Anyone know sewing machines?

[desura]

I'm thinking of picking one up to um...sew some wallets together.

What needs to be kept in mind? There must be software that helps people craft textiles.

 

[lxskllr]

I don't know anything about them, but you may need a heavy duty machine for leather. I hand stitch stuff. I always meant to learn a machine, but never did.

 

[PottedMeat]

repeat after me

'it rubs the lotion on its skin or it gets the hose again'

good luck with your buffalo bill skin suit

 

[DrPizza]

There's a huge range of options on sewing machines. The more you spend, the more options you get. I have a friend who can program in all those fancy logos. She started doing it to put the emblems on firemen's jackets at her volunteer fire department. It does all the embroidery, using multiple colors, to make the custom logo specific to that fire department, which she programmed in herself. She just locks the fabric in place, presses a button & the sewing machine does all the rest. My mother in law used to have a special sewing machine that used 4 spools of thread at a time - the stuff that thing could do with seams was amazing. I occasionally watched when I visited & she was sewing my wife's wedding gown. Or, you can get a simple machine that does little more than pushing the needle up and down while you manually feed the fabric through at whatever pace you desire, instead of having it fed through at some exact rate so that the stitches are perfectly aligned.

 

[Scarpozzi]

My wife wanted one after watching Project Runway for a few seasons. I researched it....went to a local shop where I learned that Singer and most other brands all make their crappy machines in China. The little old lady at the store directed me to Janome. I had never heard of them, but she assured me that they used to be the company that made Kenmore Sewing Machines.

Basically, she said,
1. You get what you pay for.
2. Price Range is $100-300=Crap $500-700=Decent $900+=Good
3. Computer-controlled units are the best because they offer more stitch patterns and easier automation.

She sold me a $300ish Janome 8050. She said it was the best unit under $500 and was the exception to the crap comment above. The 8050 model number is also rebadged as other models...depending on where you buy it. Here's the equivalent at Amazon....50 stitches:
http://www.amazon.com/Janome-DC1050-...ds=janome+8050

 

[desura]

My wife wanted one after watching Project Runway for a few seasons. I researched it....went to a local shop where I learned that Singer and most other brands all make their crappy machines in China. The little old lady at the store directed me to Janome. I had never heard of them, but she assured me that they used to be the company that made Kenmore Sewing Machines.

Basically, she said,
1. You get what you pay for.
2. Price Range is $100-300=Crap $500-700=Decent $900+=Good
3. Computer-controlled units are the best because they offer more stitch patterns and easier automation.

She sold me a $300ish Janome 8050. She said it was the best unit under $500 and was the exception to the crap comment above. The 8050 model number is also rebadged as other models...depending on where you buy it. Here's the equivalent at Amazon....50 stitches:
http://www.amazon.com/Janome-DC1050-...ds=janome+8050

Wow. Thank you.

 

[leftyman]

My mom has one that pops out of a table, when I was a lttle kid I played under it pretending it was a jet fighter.

I did the same with her ironing board.

 

[Vdubchaos]

My wife wanted one after watching Project Runway for a few seasons. I researched it....went to a local shop where I learned that Singer and most other brands all make their crappy machines in China. The little old lady at the store directed me to Janome. I had never heard of them, but she assured me that they used to be the company that made Kenmore Sewing Machines.

Basically, she said,
1. You get what you pay for.
2. Price Range is $100-300=Crap $500-700=Decent $900+=Good
3. Computer-controlled units are the best because they offer more stitch patterns and easier automation.

She sold me a $300ish Janome 8050. She said it was the best unit under $500 and was the exception to the crap comment above. The 8050 model number is also rebadged as other models...depending on where you buy it. Here's the equivalent at Amazon....50 stitches:
http://www.amazon.com/Janome-DC1050-...ds=janome+8050

And with sewing leather, he is looking at a WHOLE another spectrum of cost....hehe

 

[JulesMaximus]

Probably cheaper than sexual reassignment surgery... just make sure you weight the bodies down.

 

[Mixolydian]

Pfaff, Bernina, Husqvarna are the best brands. If you're a beginner, a Singer machine would be a great compromise between cost and performance.

(Mom has been sewing for 35+ years, I personally know nothing about it).

 

[Scarpozzi]

And with sewing leather, he is looking at a WHOLE another spectrum of cost....hehe

True. My wife hasn't used it yet. It bothered me because she wanted it and I paid for it, so I made about 6 lined Christmas Stockings last year and gave them as gifts to coworkers. (youtube and a few hours of trying to figure out how it worked)

I then bought some fabric to make bean bags for a corn hole game I made back in May. Stitching through 4 layers of thick fabric was rough on the machine, but it did it. For leather, you can probably do thin leather with the right needle.