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Hi, I love this community of people helping each other, I have read... and read and read, and so now I know that there is no one machine that will suit all of my needs for the rest of my life, I know how a lot of you feel about clones and I feel the same way. I live in an area of the county that has no industrial sewing machine stores remotely near me (29909, Okatie SC) so I will have to buy a machine and have it shipped to me, and set it up myself. I can get a neighbor to help a little bit with physically setting the motor in place. Buying an industrial sewing machine is mainly because my artist uncle died and left me all of his unfinished and will-never-be-able-to-be-sold paintings. These paintings are on canvas and linen with layers of paint - enough to make probably 70 bags. I have tried to make a couple of mock-ups on my home sewing machine and though it's a trooper, of course I am limited (yes I read the post on the difference between home and industrial) but aside from that I want to sew with thicker thread than is possible on a home machine. I want to add leather trim and handles like on the Kuba cloth bag I made at a leather bag making workshop. So I know from my research that I need a cylinder arm, I'd like a binder (I think), let's pretend price is no object (because I think the machines are priced competitively and you get what you pay for) and since there is no one around to service the machine I need one that will not break down (is that possible?). I know I want a servo motor. I believe that a 3/8 sewing thickness will be enough. I think that I need a walking foot. I think in my case it's best to buy a new machine. The help I am asking for here is if you could please tell me if I should look any further than Juki, and which company you can recommend I buy it from. I looked longingly at a Juki 1342-7. I do love the thread trimmer on my home machine but have heard it is very expensive on an industrial machine. Maybe you will tell me that since I live in such a remote place that it really is not a good idea to even buy an industrial machine until I move somewhere else one day. If that is the case I would really appreciate the honesty. The paintings will not deteriorate with time. Thank you, PossumBean

Heres my third bag. Feel free to critique the stitching! Im slowly getting more consistent! My question however is what material should i use to fill the handles in order to get a firm yet supple roundness to it? I've tried hemp rope but it can be stiff and the ribs of the plaiting can show through on thinner leathers. I want a perfect tubular shape. Leather cord online never seems to go up to big enough diameters tho maybe im looking in the wrong places - im thinking 1/2 to 5/8 of an inch. Thanks

Hey guys, I'm looking to pick up some tips on making rolled handles. I've just watched an awesome video on how to hand sew them, but I'm hoping to do it on my machine since my hand stitching skills aren't very good and I don't have a clamp yet. The major issue I'm having is that my leather is wrinkling quite a lot when I bend it. I've been using 4oz veg tan with a vinyl tubing core. I'm using a zipper foot so I can get my stitching as close to the tubing as possible, but it still seems to be a bit loose and I think that may be contributing to the wrinkles. I have tried conditioning it, which helps a little, but I'm still not 100% happy. I was wondering if a welting/cording foot would deal with that by allowing me to sew even closer to the tubing. Has anyone tried a welting foot, and if so, could you get the stitches really close to the cording? Does it seem like that would help me? Or am I better off just biting the bullet and hand stitching? Also- I've been glueing the leather together, but then when I go to burnish the cut edge I seem to get a lot of glue coming onto my edge, making it sticky and hard to slick down. Is there any way to prevent this? I'm using an eco-friendly water-based glue.. Any tips are appreciated! Thanks!

Hello! I am new to the site and this is my first post. Please forgive my inexperience! I have been making leather handbags on a learn as I go basis and am not satisfied with the look of my handles. I have been wanting to create a round rope-like handle similar to what is in fashion at the moment but am not sure how to do it. I have a Juki 241H flatbed and just purchased a techsew 5100. I can't seem to sew close enough to the filler rope to make the strap nice and tight. Is a stirrup plate what I need to get in close to the rope edge? Could someone post an image of what it looks like to use a stirrup plate? Any light you could shed would be much appreciated! Thanks so much! Kristi

I am in the process of making a bag similar to the hermes depeche briefcase. Its definitely a daunting task and i have recently been stuck on making the handles. http://thumbnail.image.rakuten.co.jp/@0_mall/maison/cabinet/item-spec10/6000031301.jpg As you can see there is something inside the leather and i dont know what to put inside. i was thinking maybe something like in this video at 1:15 theres something that he puts into the handle and i wanted to know if that could work although i have no idea what that is, maybe rubber? Also i dont have the filetuesue or whatever its called from mando (the edge burning tool) and i know that hermes uses that to finish edges. If i follow Bob Park's tutorial on finishing edges without doing the polishing is it possible to get the same kind of matte edges that hermes has? Thanks