Belts that are sewn by machine

[ABC3]

What do you guys/gals do in this situation. On double thickness belts you groove your stitch line & as you sew the belt, staying in the stitch lines (hopefully) as you come to the tip of the belt, if the needle does not meet your stitch line exactly as you turn (in other words, your stitches are too short or too long) you are going to be short or long of your stitch line on the turn.

And this will happen more than not.

How do you adjust so that you hit the groove on the turn?

[Art]

Hi Tom,

As you approach the final needle insertion on which you will pivot the turn, stop, raise the presser feet, and lower the needle into the work (by handwheel) at the desired spot, when the needle is in the work a little, lower the presser feet and continue, you'll have a short or long stitch, but you will hit your mark.

If I understood what you were getting at.

Art

  Hobby Tom said:

What do you guys/gals do in this situation. On double thickness belts you groove your stitch line & as you sew the belt, staying in the stitch lines (hopefully) as you come to the tip of the belt, if the needle does not meet your stitch line exactly as you turn (in other words, your stitches are too short or too long) you are going to be short or long of your stitch line on the turn.

And this will happen more than not.

How do you adjust so that you hit the groove on the turn?

[Rayban]

Nothing to add here, ART has said it all....if you still think you messed it up too badly, cover it up with a $50 sterling silver tip....no one will notice.

[Bree]

  Art said:

Hi Tom,

As you approach the final needle insertion on which you will pivot the turn, stop, raise the presser feet, and lower the needle into the work (by handwheel) at the desired spot, when the needle is in the work a little, lower the presser feet and continue, you'll have a short or long stitch, but you will hit your mark.

If I understood what you were getting at.

Art

My method is a just a tad different. I wait until I am about an inch or so from the end and then mentally calculate just how close I am going to come to the target point and then I will divide up that difference and make several stitches just a bit longer or shorter so that it is very hard to notice that any stitches are different from any others. Usually I divide it up amongst three or four stitches. And I do that the same way that Art does... with the flywheel.

[Rayban]

AN inch away, you can see that you're gonna, or not, be dead nuts on ???

Damn, you're good!!

[ABC3]

Bree,

So you saying you just adjust the stitch length , on the machine (longer or shorter) about an inch from the tip to get to the point of the turn.

Am I reading you correctly ?

[bruce johnson]

I have this problem a lot less since I started to use a little lighter thread (#138 on the headstalls and belts) and a shorter stitch length than I used to. The shorter stitch length is a lot more forgiving.

[esantoro]

I use a scratch awl to mark all corners and integral areas that have to be hit dead on. If there is a short run between that point and another point that must be hit dead on, I will mark the stitch marks off with an awl or stitch wheel.

I size up the job at hand, make my marks, and then stitch it up.

ed

[TwinOaks]

I thought it'd be easier to just start at the tip and stitch towards the buckle.

[tonyc1]

I would always have my start and finish at the buckle end.

Tony.

[ABC3]

Tony, I too start & finish at the buckle end. I don't want to start at the belt tip because I want to back-tac & I feel it would be noticeable.

So again if I understand the majority you estimate your target about an inch out from the tip & adjust your stitch length, on your machine, longer or shorter to you hit your target.

[Rayban]

Good reasons to have a rounded tip[ instead of a pointed one......pointed one with take a beating and get dog-eared in time......and rounded one takes the drama out of the stitching.

[ABC3]

Rayban;

good point

[Bree]

  Hobby Tom said:

Bree,

So you saying you just adjust the stitch length , on the machine (longer or shorter) about an inch from the tip to get to the point of the turn.

Am I reading you correctly ?

Yes I adjust the length but not on the machine dial... just a SWAG of the adjustment needed and bringing the needle down to just above the leather and then using the knee lift to raise the foot slightly and add or subtract a bit from the stitch. It's pretty easy. You are just spacing the adjustment over three or four stitches versus one stitch so it is harder to perceive the difference in length.

Of course as I get older my math gets challenged sometimes so it's only the last inch that I work with!! I suppose the more scientific way would be to know your stitches per inch and compute the deviation several inches out and adjust on the machine so it hits exactly the right point with an ever so slight unnoticeable adjustment. Calls for good math, good measurement, and a very accurate machine capable of very small differences in stitch length. Seems like I am always missing one or more components of that so I just SWAG it.

Edit... I always start at the buckle end so my back stitches are less visible.

Edited March 30, 2009 by Bree