sew the canvas. I'm thinking about a cowboy 3200 for sewing one layer of 10-12oz bridle to the canvas. The other use for the new machine would be sewing two layers of 10-12oz bridle together. When I sew the two layers together, it will be after the bag is already constructed, so the cylinder arm will be necessary, which is why I'm looking at 441 clones.
But I have a weird question. It would be too confusing for me to try to explain in detail, but the way the bag is constructed, I will be overlapping two 1 inch wide straps and sewing them together in a rectangle pattern, with the seam being about 6 inches long. The bag will be under the cylinder arm as I'm stitching the straps. I won't be able to turn the leather around to stitch back up the strap, meaning I would have to do one row of stitching in forward, then over a couple stitches to the other side of the strap, then stitch back up the other side of the strap in reverse. Is this something that is feasible with a cowboy 3200? I know machines aren't generally designed to sew in reverse for more than a few stitches. Would the tension be the same on both sides of the strap? Would it be noticeable that one side of the strap was sewn in reverse?
Thanks in advance. -Mike
