Juki 1541S Material Handling Question

[stickandtin]

This is not a leather sewing question, but this forum seems to be the best place on the internet to get information on the capabilities of industrial machines. Most people have questions about how heavy a material or how many layers of material can their sewing machine handle. My question is how light a material can the 1541S sew. Specifically, my wife needs to sew about 30 linear feet of curtains for a vintage travel trailer I'm restoring. The curtains will have a thermal liner on the back side. Is our 1541S the right machine for this job? Can it be set up to sew these curtains? What size needle and thread should she use? The last set of curtains she made, she used an Elna household type machine. She was constantly having to turn the hand wheel to get the machine started. Seems like the little motor was maxed out getting the needle through the two layers of similar material mentioned up. Thanks for any advice.

[leatherisfun]

33 thread and #14 needle should do. This machine will go through multiple layers of curtain material easily.

[Wizcrafts]

I believe that your machine may be equipped with a special rectangular motion feed dog that can be adjusted to either match the needle bar motion, or move at a different pace. This allows for ruffling, of a sort (I don't know how much can be ruffled). Ask Bob for instructions, or consult the manual that came with your machine.

The last time I sewed drapes I used #69 bonded nylon thread, top and bottom, with a #18 needle. You can use other strong cloth thread though. A #18 needle is less likely to break under the strain (relatively speaking) of long drapery panels.

One thing I recommend is adding more top pressure to the presser foot. This is done by a threaded adjuster over the top of the presser foot bar (aka: "presser bar"). This will help to keep the material from slipping.

Since you machine doesn't have a motor driven material puller on the back, you may want to volunteer to help pull the drapes back as she sews.

[stickandtin]

Thanks for the info. Good to know this Juki can handle a light weight job like making these curtains. I'll read up on adjusting the presser foot tension.