Members Jovial Posted March 26, 2011 Members Report Posted March 26, 2011 Anyone know whats up with my bottom stitches? I had a topic before and was told that a reverse twist needle would take care of my puckering on the bottom stitches but.... it doesn't really look any better. Since I seem to still be missing something I will throw myself upon the mercy of my betters and ask for help. I know I need to change out the feet for something without teeth to clear up those marks but I need to find a place online that sells them first. My setup is a Consew 206RB-1 using the 135x16NW size 22 Needles. Photo order is Top, Bottom respectively. Quote
Contributing Member TwinOaks Posted March 26, 2011 Contributing Member Report Posted March 26, 2011 Part of it looks like a tension adjustment issue, part of it like needle deflection (the weaving around part). Double check your needle/thread compatibility, that's an awfully large hole on the top. Also check the seating of the needle to make sure it properly forms the loop. When the needle begins to lift, the thread should make a small loop for the hook to grab. If your hole is the wrong size or the needle is seated wrong, it can alter the loop size. If the loop is too small and is not grabbed by the hook, you get skipped stitches. If it's too large, then there's extra thread that the take up arm has to deal with before it ever starts properly tensioning the lock stitch. That can result in the bottom thread not being pulled into the hole all the way. Quote Mike DeLoach Esse Quam Videri (Be rather than Seem) "Don't learn the tricks of the trade.....Learn the trade." "Teach what you know......Learn what you don't." LEATHER ARTISAN'S DIGITAL GUILD on Facebook.
Members Jovial Posted March 26, 2011 Author Members Report Posted March 26, 2011 Thanks for the input TwinOaks but I think the pictures must be deceiving or something. The thread (T135) is pulling tight and stitching as it should be and locking in the middle in those pictures. My concern or question deals rather with the cracking/puckering around the bottom puncture (exit hole?) from the needle in the leather itself. Quote
Contributing Member TwinOaks Posted March 26, 2011 Contributing Member Report Posted March 26, 2011 Oh, that. Sharper needle, or dampen the back side of the leather. That flesh side looks like it has been pasted (glued) to make a nicer looking back. You might try lightly spraying the back to soften up the glue before sewing. Also, if you aren't doing so, be sure to use a leather point needle (I'm not familiar with the needles on your machine- I use 794) so the needle slices through the leather instead of punching a hole in it. Quote Mike DeLoach Esse Quam Videri (Be rather than Seem) "Don't learn the tricks of the trade.....Learn the trade." "Teach what you know......Learn what you don't." LEATHER ARTISAN'S DIGITAL GUILD on Facebook.
Contributing Member Ferg Posted March 26, 2011 Contributing Member Report Posted March 26, 2011 (edited) Thanks for the input TwinOaks but I think the pictures must be deceiving or something. The thread (T135) is pulling tight and stitching as it should be and locking in the middle in those pictures. My concern or question deals rather with the cracking/puckering around the bottom puncture (exit hole?) from the needle in the leather itself. I agree with TwinOaks on needles regarding them being leather needles. Also: I believe your needle is too large, go with a #20. You may want to try a TW in lieu of a RTW needle style. ferg Edited March 26, 2011 by 50 years leather Quote
Members Jovial Posted March 27, 2011 Author Members Report Posted March 27, 2011 I agree with TwinOaks on needles regarding them being leather needles. Also: I believe your needle is too large, go with a #20. You may want to try a TW in lieu of a RTW needle style. ferg Yeah for the consews 135x16s are all leather points the TW were actually a little worse than the RTW. They both do have the awl shape to the point. I'll do some experiments tomorrow and pull out my Digital SLR and Macro lens to photograph the stitching instead of using my phone. Hopefully I'll get to the bottom of this. I'll order in a pack of #20s as well and see if that helps out. Thanks for the help so far! Quote
Contributing Member TwinOaks Posted March 27, 2011 Contributing Member Report Posted March 27, 2011 Something you can try, using that same piece of leather, is to flip it and sew with the grain side facing down. That should give you an indication of whether it's the needles or the leather. Don't worry about the quality of the pics, they were just fine........a little large when uploaded, but that's easily dealt with. For most pics, we try to stay on a 800x600 scale so that it fits on the screen better. The viewer can always enlarge the image, but larger pic files take a good bit of time to load. Quote Mike DeLoach Esse Quam Videri (Be rather than Seem) "Don't learn the tricks of the trade.....Learn the trade." "Teach what you know......Learn what you don't." LEATHER ARTISAN'S DIGITAL GUILD on Facebook.
Members Jovial Posted March 27, 2011 Author Members Report Posted March 27, 2011 Something you can try, using that same piece of leather, is to flip it and sew with the grain side facing down. That should give you an indication of whether it's the needles or the leather. Don't worry about the quality of the pics, they were just fine........a little large when uploaded, but that's easily dealt with. For most pics, we try to stay on a 800x600 scale so that it fits on the screen better. The viewer can always enlarge the image, but larger pic files take a good bit of time to load. Haha will do. Sorry about the picture size anytime I see a picture under 1mb anymore I tend to stop paying attention. I suppose I got too used to my SLR's RAW files which average around 10-15mb per picture. Well I suppose my obscene monitor resolutions don't help either. Well at any rate I'm going to go sleep off the last of my "guys night out". LOL I tell my friends I'm getting too old for this but they just laugh at me and say I'm getting boring. Sunday is a good day for experimentation, right? Quote
Members Jovial Posted March 27, 2011 Author Members Report Posted March 27, 2011 (edited) Ok. The samples in this picture are all from the same piece of leather, brand new needles, and using T135 Bonded thread. Needles: 135x16NW as per recommendation by Wizcrafts 135x16TRI *Both types in Size 22. Items marked Wet were dampened not soaked. Almost as if I was casing the leather for tooling. Links have been provided for convenience to both the products used and original forum thread here that got me on my way For what it's worth a friend was looking at my attempts to figure this out yesterday and couldn't see what was bothering me about the stitches. Edited March 27, 2011 by Jovial Quote
Contributing Member Ferg Posted March 27, 2011 Contributing Member Report Posted March 27, 2011 (edited) Ok. The samples in this picture are all from the same piece of leather, brand new needles, and using T135 Bonded thread. Needles: 135x16NW as per recommendation by Wizcrafts 135x16TRI *Both types in Size 22. Items marked Wet were dampened not soaked. Almost as if I was casing the leather for tooling. Links have been provided for convenience to both the products used and original forum thread here that got me on my way For what it's worth a friend was looking at my attempts to figure this out yesterday and couldn't see what was bothering me about the stitches. Someone that knows little about the art of sewing leather with a machine probably would not see a problem. That said, you have a problem with the size needle and/or style of needle. Wetting the leather to sew is balder dash. If you wet the leather you may get marks from anything and almost everything you do while sewing. Your machine is okay, the leather is okay, you have a problem with the needle style and size, plain and simple. ferg Make sure you study the information enclosed with this post in pdf format. Sewing Machine Needles.pdf Edited March 27, 2011 by 50 years leather Quote
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