Sewing thick upholstery leather ?

Hi,
I have a Consew 29 leather sewing machine, mine is motor driven.
See http://www.mansew.com/music/leather.htm right at the bottom of
the page.

Have been trying to sew 5.5oz "upholstery" leather, yes I know its
heavy...more like chap leather
but thick and heavy is he whole point of my project so I don't want to
go much thinner.
The leather is very loose and soft and the machine has no problems
with it.

Now the problem is the seams. There are areas where two or even three
pieces meet and must
be sewn together. In keeping with common practices and good
workmanship the pieces must
be folded so leather back side and edges are hidden from view, and
this results in as much as
6-7 layers of leather that the needle has to punch trough...and NOW
the machine is getting into trouble.
Problem is that the "pile" of layers tend to get out of alignment as
the machine is working it.
Have tried clamping the seams with large alligator clamps, and it does
help somewhat, but anyhow
these seams which can be up to 1/2" thick is just too hard and plain
ugly.

What can be done about this?
I guess the leather will have to be skivered (thinned down) at the
seams, maybe to less than half the thickness.
Have tried using a couple of those hand skiver tools, but these are
probably meant for that hard
vegetable tooling leather, but my leather is very soft and stretchy
and they just won't cut it.
Maybe one of those crank or electric leather skiver machines??
I don't have one, and buying one just to find out if it works is a tad
too expensive...

Any help greatly appreciated.

E.K

"Gnome" wrote in message
ups.com...
Hi,
I have a Consew 29 leather sewing machine, mine is motor driven.
See http://www.mansew.com/music/leather.htm right at the bottom of
the page.

Have been trying to sew 5.5oz "upholstery" leather, yes I know its
heavy...more like chap leather
but thick and heavy is he whole point of my project so I don't want to
go much thinner.
The leather is very loose and soft and the machine has no problems
with it.

Now the problem is the seams. There are areas where two or even three
pieces meet and must
be sewn together. In keeping with common practices and good
workmanship the pieces must
be folded so leather back side and edges are hidden from view, and
this results in as much as
6-7 layers of leather that the needle has to punch trough...and NOW
the machine is getting into trouble.
Problem is that the "pile" of layers tend to get out of alignment as
the machine is working it.
Have tried clamping the seams with large alligator clamps, and it does
help somewhat, but anyhow
these seams which can be up to 1/2" thick is just too hard and plain
ugly.

What can be done about this?
I guess the leather will have to be skivered (thinned down) at the
seams, maybe to less than half the thickness.
Have tried using a couple of those hand skiver tools, but these are
probably meant for that hard
vegetable tooling leather, but my leather is very soft and stretchy
and they just won't cut it.
Maybe one of those crank or electric leather skiver machines??
I don't have one, and buying one just to find out if it works is a tad
too expensive...

Any help greatly appreciated.

E.K

The 29 class machines are ok up to about 1/4" after that they get funny.
They are a top feed only, handy for some things like boot top designs but
not so good for heavy leather. For that you would be better of with a
compound feed walking foot machine in the heavy class.
Skiving may help. Perhaps you can find someone local that can do a few runs
for you as you said an expensive guess to find out.

--
Ron Anderson A1 Sewing Machine
18 Dingman Rd., Sand Lake, NY 12153
518-469-5133
http://www.singera1sewing.com
http://www.a1sewingmachine.com

The 29 class machines are ok up to about 1/4" after that they get funny.
They are a top feed only, handy for some things like boot top designs but
not so good for heavy leather. For that you would be better of with a
compound feed walking foot machine in the heavy class.
Skiving may help. Perhaps you can find someone local that can do a few runs
for you as you said an expensive guess to find out.

--
Ron Anderson A1 Sewing Machine
18 Dingman Rd., Sand Lake, NY 12153
518-469-5133http://www.singera1sewing.comhttp://www.a1sewingmachine.com

I tried sewing some more scrap tonight, and you're right...the 29 is a
PITA.
It wandres off and keeping a straight seam is next to impossible...on
leather
we get permanent holes on the first try and only one chance to get it
right.

