MtlBiker

Regular staples, like you use with a stapler in an office. If I've got a tricky assembly, like with a gusset that's hard to hold in place before sewing, I often use a stapler to staple the assembly just outside of where I will stitch. That way everything stays perfectly in place while I stitch and then I use a staple remover to remove them, or if far enough away from my stitch line I just use scissors to reduce the seam allowance, thus cutting them off.

@HNancy - If the impression you're talking about is on the underside of the faux leather, why is that much of a concern? You probably have a lining to your bag anyway which would hide that. But you might try reducing the pressure foot pressure, maybe changing the presser foot, using longer stitches. I have an RB206-5 and have had very little trouble sewing faux leather, but there are lots and lots of different faux leathers with all kinds of different backings as well as uh, "stickiness" of the surface as well as stretch of the surface. May I ask is that your first industrial machine? My 206 was my first industrial and I still love it, but I've added a cylinder arm machine to be better able to deal with bag openings, plus a semi-industrial (my term) zig-zag walking foot Sailrite.

@jacko13 - Welcome to the forum (from a fellow Canadian)! I'm a relative newcomer to sewing but I already have 3 industrial machines. I'm sure others here will give you more comprehensive suggestions but I think you'll find here is not one single machine that would do for very task. Most people seem to start off with a good flatbed machine and for many that may be all they ever need. But for bags and purses, it might be nice to also have a cylinder arm machine. And some cylinder arm machines include or have available a flat bed attachement. I don't think a post bed machine should be your first choice. From your list, I'd be tempted to go with the Juki 1342. You say spotty dealer, but the machine might be a good one and might come with a warranty. Juki is sort of like the gold standard and parts and maintenance advice would be easy to come by. What's your budget? You might consider a brand new clone machine. You might try calling Chris at Japan Sewing in Toronto at 905-764-0100. But first you should figure out what type of machine would be most suited to what you want to make. I'd suggest that a good cylinder arm machine would be your best choice. Good luck!

Nicely done! And I DO have a spare brand new servo motor I could use. I'm sure I could buy that kind of winder from someone like Techsew (local to me) but one of the considerations for me is space and weight of the finished unit. I'm really tight on space and something like you made would be much harder to find a place for. But I'm sure it would give a better result. The other small stand-alone winders (like the one linked to above) could be put away in a drawer when not in use. My sewing "toys" have already taken up 1.5 guest rooms and my latest Sailrite LSZ-1 with folding table is in my living room. Good thing I don't have a wife. (I guess that's good AND bad. SIGH)

Thank you. That's the kind of winder I've been looking at on Amazon (Canada). That ebay one is plus (quite high) shipping to Canada, making it about the same price as from Amazon. And with Amazon Prime I get free delivery plus the ability to return it hassle free. I haven't pulled the plug on it yet but I'm tempted.

Geez, you sound like an incredible shopper and bargain hunter! Around where I live, I've never seen a sewing machine put out on the curb. In any case, I thought $65 was fairly cheap, compared with many I found on the web (and one dealer websites) which are $300 and one was even $400-something. I couldn't believe it, especially since it looked just like one on Amazon for $65. I'm also in a space crunch and think that a stand-alone winder would be easier to put away and even when being used it can sit on part of one of my sewing tables. Maybe I'll hold off on buying one for awhile. Out of curiosity, you list your location as Ontario... are you in a rural area or a big city? (I'm in Montreal.) Cheers!

I tried a couple of search terms and "winder" was the best but none of the results were useful. I stopped looking at results after 4-5 pages. I'm probably going to get one of the cheap ones off Amazon, and if I do, I'll report back with the results. But delivery is estimated to be as long as March. SIGH.

One of my machines is a domestic, but I still use it for a lot of stuff and don't want to dedicate it to winding bobbins. Plus it would be awkward to attach a big spool of v92 thread to it. Plus I'm not sure it would even work with my type M bobbins. I guess I'm just lazy... I don't want to unthread/rethread a machine just to wind bobbins. I think I'm going to take a chance on one of those fairly cheap winders on Amazon (Canada) that cost about $65 or so. If it doesn't work well, I will not have wasted to much money.

I'm thinking of getting a stand-alone bobbin winder.... yes, my machines all have integrated winders, but quite often I just don't feel like unthreading/rethreading the machine just to wind a bobbin or two. I'd also like to wind bobbins faster. Are there any makes/models you folks recommend? I'd like to get something that could work with both style "M" bobbins as well as class 15 (standard?). Two of my machines use M and two 15. Thanks.

