Entry level machine

[Toastie]

What is a good entry level sewing machine for around 400$ (if one exist). Right now my wife is looking at the Janome 3000

Up until now I have just been hand stitching small bags and whatnots I could find patterns for(I mainly have 5 to 7 oz leather I find on sale, most is chrome tanned).Eventually I would like to make suits of leather armor (but I know those machines are way out of my price range) so I was probably going to start with simpler stuff like gauntlets or bags. Now what has prompted me to look for a machine was that me and the wife were making some cloaks for our renaissance faire in November. We got some arctic fleece, over at Joann's, and then we stopped by Tandy leather and she saw some dyed rabbit hides that she now wants to use to the hide to line the edge of the cloak (I had also planned to line the very bottom of the cloak with some thin leather to prevent the bottom from getting frayed out, maybe some 2 oz chrome tanned)

We would also like to use this sewing machine to make different costumes

 

As for lining the cloak with that fur, would it be better to just use some sort of glue like Barge to attach it

[Wizcrafts]

2 hours ago, Toastie said:

What is a good entry level sewing machine for around 400$ (if one exist). Right now my wife is looking at the Janome 3000

Only used and very old industrial sewing machines sell for the $400 price point. New, they sell for $1000 and up. Tandy stores should have a portable walking foot machine made by Sailrite, that is able to sew 1/4 inch of leather with #92 (15 pound test) bonded nylon thread.

Consew makes a great low cost walking foot machine as the Consew P1206RB-1. It is a quality machine that will do what you want with up to #138 bonded nylon thread (22 pound test), into 3/8 inch of medium temper leather.

Janome doesn't make industrial leather sewing machines. The model 3000 is a plastic body domestic (household) cloth garment sewing machine.

[nylonRigging]

17 minutes ago, Wizcrafts said:

 

Janome doesn't make industrial leather sewing machines. The model 3000 is a plastic body domestic (household) cloth garment sewing machine.

I can't believe Tandy Leather is even advertising and suggesting the 'plastic' Janome 3000 . Not to say it wont do very light and thin . . but ' better route and example' . I see a old but good clean and set-up ( 111 needle feed ) that runs good and local here for 350-$ ,

https://youtu.be/_zHNuos-ngQ?t=2

.

Edited October 18, 2019 by nylonRigging

[Toastie]

Thanks for the information

I did run by my local Tandy and when I asked them about that Janome, they said judging by the amount of returns they get, those must not sew leather very well

For older machines I see a lot of people selling old Singer machines, would any of those work

[nylonRigging]

2 hours ago, Toastie said:

For older machines I see a lot of people selling old Singer machines, would any of those work

A ton of the old Singer 111 and 112 W's and G's ,always making there way threw the want to sell adds . You can't go wrong and they will do what you are wanting to do . they will easy run #69 thread , has the thread tension , presser-foot tension and the needle depth you need to get started , with basic wear parts cheep and all over for sale .

.

[kgg]

9 hours ago, Toastie said:

What is a good entry level sewing machine for around 400$ (if one exist). Right now my wife is looking at the Janome 3000

For the dollars you have chosen ($400) I would suggest looking at the Reliable Barracuda it is a portable walking foot that has the zig zag feature. It can handle up to v92 if you purchase at your local Home Depot for $500 or up to V138 if you get it from Reliable. It has a decedent  presser foot clearance of 10mm which is just a touch over 3/8" . Good starter machine. Then there is of course the used market.  

[dikman]

5 hours ago, Toastie said:

For older machines I see a lot of people selling old Singer machines, would any of those work

You need to be more specific as Singer made a huge number of different machines, both domestic and industrial. Some will do what you want, many probably won't.

[Gunnarsson]

There's plenty of old all metal domestic sewing machines that probably will survive the load of sewing thin leather, but to my knowledge there is no domestic machine with needle feed and/or a real walking foot, they all only use standard bottom feed. For reliable and even feeding when sewing leather you want a compound feed/triple feed (or whatever manufacturers name you use), i.e. a machine where bottom feed dogs, the needle AND the foot feed the material.
Many simpler machines often CAN sew fairly heavy materials. For a small oneoff project you may find the issues that comes with that "acceptable", for more serious use you will be tired of it quickly, and the machine may not last very long anyway. You want a machine designed for heavy use all the time, not a domestic machine meant for 99.9% making curtains and pants, and 0.1% heavier work.

[Cascabel]

.   Always bear in mind that there is no such thing as an "Industrial Strength" machine, and just because it is made of cast iron, and painted black does not make it a real industrial machine.  Many of them are Grandma's old sewing machine that showed up at a yard sale.   EBAY and Craigslist sellers lie !!   The old domestic machines are excellent within their limitations, but none of them are real "Leather" or "Industrial" machines.    A simple way to tell is that if the motor is the size of a man's fist, and attached to the back of the machine, it is a domestic machine.  Real industrial machines have a motor the about the size of your head mounted underneath the table. And real industrial machines are NEVER designed to fold down into the cabinet like a domestic.   They are much too heavy !!

 

    Another consideration is that the thickness a machine can handle is dictated by the fact that MOST, but NOT ALL machines release the thread tension as the foot rises either by the thickness of the material being sewn, or when climbing over a thick section like a seam.   This can cause skipped stitches and a host of other problems, such as tangles on the back side.  This applies to both domestic and industrial models.   This is a feature of the design of most machines, allowing easy removal of the work from under the foot when raising the foot manually when done sewing.   Some machines, like my Singer 42-5 can sew as much thickness as you can jam under the foot, as it does not have this tension release feature.

[MikeF]

KGG, on that Reliable Barracuda...interesting...I took a look at that at HD site but couldn't find much on spec...do you know what the motor HP rating is?  Any speed control?