Singer 185k

[Jay6040]

Hi I'm looking at getting a second hand sewing machine to make some dog toys. I've been browsing on gumtree and found a singer 185k in really good condition for £125. I want to be able to stitch webbing and leather together, would this machine do? 

 

Sorry I don't have a clue about sewing machines so I thought I'd ask here lol

 

Thanks 

[Bert51]

It appears that it is a Domestic Machine which may not sew heavy enough thread to made Dog Toys.

For Leather and webbing, you will need something a little heavier.

Bert.

[Northmount]

@Jay6040 Have you read this post? 

Tom

 

 

[BellaBee]

There are loads of YouTube videos showing a variety of vintage singer domestic machine ‘sew offs’ chomping their merry way over multiple layers of denim or thin leather (sad to see!), but harness leather might be pushing it.
Canvas should be possible, but I’d say get a cheaper vintage singer! The 185s are a bit pricy compared to a 99, it’s black equivalent.  These are 3/4 size machines, but still powerful. The full size ones are the 15, 66 and 201, though the latter are expensive too. They can all achieve fairly heavy domestic work.

[Bert51]

Yes, some old Domestic Machines will sew light leather, some longer then other, some do it better then others, but they are not designed to do it, you WILL end up killing them.

I have a nice collection of buggered domestic sewing machine, but I learnt and with help from forums like this I now own and use good quality sewing machines of all materials including heavy leather.

Sadly by not buying a leather machine to start with I have Paid more of my hard earned dollars then I need to, if I got the right machine the first time.

From the School of Hard Knocks,

Bert.

Edited March 12, 2020 by Bert51
spelling

[Matt S]

3 hours ago, Bert51 said:

Yes, some old Domestic Machines will sew light leather, some longer then other, some do it better then others, but they are not designed to do it, you WILL end up killing them.

I have a nice collection of buggered domestic sewing machine, but I learnt and with help from forums like this I now own and use good quality sewing machines of all materials including heavy leather.

Sadly by not buying a leather machine to start with I have Paid more of my hard earned dollars then I need to, if I got the right machine the first time.

From the School of Hard Knocks,

Bert.

This post should be printed out, laminated and stapled to the forehead of every Gumtree, Ebay and FB Marketplace charlatan who tries to sell a mid-century domestic sewing machine as "semi-industrial" or worse, "for leather".

It's like hauling gravel in your small family car. Yeah you can probably get away with a few hundred kilos a few times but you'll get terrible mileage and something expensive will break -- the only question is when. Take that same load a couple miles down a motorway /highway or try to take a 1000Kg dumpy bag of all-in ballast hanging out the boot of your Citroen Saxo and you're going to have a bad time.

[Matt S]

22 hours ago, Jay6040 said:

Hi I'm looking at getting a second hand sewing machine to make some dog toys. I've been browsing on gumtree and found a singer 185k in really good condition for £125. I want to be able to stitch webbing and leather together, would this machine do? 

 

Sorry I don't have a clue about sewing machines so I thought I'd ask here lol

Welcome to the forum Jay. Don't apologise -- we all start from the same point, it's how you learn and then apply that knowledge that's important.

I wouldn't recommend a domestic sewing machine for anything other than sewing clothes, sofa cushions, shortening curtains etc., especially if you're going to do it regularly. That's easy for me to say, with a current total of 6x industrial sewing machines, but it's still my opinion (which is worth exactly what you paid to receive it  ) If it's simply an experiment to see if you enjoy leatherwork or if you're really challenged for space I'd throw my weight behind what @BellaBee suggests above and get the cheapest functional metal sewing machine you can get, like a 66K. It'll probably not last long but I learned a lot more from my 66K than the £30 it cost me. I learned plenty from pulling bits of a broken needle out of my index finger too

Out of interest, where are you located?

[BellaBee]

Thanks MattS!  I was thinking, how many collars will this dog need?  It will probably hold up that long, especially if sewn   s l o w l y!

Tell you what, a (1)28 or (1)27 would be even cheaper, hopefully, or should be, given older shuttle technology, but could still manage the experiment. 
Yes I hate the label “semi industrial”. It’s asking for trouble.

Speaking as someone who brought a hundredweight of engineering brinks home in my car, to build a garden project, and reupholstered a chesterfield sofa on my plastic Janome, I agree I was living dangerously!

[Jay6040]

On 3/12/2020 at 10:08 AM, BellaBee said:

There are loads of YouTube videos showing a variety of vintage singer domestic machine ‘sew offs’ chomping their merry way over multiple layers of denim or thin leather (sad to see!), but harness leather might be pushing it.
Canvas should be possible, but I’d say get a cheaper vintage singer! The 185s are a bit pricy compared to a 99, it’s black equivalent.  These are 3/4 size machines, but still powerful. The full size ones are the 15, 66 and 201, though the latter are expensive too. They can all achieve fairly heavy domestic work.

Sorry for taking so long to reply, I'm still getting used to using this forum lol. 

I've been browsing over the weekend and came across a singer 201k that is operated by a treadle, so no motor, is this a good one? It's only £90. 

At the moment I don't want to put too much money into it incase I don't enjoy it lol

On 3/12/2020 at 3:04 PM, Matt S said:

Welcome to the forum Jay. Don't apologise -- we all start from the same point, it's how you learn and then apply that knowledge that's important.

I wouldn't recommend a domestic sewing machine for anything other than sewing clothes, sofa cushions, shortening curtains etc., especially if you're going to do it regularly. That's easy for me to say, with a current total of 6x industrial sewing machines, but it's still my opinion (which is worth exactly what you paid to receive it  ) If it's simply an experiment to see if you enjoy leatherwork or if you're really challenged for space I'd throw my weight behind what @BellaBee suggests above and get the cheapest functional metal sewing machine you can get, like a 66K. It'll probably not last long but I learned a lot more from my 66K than the £30 it cost me. I learned plenty from pulling bits of a broken needle out of my index finger too

Out of interest, where are you located?

Thanks for the reply, no need for saving space, it can be big ill be putting it in my workshop lol. At the moment I want to try making stuff for my dog then if I enjoy it I might want to try expanding and making stuff for other people. But I want to start off with a cheap machine incase I don't enjoy it lol. 

I'm down in Devon, UK 

[chrisash]

For Dog collars the easy and cheapest way is to use hand sewing, you can buy what we call pricking irons from a company https://www.abbeyengland.com/  or https://www.artisanleather.co.uk/leathercraft-starter-kits.html. a dog collar does not take much time hand stitching

You can learn a lot about leatherwork on YouTube.co.uk

I think its fair to say that most people start with hand sewing ( a basic skill you need in leatherwork anyway) and only move onto machines at a later date, you could also look up on this forum and youtube for the Chinese patcher sewing machine, it a hand drive machine thats built for leather at just over £100 on ebay etc, not perfect  but many use them for small things as their first machine

[chrisash]

Watch a few of these video's by Joe

https://www.youtube.com/c/JHLeather/videos