Beginner Saddle Leather Sewing Machine

[Oelschlagel]

Hello Everyone, 

I am new to leather work and have been making small accessories for about a year. I ultimate goal is to make horse tack for barrel racing or possibly heavy leather hand bags. I am looking at investing into a leather sewing machine, what should I be looking for? What machines will work for me? I plan to make breast collars, halters, nose bands, etc. 

Let me know what you think. 

Thanks in Advance, 

Jessica

[R8R]

39 minutes ago, Barbara09 said:

Lots of leather sewing machines available in the market. But I want to recommended top 3 machines for you. Such as: 

1. Singer 4432 Heavy Duty Sewing Machine
2. Brother ST371HD Sewing Machine
3. Janome HD3000 Heavy Duty Sewing Machine

Source from: sewingmachinesview.com

1. No

2. Nope

3. Nada

4. SPAM ALERT

 

Those machines are for home use, and not for leather, at ALL.

 

Do some searching and reading here on the forum and you will start to see several machines stand out for the work you want to do. Many are advertised under the banners at the top of the page.

Cowboy CB3200 and CB4500

Cobra class 3 and 4

Adler 205 series

 

 

 

 

[chrisash]

Nearly all sewing machines state that they will sew leather, but what they mean is Chrome leather like that used for leather jackets about 1 mm or slightly thicker. This leather is generally very soft and flexible and therefore very easy to punch through with light thread

The leather used for Horse equipment is normally much thicker veg tanned leathers and use much heavier thread to make allowances for the extra strains applied to the stitching and therefore limited to aa selection of heavy duty industrial sewing machines with more powerfull motors such as posted by R8R above

[R8R]

BTW I own a Singer 4411 (same as the 4432 but less variety of stitch patterns). It would stop cold before the first stitch into veg tan.

Clothes and quilts and such, all day. Great machine for that.

[dikman]

That linked article is very misleading! It starts off showing a "proper" leather sewing machine and then promptly talks about what are simply domestic machines. The author appears to think that if it has the words "heavy duty" on it then it will work with leather. I wonder how many have been sucked in by this article?

[brmax]

I think you would benefit quicker with investment returns with a 3200 cowboy machine. I also think this standard table setup can help in the overall size concept/ duties. 

I dont think its needed, but if some thicker than 5/8” materials for bridles etc. are wanted, the class 3 cobra can be next handy size for that work. In a bigger shop setting follow up with a longer cylinder arm heavy stitcher as the 4500 cowboy and the class 4 cobra. These and some others can be obtained as quality machines based from others. 

Both of these just mentioned are as the class 3 much thicker capacity, but have a much longer cylinder for clearance in your products. These last three have a 7/8” or possibly a hair thicker material capacity.  

Keeping an eye on the local used sales listings is always an excellent tip. This is critical in searching.

Also with these choices mentioned from the machine section here, you can be assured a direct, qualified machine selection. With this, you then you can better gauge others you find. 

If you are as I sometimes am. At the go, go on get’r done point. Well give this place a holler. http://www.solar-leather.com/cowboy-cb3200/

 

good day

Floyd

[Wizcrafts]

I have dealt with the spammer.

[SmokeyMtn]

Has anyone ever heard of the Sailrite Fabricator?  It sounds like it is comparable to the CB3200.  I am wondering which would be better or if there is a different machine.  I want to start using leather to make purses and messenger bags.  Would like to get right machine first time!  Thanks!!

Edited November 14, 2018 by SmokeyMtn

[R8R]

14 minutes ago, SmokeyMtn said:

Has anyone ever heard of the Sailrite Fabricator?  It sounds like it is comparable to the CB3200.  I am wondering which would be better.  I am also looking for my first machine and want to do similar projects. 

Had one, good machine, different beast. No comparison. If you are doing leather regularly, CB3200 all the way. Fabricator is for canvas, upholstery, light leather.

[SmokeyMtn]

Thank You!

Edited November 14, 2018 by SmokeyMtn