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-->CowboyBob, thank you for the information. There was a time when $500 would have made me or broke me, but I feel like I need more suppot and hand holding while I start this journey. I been watching a lot of you tube videos and my imagination is just blowing up with ideas of projects. I was coming into the trade with just the desire to build leather welding aprons for myself, but now I am really intersted in the canvases and heavy cloths, not only light leather. I had no idea how learnable the projects are, but after watching on youtube, I think it is going to be more so a challenge for me to learn to excersise patience while trying to make some leather and canvas projects.

Can I buy presser feet, dogs and othe parts for the Singer 111w155 and bolt them on the sailrite fabricator? Am I understanding this correctly when folks on here mention these machines the fabricator is cloned from? Please correct me on this as I am learning. Is that a standard that all or most the machines follow for practical purposes or no?

This is an old thread, I know. But this old information is pretty interesting to new forum members such as myself. I just purchased the fabricator and look forward to learning how to sew with it. I know it’s not the Juki 1541s, but the reason I bought it is the customer service, not so much the equipment. I am new to this skill set and I will need all the help I can reach when I begin my journey down this unsure path I decided to venture down; leathercrafting. Once I feel that I no longer need my hand held, I will probably buy me a cowboy 3200 and and a matching flat bed for the 346 thread. Anyways. I’m excited to get started. I see a lot of scrapped leather aprons in my future.

LOL, I was just joking when I mentioned my welding gloves. Im going to stop posting on thread now. I dont want to take up too much of peoples time and them real long thread get kind of menotinous. I have any other questions, I will start a new thread folk. Once again thank you for your input and I will keep on going with my hand stitching too. Actually was looking at them presses last night in fact on a few different sites.

i) what items you would probably want to sew. -A leather welding apron followed up with patching over the holes in my welding gloves for starters. I can fantsize about making all kinds of leather stuff. ii) what size of thread you want / need to sew those items. -This is a question I wish I had known to ask myself way before I ventured down the path of leather sewing all together. Right now I have kevlar thread in size 346. WOW right! Now I know. When I bought this, I had no idea of needle sizes and weather or not a machine could hold a given needle size. I just looked at the thread next to a couple pieces of 1" leather straps ontop of the 3 oz. suede I planned on using for my apron and thought to myself that it looked awesome. That was what I started hand stitching with. Now though, hindsight is 20/20 right, thread size 138 or maybe 207. iii) what style of machine is best suited to your projects, flatbed or cylinder bed. For someone starting out I would recommend a cylinder bed with a flat top attachment. -All the videos I have watched on youtube makes me lean towards a flatbed, but my gut says cylinder arm. I cant get out of my head that it is only a matter of time before my wife wants me to replicate a louis vitton purse for her or I think I want to make me a leather backpack. iv) buy a brand name if your budget allows. I would love to find a used machine for around $1,000.00 to $1,500.00 on one of the local classiifeds. I been looking for a few weeks now and they are pretty expensive for being used. I am a little surprised at what the sellers are asking. some are asking the same as new price. As far a name brand goes, if I buy a new machine which is stillan option, I may be buying one of the following: Cobra20, Cobra 26, the techsew 2750 or the techsew 1660.

As for a sewing machine that has the features posted above that can drive a 138 thread with the appropriate needle to steer said thread are slim to none. I also been using https://theluckyneedle.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Sewing-Machine-Buyers-Guide-2021.pdf to help me look for a sewing machine too. I have found a couple, but I was hoping to find something with a lower price. Many of the machines are close if not the same as msrp. I think I need to just take it slow until one pops up.

LOL, WOW...Thank you all for the input. I apprciate you taking your time to respond to me. You have definitely encouraged me to keep on with the hand stitching.

Like you, I actually like the actual stitching part of hand stitching. That was actually what got me into it. I think really what I need, to keep me interested in hand stitching, is a faster way to punch all the holes for the thread.

Ok, that is golden information. Thank you. I will pass on the Sailrite leatherwork then. Sounds like I need to keep looking for a industrial walking foot sewing machine or one with compound feed. Im glad I got some input and I can still pass on the sewing machine. Probably saved me a few hundred dollars or maybe even a grand. Ok thank you.

Hello all, I am new and this is my first post. I have been reading the forums for about a week or so and I like so far what I have read. Anyways... I am going to start learning how to sew leather. I did spend about 2 hours hand stitching , but after two hours, I was just so ready to quit. I am buying a used sailrite leatherwork sewing machine on Saturday mornng. For my first project I will be attempting to make a welding apron. It will be 3 to 4 oz suede with crossback leather straps. I plan to have two chest pockets and thats probably about it until I get more comfortable with sewing leather. I planned to use kevlar thread to sew the apron together with because of the sparks from grinding and welding. As for the kevlar, How do I end the threads after I cut away from the sewing machine? Do I just re thread it back into the existing holes where the thread has previously gone? I know that usually melting the thread ends is the goto standard, but kevlar does not exactly melt, which is why I chose to use it on a welding apron. Should i just use the regular nylon or polyester thread? Also, I am getting the vibe from what I have read thus far tex90 or thread size 92 is the norm for these type of projects. I look forward to reading the repsonces. Thank you for your time.