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Moderated by EleanorSews
Posted on: 10/14/21 2:20 PM ET
Hello!
New here!
I have a domestic sewing machine Toyota SuperJeans (so called "Heavy Duty"). I am trying to sew a PVC patch to a polyester webbing, but the machine just refuses to cooperate.Thickness of the patch is 1mm, webbing is twice 1.3mm, so it is 3.6mm in total.
Needle is 100/16. Tried different threads nylon and polyester.
The main issue happens at the bottom of the webbing. Bottom thread gets constantly tangled, please have a look at the photo.
Could you please give advice, why is this happening and how can it be resolved? Machine is working fine when sewing just webbing without the PVC patch, but I need to sew the patch somehow...
Thank you!

New here!
I have a domestic sewing machine Toyota SuperJeans (so called "Heavy Duty"). I am trying to sew a PVC patch to a polyester webbing, but the machine just refuses to cooperate.Thickness of the patch is 1mm, webbing is twice 1.3mm, so it is 3.6mm in total.
Needle is 100/16. Tried different threads nylon and polyester.
The main issue happens at the bottom of the webbing. Bottom thread gets constantly tangled, please have a look at the photo.
Could you please give advice, why is this happening and how can it be resolved? Machine is working fine when sewing just webbing without the PVC patch, but I need to sew the patch somehow...
Thank you!

Posted on: 10/14/21 3:04 PM ET
In reply to seventysix
That looks like a rough thing to do to your machine.
Consider adhering the patch to velcro and stitching velcro to the webbing.
Or, adhering a 'receiver' fabric, material or substance to the webbing so the patch can be glued to that.
Or, stitching the patch to fabric that can be formed into a band to slip around the webbing.
If it is a one time thing you could try stabilizer and keeping the needle very clean but don't know if that would work - it's asking a lot of the machine.
I've done very well at finding odd adhesion solutions at the automotive supply store. A product that I have not tried but would be worth checking into would be Sugru.
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Consider adhering the patch to velcro and stitching velcro to the webbing.
Or, adhering a 'receiver' fabric, material or substance to the webbing so the patch can be glued to that.
Or, stitching the patch to fabric that can be formed into a band to slip around the webbing.
If it is a one time thing you could try stabilizer and keeping the needle very clean but don't know if that would work - it's asking a lot of the machine.
I've done very well at finding odd adhesion solutions at the automotive supply store. A product that I have not tried but would be worth checking into would be Sugru.
------
Each fallen petal reveals a life pollinated by a colony
and nurtured by The Master Gardener.
and nurtured by The Master Gardener.
Posted on: 10/14/21 3:08 PM ET
The PVC elements I've attached to costumes have holes in them to allow for sewing. I would advise taking an awl or a small nail and carefully boring/punching tiny holes in strategic places on the patch, and then hand-sewing them to the webbing. They don't really need to be sewn down all the way round.
Alternately, glue may be your best bet her.
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Alternately, glue may be your best bet her.
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~Elizabeth in the prairie
More Plans than Sense
PR's Most Relentless Babbler 2024
More Plans than Sense
PR's Most Relentless Babbler 2024
Posted on: 10/14/21 3:52 PM ET
There's nothing wrong with your machine, but you're asking it to do more than it was designed to do. 'Heavy Duty' doesn't mean it has the capabilities of an industrial machine; even though the needle can pierce the materials you have that's not the whole story of a stitch. (Do you have a copy of this book? https://www.amazon.com/Sewing-Machine-Reference-Tool-Troubleshooting/dp/1644030004 It's a great reference and explains how stitches are formed.)
I agree with the other posters here that it would be a good idea if you can try to attach the patches another way.
If you really need to do it this way, you might, and I mean might, get away with it by setting your stitch length for as long as it can go, sewing very, VERY slowly, and 'walking' the handwheel around the curved areas. But focus on the word 'might' here . . . 'will' is not too likely!
Edited to add:
Zip on over to this thread, here on PR:
Troubleshooting: why does a thread from top end up with bobbin thread?, where kayl has just posted a nifty reply, including a little graphic video of a stitch being formed that will help you visualize what's going on.
-- Edited on 10/14/21 at 3:59 PM ET --
I agree with the other posters here that it would be a good idea if you can try to attach the patches another way.
If you really need to do it this way, you might, and I mean might, get away with it by setting your stitch length for as long as it can go, sewing very, VERY slowly, and 'walking' the handwheel around the curved areas. But focus on the word 'might' here . . . 'will' is not too likely!

