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scrim foam and proper set up for pleather pleating

10K views 16 replies 4 participants last post by  mordachai 
#1 ·
I'm trying to make 1"x 1" square pattern that will be pillowed. I'm having trouble as if maybe the tension needs to go higher(highest setting)cause I'm having trouble with a zig zag stitch but straight stitch is fine. I have these leather needles. Not sure if there's a better size for this. I glued t-shirt material onto foam fill for quilts so I could draw a pattern on it and so the thread would catch onto something. It appeared to work well but the stitch was struggling. Is there a good scrim foam you go with and leave everything else alone or was it a good idea to glue a shirt to the foam? Any ideas or opinions appreciated. I'm hoping it's not the sewing machine.

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#3 · (Edited)
First of all, your home sewing machine will not do a very good job on sewing anything to sew foam because it does not have compound feed, and the motor is not strong enough. It may sew O.K. for a couple inches, but it will bog down. Pleather? Do you mean vinyl or ultraleather? Leather needles have wedge points, get rid of those and just use standard needles. Your size 14 needles are too small, the biggest needle your machine will probably handle is a size 16, buy some of those. If it will handle a size 18 needle, buy them instead. No, it was a bad idea to use the t-shirt material glued to dacron fiber fill. The t-shirt material is too stretchy, as is the dacron. I'm surprise you could even sew that at all. Buy sew-foam that has a fabric backing already bonded to it. No matter what, you will get poor results trying to sew a car seat with a home machine, especially sewing anything else to the pleated insert.
 
#4 ·
that's too bad. I do have a very old beverly machine I could try but the bobbin is a nightmare on it, but if it could work than that's great. Any opinions on those machines? It's an 850B/ made in Japan. I guess I could take the seat down the street to a kick arse interior guy and see if he can at least sow the puffy squares in there.

I imagine a compound feed is what's on this video(the walker looking thing on the presser foot). This is sort of what I want but I want squares as opposed to straight lines. Anyhow, thanks for the response. Will re-read the manual to see what size I can go up to with the needle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nVyPiPvR2g
 
#5 · (Edited)
You are confusing a couple terms. The machine they are sewing the pleats with in the video is not a true walking foot machine. It is compound feed, however. Compound feed means more than one type of feed system working together, usually drop feed (using feed dogs) and needle feed. On a compound feed machine, the needle rocks back and forth to help move the work through the machine. Walking foot is a generic term for alternating presser feet. A walking foot machine's foot is in two parts, the outside section is attached to a separate shaft, as is the inside section of the foot. When one part of the foot is up, the other part of the foot is down, and vice versa. Hence the name "walking" foot. The intention of this is to always have some part of the foot down to hold the work in place better. The needle is also mounted to it's own separate shaft. If the machine does not have three separate shafts, it can't have alternating presser feet, and is therefore not a "walking foot" machine. There is no attachment that can turn a non walking foot machine into a true walking foot machine, or change it to a compound feed machine.

Your squares are just straight lines in two different directions, it's the same thing.

Buy sew foam with a fabric backing, not scrim. Scrim is not near as durable, and won't hold up to being sat on as well. It is cheaper, though.

BTW, the way they are sewing the pleated top to the seat is backward. I sew the pleats to the foam from the top of the fabric so I can see what is happening on the good side, not the side nobody will ever see. On anything more elaborate than what they are sewing, you could really end up with a mess, especially 1" squares. No way they will look good if sewn from the back side, especially sewing to 1/2" thick sew foam like they are. Your home machine will not handle 1/2" sew foam, so don't even try. 1/4" foam is all it will handle, and maybe not that.

Try sewing the design that's on this bike seat from the back side and see what happens.

Please define "pleather" for me.
 

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#6 ·
O.K. Here's how to do what you are trying to do. This is a piece of ultraleather sewed to 1/4" fabric backed sew foam. I marked the lines on the surface of the ultraleather with a Fisher SR80SL
silver ink pen. This pen provides a narrow line, and washes off with Fantastik or Formula 409 type degreasers. Then I sewed the lines with size 138 polyester thread. I sewed one set of lines from end to end, turned the fabric 90º, and sewed the rest of the lines. After the lines are sewed in, I cleaned the silver ink off.

You need to make the piece larger than what you need it, sew all the lines, and then put your pattern on and trace around it, watching to see that the squares are centered in both directions on the piece you're making.

Just a heads up. If you sew small squares like this, they are not going to stand out very much. I would advise you to make them bigger.

One other piece of advise: 3-M 74 and 3-M 77 are terrible. Don't use them for anything other than gluing fabric to sew foam.
 

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#8 · (Edited)
your work is awesome! I'll go get some 1/4" fabric backed sew foam. I'd love to go from the top but since the tension isn't enough you get the loops on the same side you are sewing on. If I go from the back they are hidden, but maybe with 1/4" it can work. I'll get the pen too and mess around more with it. Going bigger than 1" makes sense in many ways too. Since this will be shaky it's less chance of wasted material.-lol Thanks for the response and pics.

ps-pleather meaning vinyl fake leather. Not sure if it's the right term for it. This is one is especially troubling cause it has little nipples like ostrige skin. I also tried the 18 needle you suggested and it made a huge difference but now the troubles seem to be narrowed down to the stretch in the shirt. If I could get that sorted out I think I might be able to stumble across the finish line but will do more tests. I guess I'm stubborn. :)
 
#12 ·
Walking foot means the foot itself is in two parts, an inside part and an outside part, and each part is attached to it's own individual shaft. When one part of the foot is up, the other part of the foot is down. This can't be accomplished by a machine that doesn't have two independent shafts for the two parts of the foot. There is also a separate shaft for the needle. A walking foot machine has three vertical shafts. If your machine doesn't have three shafts and a two piece foot, with a separate shaft for the needle, no matter what you do or add to the machine it will not be a walking foot machine that does what a walking foot machine is intended to do. These people use the term "walking foot" just to sell you an attachment.
 
#14 ·
I think trying to sew pleats with that home machine is like trying to cut down a redwood with a steak knife, I am sure it can be done....but I am not sure it's worth the aggravation. You can find a used machine for 3-500 bucks if you are patient, and you can get what you paid for it when you are done with the job.
 
#17 ·
Just a few thoughts...
Pleather is slang, from plastic leather... just another term for 'leatherette' :D:D
makes me think of people who buy naugahyde and not vinyl !:rolleyes:


tech69, Dan is talking about machines that operate like this:
Walking foot sewing machine in action - YouTube
Pretty standard in the industry, heavier machines and motors that will handle sewing heavier material day in day out, very different from your table top machines

and Dan, here is the attachment that you can put on a household machine that tech69 was referring to. My mom and grandma always called them an even feed foot, but now they seem to be called a 'walking foot' attachment.... while very different from our machines it could be helpful if you were say sewing a dress with silky type material, this may help feed the 2 pieces evenly. quite a clever little attachment, using the needle bar to operate a secondary set of feed dogs on the top of the material...
How to Use a Walking Foot Attachment | Sewing Machine - YouTube
at about the 2:15 mark you can see how it operates, and at around 3:00 you can see it in action...
it's still a presser foot essentially, but a kind of cool bit of engineering...
 
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