Another one...Upholstery

[GT1000000]

Re: Another one...Upholstery

As the saying goes..." Good things to good folk..."

 

[sphelps]

Re: Another one...Upholstery

Congratulations JDA ! Hoping all good thing for you and your new business !

 

[Bamaman1]

Re: Another one...Upholstery

Judge: My wife and I went to night upholstery school when we were too cheap to pay someone $1K each to upholster a couple of couches. We've used our skills many times over the years.

I assume you moved south of Cherokee Village to a visible commercial location. Upholstery is often not difficult, but it is hard work. When removing upholstery covers from furniture, I sometimes think that some guy had a machine gun staple gun. That's when you find some neighborhood kid to use diagonal pliers to remove the hundreds and hundreds of staples on a piece of furniture.

I used to travel NE Arkansas working and remember when a flood rolled all of Cherokee Village Golf Course tractors and mowers in a 30' pile 300 yards from their garage. Cherokee Village is a great retirement community, and it's just far enough away from major cities. I think most people would be thrilled to live in a place with two great 18 hole golf courses. But, it's the people that live in the region that I always enjoyed. Don't tell anyone about this place, as it's a secret.

Congratulations on your new business.

 

[JDA1975]

Re: Another one...Upholstery

Yes, I moved to Ash Flat, a few miles from CV, but my shop is on the main highway and gets a lot of traffic, location is perfect I think....I have had a couple people ask about couches and I have told them upfront that unless the couch just has some sort of sentimental value, it would be cheaper to buy a new one....the labor and material costs are more than the cheap stuff they sell now days. I have a staple puller, once ya get used to the tool you can pull staples as fast as you look at them....but I still let my help do that.

 

[JStrom]

Re: Another one...Upholstery

Singer 503A Slant-O-Matic

​

Manufactured: 1961, Anderson, South Carolina
Serial Number: NC651857
Needle: Standard 15x1
Bobbins: Singer Class 66
Mechanism type: Rotary round bobbin
Feed: can be lowered (throat plate is raised)
Feet: slant shank

It uses a Class66 Bobbin and some of the old timers called em a Slant 66
This PDF File on sewing upholstery with a Home Sewing machine might be of interest...

(Double Click to open PDF)

View attachment 144690

Exact same Singer my dad had when I was younger (born in 64 and of all places, South Carolina).

 

[JDA1975]

Re: Another one...Upholstery

Gazing into my crystal Ball






I see in Your Future...

He is psychic I guess...I just ordered this machine....too much money, but worth it I think!

 

[sphelps]

Re: Another one...Upholstery

I don't know much about sewing machines but that one sure looks like it'll sew a seat or two !

 

[JDA1975]

Re: Another one...Upholstery

yeah, the one I WANT is the 30 inch version of this (4700 bucks) but this is the one I NEEDED, so went with it, 1500 with all the extra presser feet, and a few hundred needles etc....one day I will get the long arm machine, but for now I cant wait to let the wife have my old singer to use lol

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: Another one...Upholstery

12 months ago I dont think youd have ever said let the wife use MY singer

 

[JDA1975]

Re: Another one...Upholstery

lol, I still don't want her to use it really....but she has been having to hand sew her projects because it takes so long to get your tensions dialed in perfectly, that for her to try and swap to a light-weight thread would throw my tensions into turmoil...once I have the new machine set up, I will let her use the singer, I will never get rid of the singer (need something to fill the hole I cut in my 900 dollar desk!) because it is like some people keep their first dollar made...this is the machine that started it all for me and its unique appearance is a conversation piece!

 

[afarrens]

Re: Another one...Upholstery

I am so jealous I can't do fabric work...this looks amazing. Nice work

 

[JDA1975]

Re: Another one...Upholstery

I am so jealous I can't do fabric work...this looks amazing. Nice work

Have you had a chance to try....I did not think I could until I read some threads here, mjdflores, woodonglass, and andgott have great threads that enspired me to try my own and got me started down this path of upholstery for others...you can find a good used machine for a decent price, practice on scraps and watch some of the great videos and howtos and just give it a try! worse case you decide you were right and you take the vinyl you have left over to an upholsterer to finish it!

 

[sphelps]

Re: Another one...Upholstery

Hey JDA , this is the machine I will be using on my seats . Wood said I need to give it a good cleaning . What are the area's I should be cleaning? Any particular things ?

Hope you don't mind a small hijack..

 

[JDA1975]

Re: Another one...Upholstery

you need to open her up, remove any lint/dirt, then grease the metal gears and oil the moving parts...personally I just take it to a sewing repair place to have mine serviced because I am lazy! nah, I would just rather have a professional service my machine, like a car, its worth having it done, so if there's any small problems (timing etc) he will catch and tune it, adjust your tensions, so be sure to take him the thread, needles, and piece of material you will be sewing with. my guy charges me 30 bucks to service it

 

[sphelps]

Re: Another one...Upholstery

Thanks that sounds like a good plan getting a repair shop to go over it good. My 82 yr old mother has had this machine for years and she never used it. She has newer machines that she uses for making drapes and wedding gowns and such for a few dollars now and then. I know her expertise will come in handy on the seats..

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: Another one...Upholstery

For an older singer machine, like the Rocket, it was $45 to have it cleaned, tuned & adjusted here. I called 2 different shops @ 20min apart, and the both recommended the same local guy It would be well worth the $ the 1st time, maybe every so often.

 

[afarrens]

Re: Another one...Upholstery

Have you had a chance to try....I did not think I could until I read some threads here, mjdflores, woodonglass, and andgott have great threads that enspired me to try my own and got me started down this path of upholstery for others...you can find a good used machine for a decent price, practice on scraps and watch some of the great videos and howtos and just give it a try! worse case you decide you were right and you take the vinyl you have left over to an upholsterer to finish it!

Its funny, i have no prior experience with fiberglass and not that handy with a saw but that does not scare me nearly as much as a sewing machine! maybe someday i'll give that a try...not enough room in the garage for all my tools!

 

[JDA1975]

Re: Another one...Upholstery

Got my cutting/sewing table built today...its 6' Wide X 16' Long has a roll holder on one end, and a cut out for my sewing table to insert into on the other end.

Roll hangers

V Groove routed into table to guide my electric cutters and keep the line square

Still a mess but getting there...this should make things a lot more efficient

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: Another one...Upholstery

Carp, I officially have sewing room envy:facepalm:

Looks great, hope it sees tons of action

I just noted your join date...... Certainly been an interesting journey in just a year

Happy 1st of many!

 

[JDA1975]

Re: Another one...Upholstery

Carp, I officially have sewing room envy:facepalm:

Looks great, hope it sees tons of action

I just noted your join date...... Certainly been an interesting journey in just a year

Happy 1st of many!

Definitely not where I expected to be a year ago, when i purchased the skeeter and decided to try my hand at a new hobby....wish I could find the time and extra money to get back to work on the skeeter, but figure it will be another year before I have all my major investments into the business covered and can start work on it again...time will tell!