Sewing Show & Tell....Thread

Cool,
I'll try and put together at least a little something soon, to help start.

Are you going to sew it? If so what kinda machine etc...

 

I have no idea. My moms got an old machine I might be able to use. If not then I dunno haha. I almost want to pick up a sewing machine. Any good but cheap recommendations?

 

I'm not to up on what you may be looking for on that type machine..

But my main concern would be it's ability to sew thru heavier type and thicker material and properly lock the stitching, plus the type thread it's able to sew with etc... That's kinda what you get into if you start doing heavier stuff.

I'm wondering if this may be a case where not sewing but using a good adhesive may work better, to put the velcro on.. The reason I say that is, you wouldn't have any holes in the best top material.. Maybe it wouldn't matter to you I don't know.

But It'd be better to see a pic of what exactly you're thinking about.

 

Browse craigslist. You can find a singer 15-91 for pretty cheap. My mom found mine for $15.

Otherwise you can get a new machine for ~$100-$150 but it probably won't last long if you are working with heavy fabrics. The "heavy duty" singer I bought died in a few months.

 

Yeah those machines are mainly for doing light material, like curtains, pillows, etc..

But yeah, craigslist always has machines.


You must've been three sheets to wind last night

 

I don't plan on doing much heavy material. So the adhesive might work. The fabric it'd be attached to is the same material a jeep soft top is made of if you're familiar with. I'd only be putting on a few strips of Velcro. Maybe 16 strips at most. 4 per window possibly. Idk yet

 

If there's a spot anywhere you don't see good, you may want to consider doing a small test area with some adhesive and the velcro..
Some high end velcro has really good sticky back, but I don't think long term it'd be best, if you were to take the screen on and off, plus exposure to heat etc..

 

Hmm. Maybe I could leave it on permanently, with the exception of when I take the topper off. I can't see anyway out the back so keeping the Velcro on wouldn't be the worst. Then I can just pop the windows off

 

Here's what I said last time a certain someone asked lol. I'll have to defer to Babytaco to say how well it works, from youtube it looks good.

I agree with guerrilla there too, if you at all plan on taking it on/off pretty much ever you'll want to sew it, I don't suspect the adhesive would work well on netting.

 

I'd sew the Velcro to the screen as that wouldn't be the issue. But possibly glue the other part of the Velcro to the soft topper itself. I'd like to get a machine but shouldn't right now. Got too much other stuff to pay off.

 

Ohhh sure sure. Idk if it's an attractive option to you, but I used to hand sew a lot of stuff, not huge long seams or anything, but ghilliesuits and webbing. I only really ever used tack/basting stitches and my stuff held up decently enough. Adhesive velcro is kinda a double edged sword if you're going to sew it, it's nice cause it effectively bastes it and keeps it in place, but the needle can get coated in adhesive and cause issues.

 

Going back to my patch issue and headliner.... maybe I can do that by glue trick, but order some of the non hook side Velcro, do the glue and pins on that, attach that to the headliner and then patches go on top of that...

 

The first seam is done! Spent a good chunk of today relaxing as I went shed hunting yesterday (unsuccessfully). Then started practicing flat felled seams on the extra fabric. Decided to up my seam allowance from .5 to .75 as it was difficult to roll the extra fabric. Almost wishing I just did 1" now. I found that using the iron on low heat works great for prepping the flat felled for sewing. Going to eat some pizza and then slowly start ironing out the rest.

I will say this. Silpoly is wayyyyy easier to sew than silnylon. Hoping it works well for the tent, if it does I won't be getting silnylon unless I need it to stretch.

 

Pretty dang happy with the first flat felled seam. They take a while but it wasn't nearly as painful as I thought. I could see how someone would enjoy doing this for a job.

Hoping to get the other sides completed tomorrow and maybe start putting them together. We will see.

 

You tried that with a double needle?

 

Nope, not sure I can do that with my machine or get this fabric to behave for it.

I am using this method, which seems common in the backpacking world.

 

Yeah doesn't look like it's possible with that technique.

 

You're putting way more effort in than I did on my shelter lol. I just wing my flat felled using that method I showed earlier. But at least with that method it's 1 solid piece that needs to be sewn flat, not 2 separate diffferently sized pieces that need to be effectively hemmed.

 

Yeah, it's been more work than I had thought but the quality of the flat felled seam is exactly where I want it.

I already know this pyramid shelter will have flaws. Once this is complete I plan on ordering new material and restarting. This one will be getting sold. I am hoping the craftsmanship overpowers the design flaws.

Not to say your flatfelled seam is bad, it's just easy to get a "perfect" seam every time this way.

Pinned the other three sides this morning and stitching them together tonight. Hopefully the zipper is easy to work with.

 

What weight fabric are you trying again? I've always found zippers to be easier to deal with, the teeth let it go on auto-pilot mode. And you can use the zipper to make a hemmed edge on the outside. Are you gonna try and make a sort of storm flap kind of thing to keep water from coming through the zipper?