Sewing external bag seams?

[toxo]

21 hours ago, LeatherinCornwall said:

I've been making leather satchels, backpacks and messenger bags, and it seems people are turned off by standard inside-flipped seams (sew and flip inside-out) when they see my external seam work.  I've been doing those hand sewn, but it's so time consuming. I've bought a Juki 441 clone for my leather work, and am trying to figure out the best way, and best presser foot/needle plate combo to make the best, straightest visible seams possible.  Youtube search yield nothing, I gather that people can't do it well enough, or they'd post a video. I know I can't exactly duplicate the look of straight hand-sewn work, but want to get close. Any thoughts on experience with this?  Any help is most appreciated.

I'm not quite understanding your problem. Are you saying you want a particular look or do you just want a straight seam? I like making bags (learning to) and I've been looking at lots of em and there are plenty of very expensive bags out there that just use overlapped edges on the outside which of course gives an edge to work with. I've just finished a large tote and got in lots of trouble because I chose the wrong seam stitch. The next time I'll use double felled seams on panels which again gives an edge on flat work. On corners I'll try more piping I think. I'm looking at these for a stitch guide after getting too close with the drop down guide broke three needles.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/10SETS-PIPING-WALKING-FEET-with-R-L-EDGE-GUIDE-FOR-JUKI-DSC-244-DSC-245-DSC-246/272815313770?hash=item3f850f536a:g:6LYAAOSwu~ZdcbXr

[LeatherinCornwall]

toxo, my issue is making a straight and neat stitch evenly around the overlapped outside seam, given the odd shape, and especially around the corners where the curve area is most difficult.  

[toxo]

6 minutes ago, LeatherinCornwall said:

toxo, my issue is making a straight and neat stitch evenly around the overlapped outside seam, given the odd shape, and especially around the corners where the curve area is most difficult.  

One of those edge guide presser feet will sort that. You can get left or right.

[RockyAussie]

On 1/31/2020 at 12:50 AM, LeatherinCornwall said:

I've bought a Juki 441 clone for my leather work, and am trying to figure out the best way, and best presser foot/needle plate combo to make the best, straightest visible seams possible.

 

10 hours ago, LeatherinCornwall said:

my issue is making a straight and neat stitch evenly around the overlapped outside seam, given the odd shape, and especially around the corners where the curve area is most difficult. 

I think a picture of the job that you are trying to do would help get a more relevant answers. Are you trying to stitch close to the outer edge or close to a seam?  

[Northmount]

What are you using for an edge guide"

Tom

 

[LeatherinCornwall]

Latest bag, completed yesterday.  I'm figuring out the machine. Some of this is obviously hand sewn, the outer stitching and some other work is with the machine.  I don;t think people can tell the difference, unless the stitching gets sloppy crooked.

 

[LeatherinCornwall]

This is the presser foot combo I find works the best so far.  I made this set from a stock larger fork style, as they're cheap to buy.  Just narrowed the center foot, and cut up a fork, welded a foot in line behind the center foot, for an inline set. Works a treat.  However also, you can see in the photo, the stock needle plate slot is huge, and I welded the rear portion shut, that resides under the rear foot, as the feed dog doesn't travel that far.  Works a treat.  For a machine drive, I used a cheap Chinese servo motor, and installed an oil filled gear box drive picked up on Ebay for a few bucks, reduces it by 3.8 to 1.  Now I can stitch so slow I can almost go get a cup of coffee waiting for the needle to come around again lol....

 

Edited February 2, 2020 by LeatherinCornwall

[LeatherinCornwall]

[LeatherinCornwall]

On 1/31/2020 at 8:40 PM, Northmount said:

What are you using for an edge guide"

Tom

 

For an edge guide, though I ordered one, it's not here yet. And I don't think it could be used here.  The leather is too soft. I simply scribe a straight line and follow it by eye. The line actually goes all curved on the machine, I just realign to follow it, and end up with a super straight line afterwards. The material is just too flimsy to follow an edge or even stay straight resting on the curved needle plate.  That's where this inline setup helps...the narrow center foot and hidden rear foot maximize the seam visibility...just gotta center the scribed line on the hole in the front foot.

 

This new machine is freaking amazing. I ran through all the factory tuning to ensure it's dead on, I think it's right now.  Still not fond of the look of the back stitching, so I just leave enough thread to tie the ends off under the seams, looks neatest.  I'm still a beginner. I'm sure there are better ways to get there, but so far this works for me. The first machine I had was a SailRite clone, and the  POS would skip stitches, lose its timing, etc. if you looked at it wrong, despite setting all the timings and adjustments perfectly.  Just couldn't handle changes in thickness or any variations in the work without hiccupping. Sold it.  This 441 clone just carries on.

 

Had a get together with friends last eve, showed off this bag, and had like 4 or 5 commission requests, between this one and the 2 others I made, they're interested.  These dang things just take too much time to make any money compared to the day job.  What's a bag like this even worth, on a commission scale anyway?  $300 maybe? $400?  I have like 20 - 22 hours in this last one.

 

 

 

 

Edited February 2, 2020 by LeatherinCornwall

[RockyAussie]

The softness of that leather as you say makes it a little hard to keep straight. I have for soft leather edges a flat edge guide about an inch long that helps the leather edge not move in as it does on the standard roller style guides. If you decide to make one tilt the back end about 1 degree inward as this will make the long straps stay straight and almost not need to be held. Following a straight line on soft leather like this will often lead to some over stretching of the work and look wobbly when finished.The foot work combo is not the best in my opinion and I think you would be better with a left foot in use instead. This will make the job hold more stable and will not affect your visibility that much if at all. Where you have welded in the back of your needle plate means that you have reduced the possible length of your stitches and you could also easily cause damage if you mistakenly open the stitch length a little too far as you go. I would suggest the flat needle plate may be worth a try for now if you have one. You may be able to get a set of narrow dog feet and needle plate as I did in the post I mentioned above or if you want to wait for a few weeks I have a friend working on making a matching set for the Cowboy 4500 along the same line over here. I should have some to trial pretty soon and I will post the results here on LW when that is done. BTW the bag work looks promising and if your machine is set up right I would say the bag should easily be made in a day on a one off basis as long as you have all of your patterns sorted well. This could be half that time frame if you were doing 5 at a time with minimal variations. I don't see where any hand stitching would be needed except perhaps the handle and that can be designed to work for a machine as well.