Sewing machine advice wanted

[sydnie7]

Go for it, you can never have too many sewing machines LOL! Just watch out for different bobbin styles, some machines take one or another.

Thanks so much to all for the input. You've been a great help. I'm going to take he Pfaff, since it belongs to a very close friend and I sorta feel obligated now to get it. However, just this morning, I checked the local Craig's List and found a White 465 and cabinet for sale. It's from 1969 and all metal. It does straight and zig-zag stitches and embroiders, and all the original parts and accessories and manual are there. I'm going to take a look at it. I think it may be just what I need.

[Steve Ashton]

The White 465 is a good machine. It does not have a knee lift and it is not capable of adjusting the pressure foot height. You will be limited to about 3-4 layers of fabric or about the same as when making a pair of pants or jacket.

This machine would not be my first choice for kilts where it is common to have 10-12 layers of fabric when sewing the waistband on or the beltloops.

[MNlad]

You need that old guy who has been around a long time and has a garage full of parts and years and years of experience. Someone willing to teach you how to use, and maintain you machine.

One of the best investments you will ever make is to find that "old guy" and spend a day with him learning all the ins and outs of working with and maintaining your machine. It will save countless hours of frustration, you'll learn the real capabilities and limitations of your machine, and you'll probably learn it can do a few things you never even imagined.

[HarveyH]

Never fool yourself that buying a walking foot machine is a good deal if you will not be sewing your own sporrans. A walking foot is for sewing multiple layers of leather and they do not sew fabric well at all.

Amidst a lot of sound advice I have to challenge this statement by Steve.

I may be too clumsy to do too much of my own sewing but I have lived around sewing machines all my life. A Walking foot grips cloth and moves both the top and bottom together. Pfaff, in particular, have developed a walking foot which is designed for use with cloth and can be particularly useful holding and moving layers of cloth together. Someone sewing commercially might well be irritated by a walking foot - but for many domestic sewers it has proved to be a very useful invention.

[ratspike]

Harvey, you're absolutely correct. Walking feet are great, and for some fabrics practically a requirement. Pfaff's IDT system is fantastic, and of course there's always the option to use a walking foot attachment on most any domestic machine. Industrial machines like the Juki 1541 are workhorses for bag making, outdoor, and tactical gear. Fabric like Cordura, Xpac, and silnylon is slippery stuff, and can be a PITA to sew without a walking foot.

[The Wizard of BC]

It is true that you can buy a walking foot attachment for many machines. And it is also true that some fabrics really need to keep both the top and bottom fabrics aligned because they are slippery or you are sewing something special or specific.

But the OP's question was asking for suggestions for a machine for kiltmaking. A dedicated walking foot machine is a waste of time and money for sewing two or three layers of Poly/Cotton. It is slower, more complicated, costs more initially and for repairs. A dedicated walking foot machine is simply not needed for working with kilt fabrics. If there would be times you need a walking foot an attachment is a good way to go.
But I still advise against buying a dedicated walking foot machine for kiltmaking. The only time I can imagine someone would NEED a walking foot is if they are doing blind fell stitching.

[brewerpaul]

There are some great kilt makers here that have added quite a bit of information to sift through. As professionals they need the best they can get because it gets used full time and has to perform. For us mere mortals it is more finding good machines that will do what we want. I am an experienced beginner at sewing but have gained loads of great knowledge from this site. For me a sewing machine is a tool like my wood working equipment. I want qualiity and few bells and whistles. The more computerized you get the more you can have go wrong in my mind. Though I am saving the tartan fabric I have for hand sewing a kilt or two I have done some extensive work on thicker weights of wool tweed, wool suiting and other fabrics. My machines were fortunate finds on shopgoodwill and they have been work horses. Below is a couple of photos.

My old "boat anchor" Dressmaker machine. Does straight sticth only but for the heavy wool, multiple layers, some leather and top stitching it is fantastic. There are times I have to turn the wheel by hand but that is because of the thickness and the fact I want to be careful of my stitches.



THe other score was a simple Brother with maybe 10-12 stitches. Nothing fancy and simple buttons holes when needed. I use this on more delicate fabric, shirt making and lighter wool.



Jennifer has a nice Janome machine that has 12 stitches also. I use it when over at her house. We also have a Janome serger that was great to use when I made a dozen fleece pullover tops for a bunch of kids this past holidays. I think it comes to what are your needs, how much you want to spend and if one machine wont do it all, buy another one that will fill in the gaps.

