Anyone use their wife's sewing machine for sail repair?

seadaddler · Dec 4, 2014

Canvas

I did get my wife to make a sunbrella cover for our companionway and
she used our light duty hone sewing machine and did a good job with
help from sailrite.
We have not tried to do any sail repair and leave that to the pro
for sail repair.
Nick

Chief RA · Dec 4, 2014

Nice discussion. I have sewn all my life dating back using a peddle machine while sewing for my Mom who had bad eyes and had trouble sewing. I am able to sew most all heavy duty materials on a standard machine but I do agree that sail material is a whole different ball game. A regular machine will have no problem with Sunbrella and a Bimini.
A guy told me one time that I could not possibly have developed such broad expertise in so many fields. He insinuated that I must be making some of it up. I stated: son, if you were as schooled as I, and if you had gone where I have gone, done the things that I have done, then, you don't need to make anything up! Chief

Ron20324 · Dec 4, 2014

Everyone is selling a machine stating what thiers can do on Sunbrella. You are talking SAILS. Centerline made a comment about thread, in that for a sail, you would not want a thread that can fit into MOST home machines- V69 and less. My Sailrite uses up to V92, and I wish i could go bigger (138)- but that means yet a bigger machine. Look at your sail and see how big the threads are.

centerline · Dec 4, 2014

Chief RA said:
A guy told me one time that I could not possibly have developed such broad expertise in so many fields. He insinuated that I must be making some of it up. I stated: son, if you were as schooled as I, and if you had gone where I have gone, done the things that I have done, then, you don't need to make anything up! Chief

im so familiar with that... after awhile we become immune to almost everyone around us as we continue learning while doing it our way.... while they continue to live in the vacuum that they call their life.

a person doesnt need to know everything about everything, but if they know a lot about a lot of things, they will get along just fine

Ron20324 · Dec 4, 2014

centerline said:
...a person doesnt need to know everything about everything, but if they know a lot about a lot of things, they will get along just fine

The most interesting man in the world. Stay thirsty, my friend.

Chief RA · Dec 4, 2014

centerline: very well said! Just justifies why you are in my small list of online friends! I always look forward to you and Jackdaw's assessments of my entrys! Later my friend, Chief

Keith13315 · Dec 4, 2014

Don't do it I did what f ing pain so I bought a Sailrite LZ1 best thing I ever did for my sails worked great I was able to get to The corners and quickly. Oh I had to get my wife's machine serviced. Now I am making a new dodger and Caribbean bag.

Chief RA · Dec 5, 2014

kito: Yes, but just for repairs and adding sail material on both sides to put in reefing grommets. Make one diamond slightly smaller and put it on first, go to other side and sew on larger one. That keeps you to 3 layers and it sewed through fine. Is that better?
Chief

Chief RA · Dec 5, 2014

kito: to add to this, I use baby powder on vinyl to make it move and sew easier on the machine. Sunbrella is a cake walk. I don't use wifes machine. I have my own that I got years ago at a garage sale for $15. Chief

deltaten · Dec 5, 2014

Last Winter, I used. the Commodore's home machine to re-stitch two jibsandtweak the main. The biggest project was to dis-assemble an old mainand resew it into a boom tent. Sewing thru up to five layers was a piece of cake. Going. thru moreincluding the flat-roped-hem edge was a bit trickier; but do-able. Getting thrun the reinforced corners was near impossible, due to the layers of nylon/plastic reinforce tabs.
I've produced sheet bags and insect screening as well. WhileIlongforaSail-Rite LZ machine, allbut the. moststubborn laminations may be sewn with a home machine. Like Chief says, plan the seams and laminations so less material will be. sewn thru.
Sew-Rite for seamingtape and thread and a lot of planningand patience will get ya. thru it

centerline · Dec 5, 2014

kito said:
I figured this thread would get off track of my original question...and I am guilty myself.

has anyone used a home duty Singer to do minor repair work on their sails without destroying it or the sail?

you have been here long enough to know everyone has an opinion that may not be exactly what we want to hear

its good the hear diverse opinions as it can create new ideas and thoughts on how to do something.