I'm not an expert (in fact a complete novice) but what I think is
needed here is
an industrial walking foot machine WITH bottom feed. And one that is
able to
sew the heaviest upholstery and bag/luggage leather. Other than that I
don't know.

Can you recomend something that is well suited for this sort of
thing ?

E.K

"Gnome" wrote in message
ups.com...


The 29 class machines are ok up to about 1/4" after that they get funny.
They are a top feed only, handy for some things like boot top designs but
not so good for heavy leather. For that you would be better of with a
compound feed walking foot machine in the heavy class.
Skiving may help. Perhaps you can find someone local that can do a few
runs
for you as you said an expensive guess to find out.

--
Ron Anderson A1 Sewing Machine
18 Dingman Rd., Sand Lake, NY 12153
518-469-5133http://www.singera1sewing.comhttp://www.a1sewingmachine.com

I tried sewing some more scrap tonight, and you're right...the 29 is a
PITA.
It wandres off and keeping a straight seam is next to impossible...on
leather
we get permanent holes on the first try and only one chance to get it
right.

I'm not an expert (in fact a complete novice) but what I think is
needed here is
an industrial walking foot machine WITH bottom feed. And one that is
able to
sew the heaviest upholstery and bag/luggage leather. Other than that I
don't know.

Can you recomend something that is well suited for this sort of
thing ?

E.K


http://www.a1sewingmachine.com/artisantoro3000.html

Looks like I'll be getting a new machine soon, was about to order
but I'm not sure the 3000 is the right one for the things
that I (may) need to do.
E.g if sewing a jacket there is a 'problem' with the sleeves...
sewing around 'em (circumference) is no problem on most machines
but how about along the sleeve?? In such a case one would have to feed
up the machine arm, right? And this requires something like the 4011 ?
Or maybe a jacket is such a complicated undertaking that several
specialized machines are needed? What do you think?
E.K

"Gnome" wrote in message
ups.com...
Looks like I'll be getting a new machine soon, was about to order
but I'm not sure the 3000 is the right one for the things
that I (may) need to do.
E.g if sewing a jacket there is a 'problem' with the sleeves...
sewing around 'em (circumference) is no problem on most machines
but how about along the sleeve?? In such a case one would have to feed
up the machine arm, right? And this requires something like the 4011 ?
Or maybe a jacket is such a complicated undertaking that several
specialized machines are needed? What do you think?
E.K

I once worked in a Jacket planet. Depending on the style up to 5 different
machine used on any one jacket.
Perhaps we need to take this private. My contact info is below

--
Ron Anderson A1 Sewing Machine
18 Dingman Rd., Sand Lake, NY 12153
518-469-5133
http://www.singera1sewing.com
http://www.a1sewingmachine.com

Ron Anderson wrote:


I once worked in a Jacket planet.

Was that in our solar system?
Sorry Ron, I just couldn't let that one go by me.
Juno

Juno wrote:
Ron Anderson wrote:


I once worked in a Jacket planet.


Was that in our solar system?
Sorry Ron, I just couldn't let that one go by me.
Juno


We always knew Ron was out of this world, didn't we?
--
Joanne
stitches @ singerlady.reno.nv.us.earth.milky-way.com
http://members.tripod.com/~bernardschopen/

Pogonip wrote:
Juno wrote:
Ron Anderson wrote:


I once worked in a Jacket planet.


Was that in our solar system?
Sorry Ron, I just couldn't let that one go by me.
Juno


We always knew Ron was out of this world, didn't we?

I second that!

Doreen in Alabama

"Juno" wrote in message
...
Ron Anderson wrote:


I once worked in a Jacket planet.

Was that in our solar system?
Sorry Ron, I just couldn't let that one go by me.
Juno

The Jacket Plant was, but I am not sure I am at times