Here are just a couple of the things I have run through my machines.

Tweed hunting vest with quilted lining. The quilted lining is from JoAnn's and makes the vest quite warm.



My Inverness cape. This had heavyweight wool houndstooh tweed outer fabric, suiting weight wool lining and a middle lining of breathable nylon to block the wind. The nylon is sandwiched between the coat weight and suiting wool. Putting the cape, caplet and collar together was a test of the old Dressmaker. I used a needle for sewing leather for that part.



Mainly the equipment is as good as the person using it in most cases. With sewing machines, like any tool, you can get cheap garbage that wont work well for anything. Shop around and get the best you can use and learn every trick you can learn as well. And most of all "Have Fun"

[Benning Boy]

I went ahead and bought the White sewing machine. All the original accessories and manual are with it. It wasn't used much, since new in 1969, mostly to make kids PJs and other light projects. It was originally an anniversary present. The recipient wasn't much interested in sewing. It was recently serviced. Runs quiet and smooth. There's a video about this model on Youtube showing the machine stitching through 14 layers of blend fabric.

I'm mostly interested in making X-kilts and similar things, and making ultralight weight camping gear for one last adventure. I want to loose more weight before getting high quality kilts. I may have to hire it done, unless I can find at a reasonable price a heavy duty machine to do the sewing myself. I lack the dexterity to hand sew a kilt.

The Pfaff 6 is also mine. It's way obsolete, can find next to nothing out about it. However one website describes it as heavy duty. It only does a straight stitch. It's probably going to need work, if it's possible to get that done now.

My ex was a super seamstress. She worked for a tailor for a while. She did some heavy sewing on a medium priced (at the time) Burnina. Based on recollection I think the White should capacity for most of what I want to do.

[HarveyH]

It is true that you can buy a walking foot attachment for many machines. And it is also true that some fabrics really need to keep both the top and bottom fabrics aligned because they are slippery or you are sewing something special or specific.

But the OP's question was asking for suggestions for a machine for kiltmaking. A dedicated walking foot machine is a waste of time and money for sewing two or three layers of Poly/Cotton. It is slower, more complicated, costs more initially and for repairs. A dedicated walking foot machine is simply not needed for working with kilt fabrics. If there would be times you need a walking foot an attachment is a good way to go.
But I still advise against buying a dedicated walking foot machine for kiltmaking. The only time I can imagine someone would NEED a walking foot is if they are doing blind fell stitching.

Steve. I made the point because general sewing machine technology is advancing. Anyone reading your post might actually be put off buying a Pfaff general sewing machine as they are including their IDT (integrated dual feed) system in almost all their new machines. Not a separate walking foot attachment, but integral to the way the machines sew.

As you note, a walking foot can be useful not just for leather (as you originally stated), but also for lightweight and slippery fabrics, so if someone wanted to make a kilt and a shirt and pehaps a silk sash for their partner, a system like Pfaff's would be really useful. Also for a less confident sewer, like myself, having anything which helps hold the fabric in place when there is simply so much cloth to manage is a definite advantage. I know Pfaff are not an advertiser here but I hope you will forgive the addition of a link to their explanation of this: http://www.pfaff.com/kr/2208.html.

Certainly using it to sew denim and canvas is really good and given the not everbody on this forum is working with finest worsted wool cloth, some recognition of what might be useful to the general sewer, who also wants to make a kilt, might be helpful.

[ratspike]

I have a late model computerized Pfaff with IDT, an Ambition Essential. I've sewn probably 75 kilts with it, along with bags and other stuff. It's a fantastic machine for general sewing tasks but honestly, there are better choices for the sort of use that's been discussed here. The biggest problem with the model I have is the unbelievably low presser foot height. I've had something like 15 layers of fabric under it, and it took serious effort. The needle plate was soft aluminum that I was constantly bending back into shape. I only used it for as long as I did because I just didn't want to deal with replacing it.

For making the occasional kilt I think a swanky computerized machine is just fine. For serious work though, IMO, it's the wrong tool. My 40 year old mechanicals get the job done much more easily than the Pfaff ever did. And anyway, it's a shame to abuse a well made tool by using it for something it was never designed to do.

As far as walking feet and kiltmaking goes, I don't feel that they're necessary. I only suggested one to the OP because he mentioned wanting to make outdoor gear, in which case a walking foot would probably make his sewing life a lot easier.