so if you are looking for a specific answer to a specific question, it may be better to ask the question spcifically without a lot of dialog surrounding it.

the question as posted seemed like a general question, and the title would lead one to believe you were wanting to know if a home style machine would work for your task.... and it was answered a few times before your bell finally rang (ding ding ding)

and you are right that the people who have the big bad machines think they are the absolute best and only way to do it, and even though i dont have one i wont always disagree, but a small well built home duty machine will get a person by for a long time, which has been proven beyond any doubt to me...
it doesnt make any difference if its a singer, sears, brother, pfaff, viking, husqvarna or some other reasonably long lasting machine, some are better than others and it would be an injustice to someone (you, in this case) who is looking to invest in a machine to do some canvas work and not give them all the information available that has been learned the hard way.. by experience.
and if you are only sewing thru three layers of sunbrella, even the simplest, most basic off brand will work, but with my experience, I can tell you now so you can be prepared, that you will never be able to finish any canvas project with any degree of satisfaction with only sewing thru three layers of sunbrella....it is next to impossible.
but sail repair is a bit different, where 2-3, or many more layers are common.

its after 5 and 6 layers where the more powerful machines really start to shine...

but its still your decision as to what machine you choose to work with and if your heart is set on a singer, then by all means, go for it!!!

Ron20324 · Dec 5, 2014

centerline said:
... that you will never be able to finish any canvas project with any degree of satisfaction with only sewing thru three layers of sunbrella....it is next to impossible.

Correct on that. A basic rectangle such as a boom tent, you'd hem one side, which should be three layers. You'd hem the other side for another three layers. Where they overlap in the corners, you'd have six. And that's a minimum for most projects. My Wards $100 home machine could do 8.

Tejas · Dec 5, 2014

Ron20324 said:
A basic rectangle such as a boom tent, you'd hem one side, which should be three layers. You'd hem the other side for another three layers. Where they overlap in the corners, you'd have six.

If the corners are mitered, you can get by with four layers. Although the link below is with light fabric, the technique will work on canvas.

http://piraterodgers.com/tutorials/miter-a-corner.pdf

FlightRisk1 · Dec 5, 2014

I hope you fellas with wives or girlfriends count yourselves lucky with respect to "borrowing" a sewing machine. My Ex Husband divorced me cuz I spent too much time and money on the boat!! Go figure. grumble, grumble...;-/

Bill Roosa · Dec 6, 2014

I use a huskvarna (wife's) sewing for the new bimini, main sail cover, winch covers, and that includes sewing through the plastic window material for the bimini curtains. Works great once you get the thread tension adjusted correctly.
For minor (less than 5 feet of sewing) sail repair you are not going to need a machine. Just use a needle and sewing palm. If you are repairing the high stress parts (lots of layers) or in the middle of the sail (lots of edge material to get through the neck of the machine) your better off doing it by hand. May not even have to take the sail off.

Bob 04 H260 · Dec 7, 2014

I've owned and used a number of sewing machines. I found a small home machine works for a lot of projects if the machine is well made and has all steel gears. I was able to make new seat overs, repair tents and so. As the projects progressed I bought an old industrial Singer machine. Basic straight stitch but had a large table and huge motor. I got frustrated retuning it as I changed thread, needles, fabric. It would at times drop stitches.

I find I often incorporate a piece of 1" webbing inside a seam on Sunbrella projects, especially if they will have snaps or grommets installed. The webbing on the clew of a mainsail needs a heavy machine to sew through two layers of webbing and maybe 8 layers of sailcloth. It could be done by hand, maybe using a handy stitcher, but a lot of work and time. I decided I needed a better machine.

A couple of years ago I bought the Sailrite zigzag machine. I'm very pleased with it. If I had to do it all over again I would have bought it to begin with. I would have had more use out of it, been less frustrated, turned out stronger projects. I keep it on the boat on a cruise. It can pay for itself with a few sail repairs and some projects around the boat.

Bob

Anyone use their wife's sewing machine for sail repair?

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Attachments

.