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[Sylvia]

That is not a walking foot machine. It is a souped up electronic home machine with an even feed attachment. They are horses of a different color.

Your home machines can sew about 1/4 to 5/16" of soft leather, with no larger than #69 bonded nylon thread. The largest needle you can find to fit is will either be a number 18, 19, or 20. It will not properly handle any thread thicker than #69.

An industrial walking foot machine can easily sew through 3/8 inch of hard leather, using #138 thread and a #23 leather point needle. Go up to a #25 needle and you can sew with number 207 thread. Industrial walking foot machines are usually triple feed, where the feed dog, inside foot and needle all move in sync. Maximum stitch length is usually 4 to the inch; sometimes bigger. Finally, industrial walking foot machines weigh about 70 pounds and sit on top of a cutout rectangle, with an oil drip pan, in a heavy duty 1.75" thick table, which is bolted onto to a steel frame. There is a very powerful motor under the table, which drives the pulley on the back of the machine head. Typically, these motors are rated at about 1/2 horsepower. The motor on your souped up home machines will range from 1/10th to 1/15th horsepower.

If you persist in sewing 5 layers of leather with your home machine it will have a very short rest of its life.

I guess I should probably say that I used to work in a production shop with commercial machines. I know the machines you are speaking of quite well. I don't think I'll do much sewing with my Brother. I just don't like the stitch length... even if I don't plan on doing much leather sewing on a machine. My old singer can do that until it croaks and I wouldn't care. Thank you for your insights. Very good information.