Topic

Sailright Ultrafeed vs home sewing machine for Bilgy Tent


Forum Posting

A Membership is required to post in the forums. Login or become a member to post in the member forums!

Home Forums Gear Forums Make Your Own Gear Sailright Ultrafeed vs home sewing machine for Bilgy Tent

Viewing 12 posts - 1 through 12 (of 12 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #1300611
    Jake D
    BPL Member

    @jakedatc

    Locale: Bristol,RI

    My girlfriend is sewing us a Bilgy tent and has a question for the sewing guru's

    I bought a bilgy kit from quest outfitters and would really like to start work on it while I have this week off. I am trying to figure out how to use my mother’s sailrite ultrafeed, but am struggling with adjusting the tension properly. I also have a home sewing machine from the 90s that belonged to my grandmother. I used it to make a kite from rip stop a few weeks ago and it did okay and is generally an easy to use machine. Is it worth wrestling with the sail rite so I can use the true walking foot, or should I use the home machine and possibly get a Teflon, roller, or walking foot for it.

    #1967113
    Roger Caffin
    BPL Member

    @rcaffin

    Locale: Wollemi & Kosciusko NPs, Europe

    Don't know the Sailrite.
    But a domestic machine WITH a roller foot should do fine.

    Cheers

    #1967310
    Michael Pappas
    Member

    @mpap89

    Locale: bay area

    in my experience, sewing lightweight fabrics is more trouble than it's worth with the sailrite. I too had trouble getting the tension right for silNylon.

    #1967327
    Roger Caffin
    BPL Member

    @rcaffin

    Locale: Wollemi & Kosciusko NPs, Europe

    I looked the Sailrite ultrafeed up on their web site.
    From all I could read, I don't think this is the right machine for silnylon. 12 oz Duck, sure. 4 layers of solid nylon webbing, equally.

    Cheers

    #1972254
    Ryan K
    Spectator

    @thesergeant

    Locale: Ryan

    I own a Sailrite Ultrafeed LSZ-1 and a couple home sewing machines. Without a doubt go with a home machine for sil. I'm becoming less and less of a fan of my Sailrite and it certainly isn't the best tool for sil, ripstop, or even 500d/1000d cordura.

    #1972297
    Backpack Jack
    BPL Member

    @jumpbackjack

    Locale: Armpit of California

    I'm also looking for a nice home machine that will do Silnylon, I've been looking at the Janome HD 1000 and the Juki TL98Q. Does anybody have any thoughts on these machines? I like the Janome a little more because of the zigzag feature, but the Juki also has some great features, but it's only a straight stitch.

    Jack

    #1972301
    Jerry Adams
    BPL Member

    @retiredjerry

    Locale: Oregon and Washington

    I have a Janome that isn't made any more. I have used it a lot without any problems. I have never serviced it, except I vacuumed it a couple times.

    #1972320
    Jake D
    BPL Member

    @jakedatc

    Locale: Bristol,RI

    Update: So far she has had no problems with the normal home machine with the roller foot. she started a new job last week and then got the Flu this weekend so progress has slowed a bit. Not going to use it for a while anyway so that isn't a big deal

    #3734888
    California Packrafting
    BPL Member

    @unnamedpeaks

    <p style=”text-align: left;”>Does anyone have good luck sewing light fabric with the sailrite?</p>

    #3736993
    David Chenault
    BPL Member

    @davec

    Locale: Queen City, MT

    It can be done, but is definitely not the ideal tool.  Dial the thread tension way back, lengthen the stitch length, and pay very close attention to smooth feeding.  I’ve made a few quilts out of .6 oz/yard fabrics with my LSZ-1 and it got the job done.   If I worked with sub-100 denier fabrics often I would set up another machine for that purpose.

    #3737086
    Sam Farrington
    BPL Member

    @scfhome

    Locale: Chocorua NH, USA

    A couple features that are a big help:  1) A machine that will sew slowly and at variable speeds, using pressure on the foot pedal; and 2) A hand wheel on the right hand side to help penetrate tapes and webbing.  Note that when the fabric is tailored, the pins are placed parallel to where the seam will be; but before sewing, the pins are reset to be perpendicular to where the seam will be, so that the pins go under the presser foot easily.  More often, the pins are removed just  before they go under the presser foot.

    Once the final shape and location of the seam is tailored and held in place with fine pins, I hold the seam with each hand, one in front of the presser foot, and one behind it as the seam is stitched.  Having variable speeds makes it easier to get the seam stitched just right (two stitch lines for a lap felled seam).  So once the seam lines have been marked, there is a lot of work done on the big ping pong table for the resetting of the pins.

    Not a skilled or educated approach, but it works.

    #3737246
    Roger Caffin
    BPL Member

    @rcaffin

    Locale: Wollemi & Kosciusko NPs, Europe

    I hold the seam with each hand, one in front of the presser foot, and one behind it as the seam is stitched.
    Just so.

    (Elna machine maybe 40 yrs old.)

    Cheers

Viewing 12 posts - 1 through 12 (of 12 total)
  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
Forum Posting

A Membership is required to post in the forums. Login or become a member to post in the member forums!

Get the Newsletter

Get our free Handbook and Receive our weekly newsletter to see what's new at Backpacking Light!

Gear Research & Discovery Tools


Loading...