Upholstering with regular sewing machine

I have a singer sewing machine from the 50s or 60s that i bought from a garage sale and i am wondering if it is possible to upholster my interior with it. do i need a different needle, thread, etc.?

 

probably gonna be way too wimpy to do upholstery. I remember when I was a kid my mom was into sewing, she could never fix the holes in our blue jeans with her old singer, she had to iron on patches instead.

Upholstery machines are big and powerful, and kind of pricy

 

that little singer is not going to get it done, no way, no how...........

 

yeah kinda what i thought... maybe look for a comercial size sewing machine or something. i probably will try on the singer, it cant hurt...

 

i bought one for 5.00 and took it home investigated it and everything inside this old machine was metal.. so figure if i go slow etc should work for my needs.. well i did get one motorcycle seat out of it.. never tried it again.. as it did what i wanted.

i doubt they had made sewing machines with anything but plastic gears for last 20 years in every day sewing machines.

chris.

 

i would bet the real issue other then strength is the length of the arm

 

Commercial machines of various makes are regularly available at estate sales and check with your local sewing machine repair shop as well. I bought an old Singer commercial with table and motor for $250 just a while abck at an estate sale.

 

Ok lots of upholstery job were done on those "old" machines when they were a bit newer.Like everything else it depends on what machine you have,My wife has a Singer here right now made in November of 1941 she has sewn buffalo hide knife and gun sheaths for me on !My brother in laws upholstery in his T bucket was sewn on a similar machine back in 1964.I'd start by getting a "cleaning tune up" Done at a reputable repair shop,Fabric shops often offer this service around here (N.E. Ct.) this service runs around 40$ Singer also has a very good Archive on their machines for manuals parts etc. PM me and I can get Mary to help you find that info.If your machine has an electric motor on it be sure to check the voltage it runs on they offered several different motors and voltages including DC for use with Wind generators, Mary's owners manual lists 4 different motors for her model.

 

I recently bought an older singer at a garage sale for 50 bucks. The guy selling it was a retired Singer dealer and repairman. He told me it probably wouldn't do it, but I have sewn patches onto my leather vest, even sewn leather to leather with it.....slowly, I don't force it to work very hard or fast. I have no doubt that it'd work with lighter vinyl to do door panels and stuff like that, but sewing heavy vinyl together including piping may not work, so the actual seat covers either have to be very simple, or done on a different machine.

You could probably do the pleats with the smaller machine and have the covers sewn together by someone with an actual upholstry machine....

 

I think upholstery would look better than an old sewing machine

 

The onething to consider is s***ch-length. I do it for a living. Had a industrial machine when I first started that had a s***ch length of 5 s***ches per inch. When sewing threw a layer of vinyl with half inch thick foam when sewing pleats, it was making to many holes in the vinyl thus more apt to tear in the future. So I stopped in the middle of the job and went and traded for a machine that would sew 4 s***ches per inch. The more layers you sew threw the smaller the s***ch length becomes.

 

As far as thread goes, I use Nylon. I can take a piece of thread with both hands and pull. It should not break. You have to try this on older spools of nylon thread also. It will rot and go bad. If this happens, do not use it. Just imagine trying to stretch a cover over your seat and the thread starts to break.

 

ok, how many s***ches per inch do most old machines do?

 

Not worth trying you'll do a **** job with it especially on pipings and build ups

+ you need different needles for leather work

as many as you want them to , my singer 45k ( must be pre war) does anything from 10+ to 3-4

 

join this gang if you really want to do it your self. www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/group.php?groupid=174

 

50s-60s Singers could function very well, did my own upholstry with a 410 & 500 Singers from the mid50s, needle chewing trough 4 layers of vinyl and other places also 1,5 inch of pleated material together.
Point is that theese machines got no plastic parts in the line who breaks, if to tuff, only the needle cracks. newer ones have a lot of plastic to get stripped, and the older "engraved" hometype ones are yes not to strong, engine would hesitate.....

 

My aunt did my Fairlane seats with an older sewing machine similar in power to an old Singer. They turned out great. Upholstery thread too.

 

You can go here - http://www.singerco.com/support/machine-serial-numbers - to find out which model machine you have and when it was built as Singer did make industrial machines.

 

You might also try your local Craigslist.

 

Its better to use a a triangeled/diamond shaped leather needle, because then it wont be so easy to rip a hole in the seam. Use a strong thread, then it wont rip easy, but stay away from the "kevlars"... strong is okay, but some stretch is better.

 

Gees, some of you guys are so negative!!! The OP already has the machine..He should get some matereial, mock up what he wants to do and try it!!! So [pun] the **** if it goes to hell ten years down the road, he can do it again better!! I sewed two layers of naugahyde plus piping with my mom's pedal run singer!! She was afraid I'd break her new electric...

 

try it will always be the best answer!

agreed seb fontana

 

thanks everyone for the tips, i am going to try it next week with some samples and if everything goes well, then i will start on the seats. i will post some pictures if i get to the seat.

 

Good Luck... My Adler industrial machine will easily sew through 12 layers of denim. The biggest difference with an industrial and home unit is the industrial has walking feet. With walking feet the material is pulled through and all you have to do is guide it. With a home machine you have to push and guide. This makes it much harder to sew straight lines.

 

any tips on what size needle? thread?

 

My mother did the seats for my 57 Chev back in 69 with an Idle Hour machine. She sewed a lot of upholstery on that household machine.

One of the upholstery shops in town had a treadle Singer that they put an electric motor on.

About 6 years ago, a guy we buy tires from was trying to get rid of three machines that his wife used to sew upholstery and leather. He couldn't find anybody interested so he hauled them in for s**** metal.

 

I use 8oz nylon thread. For needles I use sizes 16 up to 21, but thats on an industrial machine. I have used the 8oz thread on a home machine.

 

The problem with these machines is the s***ch can not be set wider. They have a tendency to perforate too close and weaken the material. Especially vinyl. Retired upholster of 40 years.

 

I don't know a lot about this. But what I do know was learned from being around people who do upholstery. You need the right kind of s***ch for the material and the job. Different machines are designed to make different types of s***ches, so you need the right machine for the job.

Speed aside, other issues already mentioned are the strength and power of the machine and the length of s***ch.

 

i bought a yard of brown vinyl from joanns and started doing some practice runs. i found another machine online a little older than the singer, its a white. it goes through four layers of the vinyl that i bought so i think that it will be able to do the s***ching, but i am afraid that the opening is too small for doing seats. i am going to do some pleating and stuff for the doors, kick panels, etc. and i think it will work for that. I propably will attempt the seats eventually. anyone have a falcon or any 60's ford with custom interior that i can get some ideas from?