losthelm Report post Posted April 6, 2010 I am thinking about purchaseing a machine I have been looking at the older singer 66. I have been hand sewing upholstry weight leather mostly quivers, posible bags, and other useful bits for reinactors. I have a supplier for parts www.steffanleather.com Would this be a good machine for small jobs at reasonable speeds? The industry models I have sceen are a bit quick for me to control. What should I expect to pay for something like this? what should I look so I don't end up with an expencive paper weight? What are some other things to look for? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Wizcrafts Report post Posted April 6, 2010 I have a Singer model 66-1 that will sew about 3/16" under the pressor foot. I suppose it may be able to feed leather, but the stitch length is tiny; around 8 to the inch maximum. It can only deal with #69 thread max. If the one you are looking at is from the 1940's or newer, it will be more capable than my 1916 model 1. Note, that the Singer Class 66 is strictly a home machine. It was not designed to sew real leather, such as leathercrafters use. Save your money and buy an industrial walking foot machine. You will end up with one anyway, so you may as well save yourself the grief of going through a half dozen machines on your way to a walking foot machine. Get one from a dealer, with a servo motor installed. It will give you very good control at all speeds, especially slow speeds. Also, most modern leather sewing machines can now sew 3/8" of leather. Old ones have a hard time past 5/16". Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
