advice on sewing machine needles

[archerydude]

I'm looking to sew 1mm  and above waxed thread what size needle would I need and where would I get them in the UK?

[chrisash]

Hi Welcome to the forum

You may find this link helpful

https://www.tolindsewmach.com/thread-chart.html

What are you trying to sew and what machine will you use, as all machines are built for a set thread size and maybe a touch more, i am not sure but dont think anyone will sew 1mm waxed thread apart from some very special and probably very old machines

 

[Matt S]

Welcome, Archerydude.

Which sewing machine do you have? That determines what sort of needles you need. There's not many machines that can sew with 1mm thread.

[archerydude]

I have access to a wimsew W-0618-1 at work it sews heavy rubber backed cloth/canvas to nylon webbing  

[archerydude]

Ahh I'm going to try to sew 2 to 3 pieces of 3 to 3.5 veg tanned

[kgg]

OK, what are you using 1mm thread for. That is like Tex 600. I think that would be more for hand stitching items. The machine you mention I think is only rated for Tex 135 (V138) or Tex 210 (V210).

kgg

 

[Matt S]

1 hour ago, archerydude said:

Ahh I'm going to try to sew 2 to 3 pieces of 3 to 3.5 veg tanned

 

1 hour ago, archerydude said:

I have access to a wimsew W-0618-1 at work it sews heavy rubber backed cloth/canvas to nylon webbing  

I used to have that model of machine. It's an upholstery-weight machine that takes 135x16 needles. Not bad for what it is but there's no way it can sew with 1mm thread. TKT20 (0.4mm) is near the maximum. TKT13 (0.5mm) in the needle with TKT 20 in the bobbin is possible, depending on the leather and how your machine is setup. You might be able to sew two layers of 3mm veg tan together with it, using TKT20 or TKT40 thread, but not 3 layers.

Sadly very few sewing machines can use 1mm thread. I have an heavy harness stitcher that can take 18/8 linen (TKT5 or 0.8mm synthetic) and that's right at the top end of what you're likely to ever encounter.

[archerydude]

Hi Matt S where would I get 0.4 and the 0.5 threads from? I'm looking to buy a machine soon (I'm bidding on a Juki lu 563 at the moment) what type of harness stitcher do you have? 

[chrisash]

You really need to consider the strength required of the sewing for example V69 bonded nylon is probably the thickest thread used for sewing your leather settee together with all the bouncing around children and adults do on them 

Often its the leather that parts before the thread breaks, it would be helpful if you could give some suggestion as to what the garment  would be so advice can be given on both the thread and machine type

1mm thread is often used by hand sewing as it stands out and is part of the design appearance rather than strength

[Matt S]

3 hours ago, archerydude said:

Hi Matt S where would I get 0.4 and the 0.5 threads from? I'm looking to buy a machine soon (I'm bidding on a Juki lu 563 at the moment) what type of harness stitcher do you have? 

I buy threads from Abbey England mostly, but you need a trade account. Otherwise eBay and sometimes Amazon. Synthetic machine threads are typically sold by their metric/ticket number in the UK -- TKT20 is what I would expect to put through a machine like that, or TKT40 if I need something a little thinner.

Juki make good machines -- better build quality than that Wimsew. A 563 will be a similar capacity to that Wimsew you have at work -- still no triple layers of 3mm veg tan and no heavy threads!

Out of interest, what are you making?

My heaviest machine is a BUSM #6 -- a classic machine designed for making working horse harness. It can sew up to 20mm thickness of veg tan using threads up to 0.8mm... or maybe a little thicker but I can't find bigger needles.

Also got a couple of Singer 45s, which are fairly heavy duty.