Edited to add:
Zip on over to this thread, here on PR:
Troubleshooting: why does a thread from top end up with bobbin thread?, where kayl has just posted a nifty reply, including a little graphic video of a stitch being formed that will help you visualize what's going on.
-- Edited on 10/14/21 at 3:59 PM ET --
Posted on: 10/14/21 4:16 PM ET
In reply to seventysix
My solution for sewing heavy webbing is to take it to someone who has a proper industrial machine that is made for such work and pay him/her for the job. It keeps my temper well in check, the thread they have is heavier and stronger, and the prices I've been charged have been minimal. Especially minimal if I don't care about thread color.
Auto or boat upholstery and regular furniture upholstery shops, and shoe repair shops are my usual places to hunt for someone to do this.
What those loops are are top thread that is not properly tightened to form the lockstitch. There are a couple of potential causes I can think of off the top of my head, not really fixable on a home machine:
1. The work is so thick that the foot can't sit close enough to the needleplate, so the upper tension disks don't close, so there's no tension on the upper thread. This cannot be fixed by tightening the tension.
2. The thread is too heavy for the size of the needle, and it's getting dragged on by the eye of the needle or the fabric. Silicone thread lubricant can help minor, minor instances of this, but usually that doesn't work either. The heaviest thread most home sewing machines will run is Tex 70 or v69 upholstery nylon. Generally you'll want a size 18/120 needle for threads that thick, and a lot of home machines can't handle a needle that big.
Auto or boat upholstery and regular furniture upholstery shops, and shoe repair shops are my usual places to hunt for someone to do this.
What those loops are are top thread that is not properly tightened to form the lockstitch. There are a couple of potential causes I can think of off the top of my head, not really fixable on a home machine:
1. The work is so thick that the foot can't sit close enough to the needleplate, so the upper tension disks don't close, so there's no tension on the upper thread. This cannot be fixed by tightening the tension.
2. The thread is too heavy for the size of the needle, and it's getting dragged on by the eye of the needle or the fabric. Silicone thread lubricant can help minor, minor instances of this, but usually that doesn't work either. The heaviest thread most home sewing machines will run is Tex 70 or v69 upholstery nylon. Generally you'll want a size 18/120 needle for threads that thick, and a lot of home machines can't handle a needle that big.
Posted on: 10/14/21 5:42 PM ET
That is too thick, even though you got a jig propping it up on the other side of it. It's tall enough, that you got no top tension sometimes, so the top thread gets pulled to the underside in a big mess. If you have to do a lot, the answer is a better machine and yes it probably would be more like a real made for upholstery one, in a big table and with a motor under that table.
If you just got to do only one or two for yourself (my guess is that is not the case though), I think maybe you could sew through just that piece of plastic, (all by it's self) with the longest stitch length, and no thread and even maybe with just turning the fly wheel by hand. To put equal spaced needle holes in it. And then go back maybe with an awl by hand, or even with a large hand needle, a pair of pliers and a block of wood. And in a second step, use those to sew the piece of plastic to that webbing by hand instead, possibly.
The other thing you possibly could try, if you really don't care about that machine at all, and don't want to use it for anything else, and have others, is to actually break and disassemble your top thread tension device there, by maybe removing the pin in the back of it, so it would be clamped closed all the time- no matter what, the pin that makes it release the top tension when the pressure foot gets raised up. If it works that way. for just that, It might work for that one thing for a while. If so, then it might allow you do to that, without loosing the top thread tension like that for a while, but probably not for forever as something else would probably break or wear out on the machine eventual. Maybe sooner than later- I don't know.
-- Edited on 10/14/21 at 5:49 PM ET --
If you just got to do only one or two for yourself (my guess is that is not the case though), I think maybe you could sew through just that piece of plastic, (all by it's self) with the longest stitch length, and no thread and even maybe with just turning the fly wheel by hand. To put equal spaced needle holes in it. And then go back maybe with an awl by hand, or even with a large hand needle, a pair of pliers and a block of wood. And in a second step, use those to sew the piece of plastic to that webbing by hand instead, possibly.
The other thing you possibly could try, if you really don't care about that machine at all, and don't want to use it for anything else, and have others, is to actually break and disassemble your top thread tension device there, by maybe removing the pin in the back of it, so it would be clamped closed all the time- no matter what, the pin that makes it release the top tension when the pressure foot gets raised up. If it works that way. for just that, It might work for that one thing for a while. If so, then it might allow you do to that, without loosing the top thread tension like that for a while, but probably not for forever as something else would probably break or wear out on the machine eventual. Maybe sooner than later- I don't know.
-- Edited on 10/14/21 at 5:49 PM ET --
Posted on: 10/15/21 9:58 AM ET
Hello!
Thank you a lot for the answers, didn't expect to receive so many informative advices. I am already giving a try, so I will get back sooner or later with the results OR more questions! With Regards
Thank you a lot for the answers, didn't expect to receive so many informative advices. I am already giving a try, so I will get back sooner or later with the results OR more questions! With Regards
Posted on: 10/15/21 3:52 PM ET
Maybe you can sew the connector onto there in a different way? And not through two layers of the webbing. That would make it less tall. As a work around. As in sew the connector on there into only one layer of webbing, while leaving enough webbing length past it to turn that under later. Then turn that under and stitch horizontal across the turned webbing above top of the PVC but not into that PVC and far enough away from it on the top that the pressure foot is only next to the PVC but not ridding on it at all. And then on the just the folded webbing at the bottom curve on the PVC shape, just stitch a single line of vertical stitching from the fold a tiny bit upwards and as close as you could get to that curve. If that would hold it on good enough? That might be better for that machine to handle, if it worked for your purpose.
Posted on: 10/16/21 10:19 AM ET
Hello!
Thank you a lot for the answers, didn't expect to receive so many informative advices. I am already giving a try, so I will get back sooner or later with the results OR more questions! With Regards
Thank you a lot for the answers, didn't expect to receive so many informative advices. I am already giving a try, so I will get back sooner or later with the results OR more questions! With Regards
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