Oh, one more thing... You say you want a starting point for thread weight before you "make that investment"... I would suggest that thread cost is minuscule in the overall scheme of things for your projects. The machine, the fabric/leather, needles and other accessories certainly are a bigger investment than a few spools of thread. I use everything from heavy duty thread (consumer thread) on my home machine, to v69, v92 and v138 threads on my other machines. Then my choice of which thread to use is based on the material I'm sewing, the strength required and the look I'm after. Maybe you should start with a bunch of different weights and experiment to see which you like better with your material and machine.

I think that before anyone can suggest a thread weight to you, they'd need to know what you're sewing. I know you said handbags, but the type of material you use, as well as the thickness (not to mention how many layers) all are a factor. Also the machine you have might be a limiting factor as well. Thread choice could also be affected by aesthetic concerns... do you want the thread/stitching to be an attractive visual or more unobtrusive. I doubt there's a right answer to your question without knowing a lot more.

Well, I think you've got the ideal machine for all that. You didn't fool around there. You'll find this is an excellent forum with very helpful and extremely knowledgeable members who will help you when you get stuck. I myself only started doing any type of sewing since Covid and this forum has been invaluable help. Cheers!

Funny, my winder (on either the Techsew 2750 Pro or the Consew RB206-5) does not have any kind of pin. The bobbin fits on simply by friction. I wonder why they used different types of winders on different model machines. Thanks for making it clearer about what you were talking about. Glad you finally got the right bobbins ordered. Cheers!

@Thescandall - are you talking about the little slot which is at about the 8 o'clock position on this photo? That slot is not used at all when the bobbin is inserted in the bobbin case. As a matter of fact, I don't think it's used at all, except maybe on the bobbin winder to keep the bobbin from just spinning freely. But (I'll confirm it when I get home) I don't think even my bobbin winders use that slot. The bobbin just fits on the split shaft on the winder and is held by friction.

I'm at my day job and don't have a bobbin with me. I'm not quite sure what you are talking about regarding a slot on the bobbin. I'll look at my bobbins tonight when I get home, but I've never given any thought at all to any kind of "slot" on my bobbins. You're new to this stuff and just got the fabulous TechSew 5100? Congratulations! I hope you got the speed reducer and needle positioner with it. I think it's like my 2750 PRO but uh, better. What is your intended use for the machine?

That's really interesting... From what you report it sounds as if the bobbin on the 5100 is different from that on the 2750 (which I have). Do you know if that's really the case? I would be surprised. I buy generic "M" bobbins from Wawak and they work perfectly in my Techsew 2750 and also in my Consew RB206-5.

You're a gentleman! Thanks for the kind words. I'm in the picture framing (and art gallery) business and we have all kinds of boards, but I'd never heard the term strawboard before. For the moment I think I will try my next bag using the leather backed with a glued on foam, with the foam being smaller than the stitch line plus maybe 1/4" or so. I did a test with Lepage's Heavy Duty Contact Cement and my foam and it holds really well. I hope the smell of the cement disappears soon because now maybe 6 hours later, the smell overpowers the wonderful leather smell. And Lepage's smells much much less than Barge's. I'm looking into bell skivers and you are probably right that there's one in my near future. Is it even worth looking at the small mechanical ones like Tandy Leather sells (or from Amazon)? They're about $250 Canadian, compared with a Techsew (new) at $1,800. I am just a beginner after all, and this is more of a hobbyist thing than a business. If I get a lot more serious and do a lot more leather, well, I'd spend the $1,800 but it might be a bit premature for me. I'd started another thread asking advice about this but so far haven't had any responses. Cheers!

It looks like I'm going to need some sort of skiving tool in the near future. It was suggested that I get a bell skiver, and at least up here in Canada, they're pricy at about $1800 (CDN). I did a quick search on the used market but nothing jumped out and I'd be kinda hesitant to buy someone else's problem machine. So I'm looking for advice. I just need to be able to skive the seam allowance on leather, mostly chrome tan and maybe 4oz. This is for bags/purses where my seams with inner bag attached just get pretty bulky. I realize that veg tan probably is easier to skive, but at least for the near term my choice would be chrome tan. Are devices like this one Amazon Canada Skiver worth considering? Or the one from Tandy Leather? The bell skiver I looked at (website) was the one from TechSew which happens to be local for me. No shipping cost as I could pick it up from them as I did my 2750 Pro. But still it's a lot of money, especially for a beginner with leather work. I've just finished my first purses using leather for the body and gusset and I'm pretty please but I certainly want to improve for my next ones. Here's a bag I just finished (forgot to remove the cat hair before I took the photo)...

