topstitch

The fabric I use is about twice as thick as quilting fabric. It is not so much that my Singer cannot get through 8 layers it is that it struggles. I love this machine for all other sewing and quilting projects. To answer your question, I am making the bionic gear bag (utube). But I also love oilcloth and laminated cotton projects. Yesterday I was using size 18 then 20 needles. Still had problems but fewer. I will diffidently give some thought to your suggestion of an ordinary machine

topstitch

I like to use fabric that is about twice as thick as quilting fabric. I

topstitch

I saw and wondered about the Toyota. It has really good reviews. The one on Amazon is in the Prime system also. Which means I could try it out and see if it meets my needs. Price is great

Dolphyngyrl

I have done a BGB on my low end brother,maybe you are using the wrong type of needle for the project. You should not need a heavy duty machine for that project

topstitch

Good for you but as I stated earlier the fabric is mid weight and the needles are the only ones that would even begin to penetrate all the layers. 5 of us are making them. The 3 that have heavy weight machines are having a much much easier time.

elnan

I would go with the Pfaff 130 for what you describe. When I bought a Pfaff 30, I kept trying to google information about it and would come up with info on the 130 instead. At that time there was a blog for a man who dealt in the 130 and was well known for his advice. I have seen advertisements for the 130 indicating it was good for use in a shoe repair shop. To me the Pfaff 30 is not much different than the Singer 185J, and I thought the 130 was just a bit more souped-up. Some of those old Kenmore sewing machines are very powerful.

I am thinking that I have seen something on here about "quiltedsunshine" working in a sewing machine repair shop, seems that would qualify her as knowledgeable regarding powerful machines.

mama's place

I have a Juki and it will sew through almost anything. It is a straight stitch machine and is all metal. My Kenmore made by Janome is not nearly as tough. It struggles with denim, for example, hemming a pair of jeans is hard to do on the Kenmore.

Jeanette Frantz

I have a Singer 403-A, and it is a very powerful machine. I've sewed some pretty thick items with it, including quilting some table runners, etc. I also have a Singer 201-2, and it's a winner. I made a tote bag for my cousin, using cotton twill, plus batting, plus another cotton twill, quilted, and then lined it with quilting cotton. I put a zipper to close the bag, and then did a decorative stitch to set the zipper down about 3/4" from the top. I broke 3 needles doing that top stitching on my Singer 328, but that was more operator problem! LOL!

By the way, make sure you're not using ball point needles -- those don't work very well for cotton fabric, particularly heavy weight cotton fabrics.

Jeanette

annesthreads

I have a Singer 301, which will sew through things that give my other machines a hissy fit. As long as you're strong enough to lift it, or have someone else in the house who can!

LynnG

Take a look at the Toyota Super Jeans model. Vince Arcuri did a youtube review about this machine. There are a few other youtube videos showing what the super jeans model does too.