Sewing lightweight leather without a walking foot ?

[littlewing6283]

Good evening folks

I'm a fiend and added a machine to the stable. I came up on a used Juki 5550 and will primarily use that as my garment machine. Ive been using a yamata 8700 (basically a juki 8700 clone) for my garment sewing. 

I was wondering what I would need to sew lightweight garment leather/lightweight leather. No more than 2 pieces of chrome tanned or other lighter types of leather of the 2/3oz variety. I know it wouldnt have the umph to sew through Veg tan. I have a cobra class 4 and Consew 1206rb to sew the thicker stuff. I just thought I could dedicate this to sewing watch rolls, wallet interiors, small bags and pouches. Mainly I wanted to dedicate it to light leather. All I really want to be able to do is sew with a #18 leatherpoint needle with bonded nylon #69 thread. Already has a servo so I can sew slow when I need to. 

So far heres the buy list. 

- Already ordered leather point needles #18, waiting for it to arrive

- roller foot set w/ feed dog and plate

- silcone spray ? saw a youtube video from atlas levy with this but im unsure if I should buy some or not. 

 

Anything I am missng ? Has anyone been successful with this type of setup. I read some threads where people with a 31-15 set theirs up like this.

 

Any advice of comments are appreciated. 

[cjartist]

I'm planning to do it with the Singer 241-12 that I picked up.  I have successfully tested it sewing milled veg tan (5/6 oz) to thin veg tan (about 3 oz) with no problems. I am using a 19 needle with 92 thread.

I am just waiting on a small pulley for the clutch motor before I really begin to put it to work.

[Wizcrafts]

I would get a Teflon foot to reduce the drag leather has under a presser foot. But, make sure it never hits the feed dog directly or it will get scratched up. Also, there are roller equipped flat feet available with little rollers in the front and back. That foot isn't in danger of destruction from contacting the feed dog.

To assist the actual feeding, there are three feed dog/throat plate combinations available for most common straight stitch machines based on Singer designs. Dress makers prefer the fine tooth feeder. Medium teeth are better for denim cloth and thin leather. Then there are large tooth feeders for moving heavy cloth and upholstery grade leather. I would have all three in my parts drawer.

Finally, I recommend using titanium coated needles as they run cooler and don't tend to gum up if you use glue or basting tape to hold layers together.

[littlewing6283]

12 hours ago, cjartist said:

I'm planning to do it with the Singer 241-12 that I picked up.  I have successfully tested it sewing milled veg tan (5/6 oz) to thin veg tan (about 3 oz) with no problems. I am using a 19 needle with 92 thread.

I am just waiting on a small pulley for the clutch motor before I really begin to put it to work.

Awesome. Did you get roller feet for the singer as well. I too have a smaller pulley coming for my other machine with a clutch motor. Another thing that helped me slow down my other garment machine is something I read Wiz comment on an old post, a tennis ball underneath the pedal. It helped me control the clutch motor a lot better as I was used to servos. 

1 hour ago, Wizcrafts said:

I would get a Teflon foot to reduce the drag leather has under a presser foot. But, make sure it never hits the feed dog directly or it will get scratched up. Also, there are roller equipped flat feet available with little rollers in the front and back. That foot isn't in danger of destruction from contacting the feed dog.

To assist the actual feeding, there are three feed dog/throat plate combinations available for most common straight stitch machines based on Singer designs. Dress makers prefer the fine tooth feeder. Medium teeth are better for denim cloth and thin leather. Then there are large tooth feeders for moving heavy cloth and upholstery grade leather. I would have all three in my parts drawer.

Finally, I recommend using titanium coated needles as they run cooler and don't tend to gum up if you use glue or basting tape to hold layers together.

Thanks fort the feedback Wiz. I have some teflon feet that came in a set I bought. I had a question regarding this. When is it preferrable to use teflon feet vs the roller foot ? Also is the roller foot easy to attach ? I saw a video on you tube that was pretty straightforward but I did not understand why on some videos they were taking the side plate off of the sewing machine and making adjustments. 

Thanks for the feed dog tip I'll pickup the other two combos since Im assuming my machine comes with the medium set. I also picked up the set with just one row which is what came with the roller foot set. 

I saw the titanium needles when I was looking for leather point needles, I'm assuming titatnium needles would be ok to use or is there such a thing as titanium leather point needles ? 

One last comment, am I seriously shortening the life of the machine by turning it into a light leather sewer ? Will I have to retime it more adjustments/service more frequently. The good thing is I wont be trying anything too heavy on it since I have other machine for that. 

Thanks 

[MADMAX22]

I would venture to say the roller foot (big wheel type) are to allow you to place the stitch line right next to an edge, to allow moving the material around while doing decorative stitching, and to an edge and it allows you to easily see the needle as you do so. If doing regular spacing away from edge or center seams the other feet could be used. 

[Wizcrafts]

7 hours ago, littlewing6283 said:

Thanks fort the feedback Wiz. I have some teflon feet that came in a set I bought. I had a question regarding this. When is it preferrable to use teflon feet vs the roller foot ? Also is the roller foot easy to attach ? I saw a video on you tube that was pretty straightforward but I did not understand why on some videos they were taking the side plate off of the sewing machine and making adjustments. 

Snip

I saw the titanium needles when I was looking for leather point needles, I'm assuming titatnium needles would be ok to use or is there such a thing as titanium leather point needles ? 

One last comment, am I seriously shortening the life of the machine by turning it into a light leather sewer ? Will I have to retime it more adjustments/service more frequently. The good thing is I wont be trying anything too heavy on it since I have other machine for that. 

Thanks 

I think you have misunderstood my description of the roller equipped presser foot. It is NOT a wheel, nor does it require a single inline feeder. It looks like any other industrial sewing machine presser foot, but has several small rollers on the front and back. It is attached the same as a Teflon foot by unscrewing the existing foot and replacing it with the roller equipped foot. You will lose some of the available clearance under the foot, because this foot is deeper. Here is a link to an eBay listing for a high shank roller equipped foot. The photo should clear up any confusion.

Titanium needles can be had in both round and leather points. You just have to find a dealer who sells leather points in the system and sizes you need. If you can't find leather points in titanium, just use plain steel leather point needles.

As for the last question, if the machine is properly set up, the only thing you might need to dink with are the bobbin and top tensions to balance the knots.

[dikman]

You mentioned silicone spray, personally I wouldn't use it as the last thing you want is silicone contaminating your leather.