Gee, you're real lucky! MY clients (few and far between so far) are way more critical than I am. They all want perfection but for bargain basement prices.

Toxo, do I understand that you're recommending the VT only for the gussets? The front and back of the purse should match (color and finish) the gussets, for this particular design. I doubt if I could mix VT for the gusset with chrome for the front and back and make it match so all of that would end up being VT. Likewise the shoulder strap and decorative straps... it should all match. I didn't post a photo of either of these finished bags, so I'll do that now. For the shoulder strap, I've got a 1.5" strip of black CT leather and a 1.5" strip of red. I folded each edge in to the middle and then aligned the red and black straps and stitched. (Finished shoulder strap is 3/4" wide.) I really like the look of the two-color straps and everyone I've shown the bags to so far has really liked them. I really can't see myself doing this with VT leather (and having to dye to match the rest, etc.). It looks like I'm going to have to investigate skivers. SIGH Plus I will experiment with using contact cement to glue my foam to the leather (sizing the foam so that it clears the seam allowance and stitch lines. (Damn, I forgot to remove the cat hair (helper) before taking the photo!)

@RockyAussie - Those are beautiful and thank you for sharing the process in photos. Not only do I not have a bell skiver yet, I don't have any skiver. So much to learn and so little time (and money). I wasn't able to find a Canadian (or US) source for Sekisui Foam, and even searching for softlon 3002 didn't turn anything up for North America. Ordering from elsewhere doesn't make sense for the small amount that I might use. After all, I'm just a hobbyist with leatherwork. But it does look like quite the product! I'll do some more searching... maybe there's something equivalent out there. Gosh your bags are beautiful! (But what is strawboard?)

Very nice bags! When you say "thin" veg tan for the gusset, (looking at my bag) what thickness are you suggesting? And would you suggest the same veg tan weight for the front and back panels? I guess my hesitation about using veg tan is the extra work (time) it takes to properly finish the leather. I'm talking dyeing and some kind of surface finish. It would put these bags into a much higher price range. As it is, I'm probably not even making minimum wage on these. But yes, I'm a beginner and it's just a hobby for me, not my day job. Thank you!

The bags in the photos I posted were empty and with anything in the bags the "open holes" at the sides are very much reduced. Thank you, but I'm not quite following your suggestion about using veg tan. I'd still need to reinforce it somehow I think, which brings me back to the bulk issue. Also I wanted the front and sides to match in color and finish. This leather was about 4 oz... were you suggesting a thicker veg tan? Are you suggesting veg tan just because for any given weight it's stiffer than chrome tan? Hmmm.... if I understand right, you're suggesting that the veg tan wouldn't need any reinforcement? So I could actually make the front and back and gusset from the same veg tan, without applying any foam or other to stiffen it. But then I'd have to improve my meager skills with dyeing and finishing the veg tan. The clasp holds the flap down and does lock in the closed position.

Wow! Really kind words, thank you. Before COVID I couldn't even sew a button on a shirt and now I've got a bunch of sewing machines. I really got hooked during the times non-essential businesses here were forced to close. Thanks for your kind offer, but I just searched out that product and found scant info on it, but it doesn't seem to be available here in Canada. And even on Etsy, it says the product doesn't ship to here. So it may (or not) be a great product but the difficulty in getting it kinda rules it out for me. My bags turned out very well (if I do say so myself) and next time I'm going to try to trim my foam to smaller than the seam allowance and glue it in place. That way I'd only have to deal with the leather thickness and I am pretty sure that with care I'd get a better result. But I was able to stitch these without too much difficulty. My next attempt will hopefully be better. Cheers!

It's a purse I'm making. I'd made several before using interfaced cotton, fake leather, Harris Tweed, etc. and they proved to be very popular. I'm making the same thing now with the main parts being leather. I need the bag to maintain its form and not sag when empty. Do you think 4oz chrome tan was too thick? Thinner leather would still need (probably foam) interfacing to keep it stiff enough. The lining is not removable once the bag is finished. I just finished my first two bags with leather and all that's left is the shoulder straps which I'm making now. I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out, but I'd like to do better next time. The purpose of the leather was simply to make the bag more up scale, hopefully appealing to a more (dare I say) snobbish crowd. Also justifying a higher selling price.