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Sewing machine suggestions

Murph4028

Murph4028

Well-Known Member
Vendor Rep
Joined
Jan 2, 2019
Messages
1,489
Location
North Carolina
Looking to try my hand at sewing my own stuff. I'm hoping some of you sewing gurus can suggest a machine capable of sewing webbing, cordura, etc. I'm not interested in spending a ton. I want to see how I take to it before I make a big investment. Any help is appreciated.
 
I was in the same situation earlier this year. I was looking at used stuff in Craigslist within driving distance. I thought the prices were too much for used. I then checked a couple of sewing machine repair shops and they were even more outrageous than Craigslist.

I found that I was looking at about $400 to get used equipment. I may or may not have to put some money into it to get it working. I decided to just buy new. I got a Juki 8700h and I'm completely happy with it.

You may have better luck than I did checking the used market though. You can also look into clone models, which are usually cheaper. Econosew and consew both happy clones of the Juki.

Others have had good luck with the singer heavy duty models. I think you could get those new for under $200 but they are not industrial machines. They can work fine but once you get into multiple layers of webbing they get burdened down.

I guess I would try to figure out how much you are going to use it and how heavy of material you are going to sew. If it is going to be multiple layers of webbing, I would go with an industrial machine.

Singer 15s seem to be a popular model as well.

I am extremely happy with my Juki. It is the best thing I have bought for hunting... Period!!! I think if my finger got stuck under it the needle would go right through the bone without missing a beat... Good luck looking. I'm sure others will give other models to look at.

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk
 
Don’t count out the used market, I found a used German industrial Pfaff machine on craigslist for a few hundred bucks, the head alone was worth about 1,300 bucks i put a servo motor on it for 100 bucks, now I have a machine that I can sew up to 3/4” leather or webbing. Basically if the material fits under the walking foot it will sew through it.
 
I was in the same situation a few months ago so I’ll chime in. I’m not well versed in machines so I’ll tell you what I experienced. I wanted to start building back packs and other hunting related gear but I did not want to spend the coin. After all I didn’t know if I would like it. I started with an old singer. Worked ok but it didn’t go through multiple layers of webbing and heavy fabric. Moved up to a singer heavy duty and that was good enough to build a few back packs for my kids but couldn’t really sew through multiple layers. I had to think about my construction and in some cases substitute lighter materials. Did it work.....yes. Do I regret buying it....no. That being said I just broke down and bought the juki DU118-1n. Put it together and I am more than happy with it so far. It will sew anything I would be looking to sew. Buy one nice cry once. My recommendation is to go buy a older used singer or a new singer heavy duty. Make some stuff and if you love it buy an industrial machine. You can always use the Old machine for super light stuff.
 
For the guys who have a juki, did you have to assemble it? If so how hard was it? Seems like they always come disassembled
 
Murph4028 said:
For the guys who have a juki, did you have to assemble it? If so how hard was it? Seems like they always come disassembled
Click to expand...

It’s not hard just time consuming. If a person can’t manage to assemble it they probably don’t need it to begin with. Sewing would be a hard row to hoe.
 
Murph4028 said:
For the guys who have a juki, did you have to assemble it? If so how hard was it? Seems like they always come disassembled
Click to expand...
Assembly wasn't that hard. There are a lot of how to videos on YouTube for assembly.

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk
 
Read the first article of this page "sewing resources and information" they list a lot of good older models that can handle thicker material. I found and old singer 237 on craigslist for $50 and the thing looks like its never been used. Geez I thought spending money was the biggest problem with this site now I want to learn how to sew!
 
An older all metal Kenmore 158 will give some of those older Singer machines a run for their money.
 
Thanks for the replies. So just to give an update I went to a thrift store one town over that has a bunch of industrial sewing machines. The guy who owns it is a Vietnam veteran and I explained what I'd be using the machine for. He showed me a singer 211 that I believe is from the 60s. He took me in the back and gave me a 2 hour class on sewing to get me started and cut me a real good deal on the machine. So far I have no complaints about the machine. It has sewn everything up to 4 layers of webbing with ease.
 
Murph4028 said:
Thanks for the replies. So just to give an update I went to a thrift store one town over that has a bunch of industrial sewing machines. The guy who owns it is a Vietnam veteran and I explained what I'd be using the machine for. He showed me a singer 211 that I believe is from the 60s. He took me in the back and gave me a 2 hour class on sewing to get me started and cut me a real good deal on the machine. So far I have no complaints about the machine. It has sewn everything up to 4 layers of webbing with ease.
Click to expand...

Good call! I've got a 211 as well, and it is amazing.
 
Murph4028 said:
Thanks for the replies. So just to give an update I went to a thrift store one town over that has a bunch of industrial sewing machines. The guy who owns it is a Vietnam veteran and I explained what I'd be using the machine for. He showed me a singer 211 that I believe is from the 60s. He took me in the back and gave me a 2 hour class on sewing to get me started and cut me a real good deal on the machine. So far I have no complaints about the machine. It has sewn everything up to 4 layers of webbing with ease.
Click to expand...

Keep us up to date on how you like it and how it performs. Seems like most anyone gets into saddle hunting will end up wanting to sew up some DIY projects eventually.
 
gameflogger said:
I lol, I need to devote about 10-15 hours developing the perfect “saddle hunting pack”
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I was thinking about this on the drive to work this morning. I want to use the platform as a frame with kuiu style quick clips to detach from the suspension.
 
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