One Machine For Lightweight And One For Heavy

[reddevil76]

My friend tells me heavy duty machine will chew up soft leather. So if I wish to sew both soft thin leather as well as thick veg tan, I would need to get separate machines for each purpose. Isnt there a machine that can do it all?

[Art]

In a word, NO. However there is considerable overlap between machines. Thread, hook, and needle size are the limiting factors. Don't expect a harness stitcher to do 46 thread and a 12 or 14 needle. I've never seen 12 needles in a 794 system and don't think they are made. Conversely, you won't see size 26 needles in a 135x16 system or a hook that will work on 346 thread. Like I said though, there is plenty of overlap in the 69 to 138 or 207 thread range. Some medium machines will do 207 and some won't. My best advice is to see Steve or Bob at one of the shows and let them explain it to you.

Art

My friend tells me heavy duty machine will chew up soft leather. So if I wish to sew both soft thin leather as well as thick veg tan, I would need to get separate machines for each purpose. Isnt there a machine that can do it all?

[Wizcrafts]

I have a harness stitcher for sewing dense and/or thick leather, with heavy thread (277 and up). I have a walking foot machine for medium duty leather and vinyl sewing. I use a long arm Singer patcher for odd jobs that benefit from the unique feed system of that machine. Finally, I have home sewing machines for cloth and general garment repairs.

If you intend to sew both soft/thin and hard/thick leather, you should buy a minimum of two machines. They could both be cylinder arm machines: one 441 clone for heavy work (~7/8", with #415 thread) and the other a 227 clone, for lighter sewing. They can sew from 1/16" to 3/8 inch of material. The 227 clones are capable of sewing with #138 thread, top and bottom. A few are heavier duty than others and able to use #207 thread, but they are the exception.

Most modern flat bed walking foot machines, with large bobbins, will sew up to 3/8", with up to #207 thread.

Last, an industrial straight stitch machine with a special roller foot system can sew garment leather quite nicely. They are usually limited to sewing about 1/4" with thread no thicker than #92.