Comments on: Needle feed sewing machines

By: Fashion Incubator » Beginner’s guide to sewing with industrial machines

Fashion Incubator » Beginner’s guide to sewing with industrial machines — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 22:33:42 +0000

[...] the dogs and the needle itself. This is useful when feeding tricky materials. I wrote about this before in much more detail. That entry includes a video so you can compare the needle action. If you could only afford to get [...]

By: aminesay

aminesay — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 14:29:09 +0000

We use needle feed machines in heavy fabrics (jeans) in operation like waistband corner (where the needle has to go through 4 layers). It helps alot!

By the way all 2 needle machines are Needle feed machines.

By: Brina

Brina — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 18:02:53 +0000

[I meant to post this some time ago, and as I'm trying to entertain myself while recouping from sinus infection...]
Perhaps a bit OT. When I used to sew B’way costumes for a living we used a velvet foot to sewing napped fabrics–which is shaped like a V if you look at it from the front. It basically just puts pressure on a thin area around the needle so that the velvet is not crushed or pushed to crawl–of course it does make a difference whether you are trying to sew with or against the nap. Anyway here’s an example of a velvet foot
http://www.corporatedepot.com/cgi-bin/cart/cart.pl?db=stuff.sewing-machine.dat&category=VELVET FEET
As you can see these are not the same as a zipper/piping foot that apparent some vendors sell to sew velvet. And the images don’t really show the V. I found I could get pretty good control with these feet, even on a conventional feeding machine. A co-worker used to call it the pickle foot because it kinda looks like a pickle fork–at least the long toe.

By: Kathleen

Kathleen — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 20:10:47 +0000

Hi Lucy, I’m sure there is a price difference btwn a regular straight stitch vs the needle feed (all other things remaining the same) but I wouldn’t imagine it would be dramatic. I think the list of this model is $3,200 (?). A lot of online vendors (good dealers) were selling it for $2,900. I think I paid $2,650 (from Orange County industrial sewing) plus shipping. I could look it up but I’m too lazy right now. [DH is setting up to shoot some videos here and I'm just killing time till he's ready for me].

Machines, even new, are incredibly cheap these days. Not to say everybody has two or three thousand dollars sitting in their lingerie drawer that they can plunk down on one of these things at a moment’s notice, but technology has improved so much, lowering costs dramatically. For example, the first pocket welting machines were these big station set-ups, they cost $25,000 and this was $25,000, 20 years ago. That’d be, what, $35,000 in today’s dollars? But we saw a great pocket welting machine at SPESA in 2007 that I think was $6,500. And this was a Pfaff, an excellent machine, made in Germany, not a China price. And used machines? They’re so cheap you can practically get them free if you know where to look. I have two, maybe three you can have if you come pick them up. Needle-feeding machines isn’t new technology, see about getting a good used brand if a new one is out of your budget. Try Miami Sewing.

By: lucy

lucy — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 19:31:05 +0000

Is there a price difference? If you have a ballpark price for needle-feeds, that would be helpful. Sounds like a great machine that we may want to purchase at some point.

Thanks!

By: LisaB

LisaB — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 00:09:36 +0000

Something made me wonder why one wouldn’t simply purchase a needle-feed instead of a regular feed. Is it getting the machine fine-tuned for a particular fabric and not wanting to change those settings for every fabric you work with? Is it cost? Possible maintenance issues? Since they handle difficult fabrics so well, why not bypass buying a regular feed and go straight to the specialty machine? Just wondering…

By: LisaB

LisaB — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 19:51:51 +0000

Thanks for the demo of your new machine. It was fascinating to see the needle action. I also enjoyed hearing your voices!

By: Sandra B

Sandra B — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 16:34:09 +0000

Thanks for the great description of clutch vs servo motors. I have a servo, but didn’t realise what the difference was, other than noise. I like the auto cut, but mine doesn’t start very cleanly afterwards. Hmm, must get it looked at.
On another note, one of the funniest things I’ve seen while teaching sewing was the eight year old girl who appeared to be having a fit of some kind. I was alarmed until I realised she was just keeping her eye on the needle as she sewed … and it was doing a zigzag. I wonder how she’d go on a needle-feed machine?

By: sfriedberg

sfriedberg — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 04:59:56 +0000

Dave K, the mechanical difference between needle feed and bottom/drop feed (the “usual”) machines is fairly modest. A mechanic would probably have to do only one or two additional adjustments for a needle feed machine. I would say the difference in mechanical reliability and maintenance is minimal. But the difference in stitching reliability is considerable when dealing with slippery fabric!

Neither of the machines in the video is capable of doing any zig-zag. Straight stitching only. There are a very few industrial zig-zag machines with needle feed and/or walking foot, but most industrial zig-zags are drop feed.

By: Mary

Mary — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 16:17:46 +0000

The athletic knit mesh fabric is AirKnit, though I don’t know if this is a tradename or if it is a fabric name.