Who knows what about sewing machines?

[Rusti]

I’m in need of something sturdy and fairly heavy duty, but at the moment, all it needs to do is sew a straight stitch.

I’m sewing nylon dog and cat collars together (the thickest pieces amount to about 4mm thick) and I’m using my mother’s old, but expensive little single needle embroidery/sewing machine. The jeans needles don’t fit, and I keep breaking the 14s like toothpicks (and the little machine makes this horrid, rather alarming grinding noise as the safety features activate when the needle snaps).

Is there anyone on the forum that knows anything about machines? I just want something fairly cheap, that can take the jeans needles and the heavy nylon strapping. I would be completely mortified if I somehow tore up or broke my mother’s machine!

[kitsunelady]

Sounds like you need a “heavy duty” sewing machine. They have more powerful motors…but not all brands are created equal – sometimes you get what you pay for. I don’t have a heavy duty machine, so I looked up some reviews on Amazon. Singer’s heavy duty models were not the favorite, but they are certainly inexpensive. Honestly, even with the reviews, unless they’re all horrible (which was not the case, even for Singer – some people loved theirs), I’ve always been one for trying it myself…especially considering people are more likely to leave a review on something they hate than something they like.

You might want to read up on this yourself. Just type in “heavy duty sewing machine” on amazon, and you’ll get a number of hits. Idk what your price range is, so you’ll have to check it out yourself. 6.6; There are also probably refurbished units for sale on ebay, if you see something you like on amazon, but are not a fan of the price. Oh, and sewing machine shops usually have machines out for customers to try – and they can certainly advise you better than I (although, keep in mind that their goal is to sell you something).

[twindragonsmum]

I have a Singer which can wade through just about anything so long as you take it slowly… Don’t know if that helps, but there you are 🙂

twindragonsmum 🙂

tdm

[Rusti]

Yeah, I thought about hitting up the Golden Needle over there, but it was one of the ladies there that gave me the jeans needles that don’t fit mom’s machine. They’re nice folks, but I am currently unimpressed.

[Elena]

Hey,

You should probably be alright with a normal sewing machine using Jeans or leather needles. I’ve sewn through leather, vinyl, fake fur and the nylon webbing in layers with my cheapo Kenmore using the appropriate needles. I would check out Sears (where mine came from) and they were fairly inexpensive (around $100 here) for a basic model which is all that you would need. Check what the machine is rated for (should be on the box) and make sure that your needles will fit before you buy. They also have repairs and returns. 😉

The other option might be to look for a vintage sewing machine. The older machines seem to have more powerful motors in them. I have an old machine from the forties or fifties (it goes forward and backward and was state of the art at the time :p ) and have made corsets on the thing going through 5-6 layers of heavy fabric. The downside here is it can be expensive to get them serviced 🙁

Other tricks to help you out…
– Look at getting a Jeans foot. It’s a bit broader and will help hold down the heavy fabric and make the webbing easier to feed through.
– Go SLOW!! And I mean a crawling speed. Going fast is when you run into problems with heavy layers and break needles. Going fast also puts strain on the motor when dealing with heavy fabrics.

I hope this helps :bigsmile: Feel free to note me if you have any questions!

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