sewing machine

[adirondak5]

Sorry to bring up an old thread but just wanted to thank you guys / gals for bringing this up , I got a brother CS-6000i to try and make some stuff sacks and pullouts and start doing my own hemming on my pants and stuff like that , never sewed anything in my life , just did a small pullout outta silnylon , stitching looks horrendous but its strong and won't be comming apart , about the size of a small Kifaru pullout . This was just for practice to see if I could do it , didn't get grab tags on the ends (forgot) but next one will have em . Might have to start looking around for an old heavy duty machine for cordura and nylon webbing , don't think I'd want to use this machine on the heavy stuff for long , but for silnylon , ripstop , and light weight stuff its good .

 

[mtswampfox]

If your lucky enough to find an old singer from the 1950's thats in working order grab it. They are a one trick pony but can handle some tuff stuff. Good luck

 

[adirondak5]

If your lucky enough to find an old singer from the 1950's thats in working order grab it. They are a one trick pony but can handle some tuff stuff. Good luck

Yea , that's what I'll be looking for , Salvation Army , Good Will shops , can't touch em on ebay anymore , well ya can but they are pretty pricey .

 

[husky390]

Will any of the old Kenmore or Singer machines sew through 1,000d Cordura and nylon webbing?

 

[MtnManZ]

Yes. Make sure to adjust top and bottom tensions to get a good stitch.

 

[husky390]

Thank you. Time to start looking for a machine and extra fabric for practice runs.

 

[Ironman8]

Hey guys, I'm in a rush to get my quilt, tarp, and a few stuff sacks done before the end of Oct. I've got some #69 bonded thread and #16 needles for cordura and other heavier materials...and hoping that I can use it on the lighter stuff too. Can I go ahead and use this on the silnylon?

 

[adirondak5]

Hey guys, I'm in a rush to get my quilt, tarp, and a few stuff sacks done before the end of Oct. I've got some #69 bonded thread and #16 needles for cordura and other heavier materials...and hoping that I can use it on the lighter stuff too. Can I go ahead and use this on the silnylon?

I am pretty new at all this myself but have found some pretty good info on Thru-Hiker and Kifaru , you gotta look around a bit in the forums , also have seen some using #69 on silnylon and ripstop , have not done any myself yet , hopefully some of the experts will chime in with more info .

 

[husky390]

I found a Singer 401A with desk and accessories for $50. Will that work for Cordura and Silnylon?

 

[MtnManZ]

Looks old enough to have metal gears and parts...so yes...I think so.

 

[husky390]

Looks old enough to have metal gears and parts...so yes...I think so.

Thanks, I did some research and it has one non-metal gear and an aluminum housing but I've yet to read where the gear or housing has broken. I guess if it breaks I'll buy an older unit and keep the desk.

 

[adirondak5]

Scored this Singer 301A the other day , made in 1954 , its older than me ! All steel gears on the inside , in pretty amazing shape for a 60 year old machine , I don't think its seen much use , the feed dogs still have crisp sharp edges. I didn't think $80. was too much to ask , it came with food pedal/power cord thats in good shape too and regular foot , I'll grab a zipper foot off ebay , got a free pdf manual for it . Its just a straight stitch machine with reverse but should work good for my puposes . Now to search for some cordura and nylon webbing .

 

[mtswampfox]

great. that was a give away price. has it been oiled/serviced? guy told me once a year if used a lot. said too to run it once in awhile if not being used much

 

[adirondak5]

great. that was a give away price. has it been oiled/serviced? guy told me once a year if used a lot. said too to run it once in awhile if not being used much

I thought the price was pretty good from what i see some of the 301's going for , has not been serviced but I did take the top cover off and the bottom plate to look at the gears and shafts , grease still on the gears , bearings and joints were not dry but not recently oiled , and it was pretty clean inside , no metal shavings in the felt pad on the inside of the bottom plate (I would think to expect some shavings on a hard used machine) . I'll go grab some sewing machine oil and lube and a toothbrush and q - tips and clean off the old lube and oil and give it some new , got a service manual coming for it too . Funny , the original instruction manuals say to brush kerosene on the gears , run the machine a few minutes , then clean up and lube , guess grandma kept kerosene in her sewing box , times sure have changed

 

[husky390]

Nice snag. I picked up my Singer 401a w/ desk and accessories yesterday. Now I need to clear out a space for it and get started. My materials are already here. I ordered my stuff from www.rockywoods.com

 

[adirondak5]

Nice snag. I picked up my Singer 401a w/ desk and accessories yesterday. Now I need to clear out a space for it and get started. My materials are already here. I ordered my stuff from www.rockywoods.com

That 401a is a nice machine husky , I looked at a few online in my search , thats got zigzag option I believe . I have some multicam and foilage 500D cordura coming from ebay along with some mil spec nylon webbing and #69 bonded nylon thread. I'll check out rockywoods , thanks for the tip .

 

[husky390]

That 401a is a nice machine husky , I looked at a few online in my search , thats got zigzag option I believe . I have some multicam and foilage 500D cordura coming from ebay along with some mil spec nylon webbing and #69 bonded nylon thread. I'll check out rockywoods , thanks for the tip .

Thank you. I don't know squat about sewing but I believe it can sew different patterns. Maybe I can stitch in some nice lace patterns on my stuff sacks.

 

[William Hanson (live2hunt)]

Thank you. I don't know squat about sewing but I believe it can sew different patterns. Maybe I can stitch in some nice lace patterns on my stuff sacks.

Get sewing! Its a lot more fun making your own stuff than I thought it would be. It takes a bit of practice but once you start it gets easier quickly.

 

[adirondak5]

Got the 301 threaded and tried it out , took a little bit of trial and error figuring thread tension , I was getting tangles under the needle plate and loose stitching on the bottom side , i thought I remembered reading bottom side loose is top end thread tension , top side loose is bottom end thread tension , so I tightened up the top end tension after fiddling for a hour or so , that was the problem , the stitching tightened up on the bottom side , no more tangles/jams under the needle plate . The machine itself works great , practiced on some denim

 

[Stid2677]

One trick for bobbin tension, is to tighten the bobbin friction until you can hold the thread in your fingers and the thread will only come out if you lower your hand and pull up quickly. Just tight enough so that no thread comes out unless you pull up sharply.

Match thread size to needle size,, silnylon sews best with needles and tread made for silk. FINE size. Denim and leather needles and upholstery thread for cordora.