Technical Question about doing upholstery

I did a sew tech that may help,you kind need to read most of it,but lots of things that can keep some one out of prob.s, It would of been nice to have $ for a real walking foot to start with,but got it done, an few times now with just the slipper foot job.;http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/tech-sew-at-home-upholsrety-hot-rod.604077/

 

Dana,I just logged in and scanned youd thread ~Your work looks like it was done by a professional upholster and I appreciate it a lot.

I intend to read the complete thread when I get home,thanks for the link. HRP

 

If you haven't already join the Upholstery social group as well there are some great tutorials and some super helpful guys that don't really seem to post much outside of there.

 

Danny, message need louvers ? he can probably answer your questions.

 

Thank you sir,I wasn't aware there was a social group for upholstery,I plan on checking it out. HRP

 

Danny,thanks for the heads up. HRP

 

I needed a repair on a BMW seat and I asked a friend who does world class upholstery and he said to do it myself and led me to one of his older machines. After learning some basic, it really wasn't that hard. I basically removed the old upholstery and used it for patterns. The hardest part was controlling the speed because of no servo motor. I used a block of wood to keep from going too fast. The three things that are a must would be a walking foot, reverse, and a servo motor if your a beginner to make it easier on you. The actual sewing is the easiest part. Much like painting a car and prep is 90%, the same is true for upholstery. Prepping the springs, under lament and cutting of the material to the correct size is the challenging part. This was my first upholstery job before cleaning up the white alignment marks.

 

Well guys, thanks a lot
You've made me do it.
I'm going this weekend to pick up the Juki LU563 and will be having a servo motor shipped to me as well.
Seems like a big investment but I'm getting a reasonable price on the good well maintained used machine and I have wanted to learn how to do this stuff for a long time.
I can weld and fabricate and will soon be painting , why not sew too
Man this is fun

 

Check out this site Sailrite.com, lots of good info to go along with all that is on here, seem to be a good supplier and are they really helpful.

 

Good deal Larry,my pal Dave has a Juki and it does a great job. HRP

 

Good job Larry. Be prepared these machines weigh a ton especially with the clutch motors on them.

 

Go for it!
I There is a ton or great guys here that helped me when I dove in
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/upholstery-a-beginners-journy.755207/

Good luck

 

Larry K13 turned me on to a upholstery social group.
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/social-forums/upholstery.153/

Thanks,I intend to spend some time reading all the threads including the one you posted. HRP

 

I will be doing a lot of the same Danny.
Fun stuff.

 

Glad to help. It helped me a lot when I first started trying to do my own stuff. I would also suggest you search posts by gillgonzalez in the upholstery forum as he has a number of very informative tech threads from basic stitch types to tuck and roll and carpet binding.

 

Thanks a bunch Bubba! HRP

 

Me too. Thanks.

 

Sid Chavers in Santa Clara upholsters all of the Brizio cars. Nice guy, too.
Sid is noted for the 'Bop Top', the '32 roadster top that folds into the valance, and looks like a lift-off.
His newest invention is the California 'Hollywood' back window with chrome bezel...only it opens! (AMBR 2016 has one, so do a few others)

Sid offered (still does?) complete upholstery vids (now DVD) on how to make door panels, cover seats with Calif Head rest built in, kick panels, carpet cutting and binding...
I watched the door panel tape with my mother in law. Joyce was a seamstress for 60 years (!) and taught it in Home Economics in 3 high schools. She learned some 'tricks' she never knew.
(such as ending a stitch in the same hole you started with, after a perimeter seam)
Sid teaches clear plastic methods for locating blind holes, and many more lessons.
Sid Chavers, Santa Clara, CA. Look him up, and save yourself a lot of 'bogus experience' how-tos from the basement typers.

 

Sounds good Mike. HRP

 

You have probably seen this by now. Picture of the two parts making up the walking foot. This machine ( a Brother) also has a compound needle feed, the needle steps ahead with each stroke. The extra hardware behind the needle/foot is for feeding a binding. My machines previous life.


Canuck

 

This is a awesome thread. I am interested in learning to do upholstery work also. I have been looking at a Juki LU 563. What do you guys think? Is that a good machine to learn on?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Here is a pic of the sewing machine


Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

I have a Juki, I have been buying old leather jackets at the thrift store for $5 each, I rip the stitches out and practice sewing pleats in the back panel.

 

I third this, REALLY good thread. There was another one a few years back that was really good too, I will see if I can find it and add a link.

 

Hello, everyone talks about slowing the machine down , the best thing I did was disassemble the clutch and clean it and wipe the clutches with vaseline so you could engage them slowly .What a difference that makes .

 

The old clutch motor that came with my Juki 563 is a boat anchor.
I could not believe how bloody heavy the thing is.
1/3 HP.
The new Reliable Sew Quiet 6000SM servo motor is so much smaller and literally weighs almost nothing in comparison. And it's programmable and rated at 3/4 HP
I can't wait to install it and go to work.
New technology will make my machine much easier to use.

 

For those of us not skilled in sewing at gunfire speeds,its best to have really slow control. Just for fun I'll tell ya my first try at sewing; Started out using a industrial commercial for piece-meal ,a buddys Mom had it from back when she did that work an let me try it! So after cleaning it up an reading a old stained book on it. I get two strips of vinyl about a foot long each and carefully hand crank the first two stitchs in to both with the idea of making 2 into =1,at that point I slowly step on the sew go pedal=I hear a sonicboom an the two strips of vinyl disapear,take out the screen in the open window across the room an land outside. I go out to find said rocket vinyl strips,an see they are infact sewed together at some warptime sewing. After nearly 1 sec. of thinking about if I could of turned a corner when it was sewing them,I desided to return her commercial sewing machine. Just to let yu'all know how much fun it is,ya my old housewife Sears Kenmore is more my speed.

 

Thanks for the replies. The servo motor looks pretty simple to set up.
Dana that is a funny story.
So you guys think the Juki LU 563 will do everything I need?

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Yes it will.