I think I found a gem. Singer sewing machine.

[NMSbowhunter]

Stitches are looking great!

Also, dont be a fraid to get out the seam ripper/thread remover and remove the stiches. It happens to the best of us.

I gotta get one of those. That should have been the first thing I bought. I was sewing good and then the bobbin ran out of thread and so I rewound the bobbin and rethreaded the machine and started getting birds' nests again on the back side of the material. After a while I was getting cross eyed again so I decide to leave it be and come back to it maybe tomorrow.

I found enough spare seatbelt material I salvaged from some spare safety harnesses to make up a test saddle. Hopefully I can get enough practice making it to be proficient by the time I decide to actually start on one I plan to use. If the first one turns out OK I can use it as a saddle for archery practice at ground level. That will also be a good test to see how the stitching holds up with use over the summer getting a good bit of use.

 

[NMSbowhunter]

Well, I seem to have taken one step forward and several steps back. I keep going back over what could be messing me up. The stitches on the back of the piece are pulling through and bunching up terribly. I have adjusted the bobbin case every direction I can think of. I checked to make sure the thread is fed through all the right spots on the machine from the thread stand to the needle. I have played around with different tension settings. I have played around with different foot tension setting. I came close to getting it right today then it just went sideways.

The worst thing it does is it pulls the thread from the needle down through the needle hole in the base and I end up with 3 or 4 strands coming back up through the needle hole. It is a real mess. I got pretty frustrated with it earlier and decided to take a break and come back to it fresh.

 

[Jimdude]

I’m not very good at any of this yet but I do have a tip for learning I got on YouTube. Practice with 2 different colors. One for bobbin and one for needle. Then you can easily see what’s happening. If the top color shows through on the bottom I believe it’s not enough needle tension. If the bobbin color shows on the top I believe it’s too much needle tension.

 

[NMSbowhunter]

I’m not very good at any of this yet but I do have a tip for learning I got on YouTube. Practice with 2 different colors. One for bobbin and one for needle. Then you can easily see what’s happening. If the top color shows through on the bottom I believe it’s not enough needle tension. If the bobbin color shows on the top I believe it’s too much needle tension.

Thanks, I have some lighter weight thread in different colors. I have been using the heavier thread I intend to use for the saddle build, and it is tan.

 

[bj139]

I gotta get one of those. That should have been the first thing I bought. I was sewing good and then the bobbin ran out of thread and so I rewound the bobbin and rethreaded the machine and started getting birds' nests again on the back side of the material. After a while I was getting cross eyed again so I decide to leave it be and come back to it maybe tomorrow.

I found enough spare seatbelt material I salvaged from some spare safety harnesses to make up a test saddle. Hopefully I can get enough practice making it to be proficient by the time I decide to actually start on one I plan to use. If the first one turns out OK I can use it as a saddle for archery practice at ground level. That will also be a good test to see how the stitching holds up with use over the summer getting a good bit of use.

Nice machine and the case is excellent. I wish I had one of those.

Loops on the back side of the material are caused by not enough top tension. Loops on the front are caused by not enough bobbin tension. You must have a balance between the two. The thicker the material, the more top and bottom tension you need to pull the thread tight and maintain the balance. Lighter material you need less top and bottom tension but still in balance or the fabric will bunch.

 

[NMSbowhunter]

Nice machine and the case is excellent. I wish I had one of those.

Loops on the back side of the material are caused by not enough top tension. Loops on the front are caused by not enough bobbin tension. You must have a balance between the two. The thicker the material, the more top and bottom tension you need to pull the thread tight and maintain the balance. Lighter material you need less top and bottom tension but still in balance or the fabric will bunch.

I got lucky finding this ole girl. I found it the first place I went. The mechanism was very clean. Just a little dust and lint. I got it cleaned up and oiled with some really fine grade oil. The case had just a little delamination on the veneer on one end and I got that glued up as good as new yesterday.

Thanks for the help. I have been confused all this time with the causes of the loops on the back. I was thinking the loops on the back were caused by the bobbin tension. Now that I know it is the top tension, I can work on that. This has been a steep learning curve for me since I have no sewing experience whatsoever. It is a skill I have wanted to pick up for quite a while since I am always working on small projects.

The thread is Sailrite V-92 and I have a #18 needle in the machine if that helps. I am also feeding the machine off of a thread stand I made since the spool of thread I have is much larger than the small spools. The thread comes off the spool. up and over the stand hook, then down and under a piece of seatbelt 2x2 inch square and around the pin on top of the machine and then fed through the machine in the normal fashion. Maybe this convoluted thread route has something to do with the issue?

 

[NMSbowhunter]

Ok, I did a quick test and ran the tension dial all the way down and got an instant improvement. Then I tried what you did and ran the thread through the tension dial twice and it helped even more. I think this may have solved my issues. Thanks so much for the help! I really appreciate it. I have picked up some more grey hair over the last few days trying to figure out what I was doing wrong.

 

[NMSbowhunter]

Ok, after much trial and error I have hobbled together a trial two panel saddle using my embryonic sewing skills. It looks pretty rough but as I went my box X stitching got better and better. I am still a far cry from making one that I would trust at hunting height. I need a lot more practice. This is saddle number 1, the "c" raptor, lol. I do feel that it is pretty strong and risked embarrassment and grass stains on the seat of my pants to test it out on my saddle tree in the back yard. I thought at first it was going to be too narrow at 28 inches between rings but it was pretty comfortable. My next one will be minimum 30 inches between rings. So far so good. I will probably just keep making practice saddles until I get good enough to make one I feel like I can trust. So far, so good.

 

[Razorbak66]

Ain’t nothing wrong with that looks good Yep keep on sewing you get better with time