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Treadle Machine and sewing leather

Treadle Machine and sewing leather

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Old 10-22-2017, 06:01 PM
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Default Treadle Machine and sewing leather

Have White Rotary Treadle. Anyone sew leather on their treadle? Want to make some dufflebags. Most of the assemble can be handsewn but the zipper and couple of pieces need to be sewn. One area two pieces of leather being sewn together.
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Old 10-22-2017, 06:38 PM
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I have not done it personally but I do know that the man that lived across the street from my grandmother used to borrow her Singer treadle to sew leather items. She wanted to give it to him, but thought I might want it some day so she kept it.
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Old 10-22-2017, 07:59 PM
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Treadles will sew a lot of tough stuff. My mother used my grandmother's to mend my winter horse blankets and make custom saddle pads for me.
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Old 10-23-2017, 03:16 AM
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I don't think the treadle part is the problem, I'm thinking of treadle industrials, treadle cobblers... They are probably extra sturdily made but so are all the old cast iron setups.

Soft leater is usually not a problem, most good sewing machines can handle it. There's leather tip needles, but a large size sharp tip needle often works just as well. I would give your machine a try.
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Old 10-23-2017, 03:28 AM
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The issue will be the needle, you will need a triangular leather needle which will pierce the leather rather than a conventional sharp tipped needle a then you will be fine.
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Old 10-23-2017, 03:35 AM
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The issues will be thread weight, needle size and thickness of your leather. You can make tension adjustments to accommodate the thicker threads and buy the correct size leather needle to match your thread. I put a hand crank on a very old Singer 15 to sew leather - it worked but I was worn out. If you do much leather sewing an old walking foot or needle feed industrial would be the way to go.
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Old 10-23-2017, 09:12 AM
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Originally Posted by quiltingcandy View Post
I have not done it personally but I do know that the man that lived across the street from my grandmother used to borrow her Singer treadle to sew leather items. She wanted to give it to him, but thought I might want it some day so she kept it.
Thanks. Did you end up with the machine after all?
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Old 10-23-2017, 09:12 AM
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Originally Posted by cashs_mom View Post
Treadles will sew a lot of tough stuff. My mother used my grandmother's to mend my winter horse blankets and make custom saddle pads for me.
Thnks! Your mom sounds special!
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Old 10-23-2017, 09:16 AM
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Originally Posted by miriam View Post
The issues will be thread weight, needle size and thickness of your leather. You can make tension adjustments to accommodate the thicker threads and buy the correct size leather needle to match your thread. I put a hand crank on a very old Singer 15 to sew leather - it worked but I was worn out. If you do much leather sewing an old walking foot or needle feed industrial would be the way to go.
I was wondering since I saw some really cool duffle bags, all leather, that looked pretty simple to make and would not cost me anywhere near the $700-1200 price tags! I have a bunch of sons and thought would be cool gifts for them. Then got thinking maybe handsewn purses for the daughters. I really only would need the zippers sewn as could do rest with handstitching (not as hard as sounds) and could probably have done by local shoe repair guy. Thanks for the input!
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Old 10-23-2017, 09:17 AM
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Originally Posted by RosMadeMe View Post
The issue will be the needle, you will need a triangular leather needle which will pierce the leather rather than a conventional sharp tipped needle a then you will be fine.
Never realized something such as a triangular needle. Thanks.
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