Originally Posted by
Cari-in-Oly
You match the needle to the thread you're using, or vice versa, as well as what you're trying to sew. How many layers and how heavy is the canvas? It may be that you're wanting the machines to do more than they're capable of. If it's just 5 or 6 layers of light canvas, an 18 jeans needle should do it. I don't think either of those machines can use a bigger needle than that.
Cari
I suspect you're right in that I'm expecting the machines to do too much. Sadly. The little man at the dealer where I bought my Viking claimed it should be able to handle that but I'm not willing to risk a major blow-out on the computerized machine for this.
It's fairly heavy canvas - boat cover - kind of like rough tenting canvas for lack of a better description. I posted the same question in the General section and someone there suggested the local shoe repair. I'll head there tomorrow.