Mickey2

What type of canvas is it? I have to admit the heaviest denim I have had, was sold as a bull denim. It was soft though, not the stiff kind, sort of twill weave cotton. It was a bit heavier than the jeans we get today, but within the jeans range. It was for a jacket I made.

It was not hard on the machine at all, except for the bumps where the joints of flat felled seams fold over. Those need a bit of tweaking on most machines. You know when a machine is working too hard; when it starts to get noisy, vibrate, etc. A needle haulting in the fabric can be caused by, feed issues, particlarly bumps, too thin needle; it bends and jams in the fabric. We get into these challenges now and them, and if you feel it's withing the capability of a basic machine there should be a way about it. Bkay is right though, there is no point in pushing a machine beyond its' limits.

klswift

Have you considered not sewing thru 5 layers? 3 options that come to mind are not folding your binding double. Fold in once to encase the edge, then attach with a straight stitch. Then stitch again with a tight zigzag. Not as clean as regular binding, but will not throw your machine out of whack. Another option is to use a bit lighter fabric as the binding. The 3rd would be a 'staggered' binding. Attach the back as you would any seam (right sides together). Wrap to front and fold over edge. But, lay this edge just a tad to the inside of the row of stitching. Use your zipper foot to stitch the edge down (you should only be going thru 3 layers). The backside would have an additional row of stitching just to the inside of the binding edge. I have done a lot of sewing on canvas and I'm not sure I would like to tackle more than 3 thicknesses. Please let us know how you resolve this.

Wanabee Quiltin

I'm thinking you either need to buy a used industrial sewing machine or take this to a shoe repair shop and let them sew this down. Some things aren't worth tearing up your great sewing machine.

KalamaQuilts

shoe repair shops here are like chickens teeth, not to be found. Another lost skill.

My mentor made canvas seat covers for her boat with her featherweight.
That said, please wear some kind of safety glasses.

cashs_mom

Shoe repair shops are getting scarce. We possibly have more here than some areas of the country because so many people wear expensive western boots. My husband has some he's worn for 30 years. He just have them resoled when they need it. As expensive as they are, it's a bargain to spend $100 for a resole.

KalamaQuilts

exactly. Rob loves his cowboy boots, that is how we know there aren't any shoe repair shops around here. Wonder if there is an on-line equivalent?

NJ Quilter

I did stop at the shoe repair shop this AM. Just no love to be found there, lol. Frankly I just don't think he wanted to do the job. Talk about first cementing the pieces together, then stitching, a much heftier price than the upholsterer has charged me in the past. Mind you, most of the binding has come lose at this point, but still. The upholsterer charged me maybe $20 to fix it last time...this guy wanted a minimum of $75.

This canvas is sort of a twill weave but reasonably heavy. It's a pre-made custom fit cover so not many choices in how to attach it. The snaps are still in tact - it's simply the binding covering the raw edge of the actual cover itself.

I did not make it to JAF's today for other needles. I've come to the conclusion that we can travel without the cover on - which we do on occasion anyhow at times and just get it repaired somewhere in the marina district at our destination. We'll be there for 2 weeks. Honestly, if I had a machine that could handle it, it wouldn't take more than an hour to fix the whole stupid thing. Hopefully I can plead well enough that someone will do it in a day. Simply want to have the ability to cover the interior of the boat while away overnight or if it rains. And that can be done in it's current state - just not easily and without some minor additional damage.

And if we can't get it repaired while away, my local upholsterer will have time in their schedule when we return.

Fortunately we have both the upholsterer and the shoe repair very local here. Neither are in the least bit out of the way.

I appreciate everyone's helpful suggestions. I'm just running out of daylight here at this point!