Workroom Use of Industrial Sewing Machines

A Creative Touch Draperies & Interiors workroom has several industrial sewing machines.
This post will focus on these 5 machines:
straight stitch, walking foot, 5 thread serger, blind hemmer and the tacker.
The bulk of daily work is accomplished on the straight stitch machine.
Some call this machine a lock stitch.
The straight stitch currently used in the workroom is manufactured by the Chinese company Yamata.  This machine has been very good with no problems using it in the 8 years in use. There are many other machines out there in the industry that are much more expensive than this, but this machine was purchased new and hasn't had problems so far.  There are several different needle plates allowing use of large sized needles (up to 21 or 22). Also, useful are various attachments that are available for this machine such as a ruffler, hemmer and binder and miscellaneous feet like welt feet, zipper feet, edge foot etc.

Chinese made Yamata straight stitch

There are times when you have a project that has something very heavy that requires a straight stitch and a nice walking foot machine is a good thing to have on hand. To see one in action below there is a link to a video that will demonstrate a walking foot sewing together leather goods.

Juki LU-563 Walking Foot Machine

The Juki LU-563 is a real workhorse. This machine will stitch heavy leather and upholstery. Also handy are the welt cord feet that go with this wonderful workhorse machine which assist when adding a welt cord to things like a slipcover or heavy pillow cover with  multiple layers of heavy fabric.
The video at this link shows a walking foot in action:


The serger is another machine that gets used almost daily. This machine uses 5 strands of thread and it also cuts the edge of the fabric straight and finishes it off with a nice edge stitch. It sews up to 2400 stitches per minute which saves time. It's great for sewing together widths of drapery that are being matched up on a pattern.

Juki 5 thread serger makes a beautiful clean edged stitch

The blind hemmer machine is invaluable when sewing side and bottom hems into drapery. U.S Blindstitch makes a very hardy blind stitch machine that definitely cuts down on seam tear-outs and redoes that were previously happening often with other machines that were being used to perform hemming.  The tear out time for this machine's stitch is fast because the machine uses a looper stitch similar to the serger's looper stitch making it very easy to remove with the pull of just one thread. This machine uses one single thread and sews a complex blind stitch that pierces through multiple layers of fabric to provide a clean look on the front side of the project.  A Creative Touch uses this machine for both drapery side hems and bottom hems on drapery panels.
The 2:1 stitch setting is used doubling the space between stitches versus the 1:1 which is used for garments like hems on pants.

U.S. Blindstitch machine saves time when a tear out is needed

This machine makes an effortless single thread blind (hidden) stitch that can be adjusted to the depth and width you want.  The look of the stitch is very neat.

Proving to be a real time saver for pleated drapery headers is the tacker machine. This machine can be a bit scary to use the first few times. I wear safety glasses when using it and this really helps with some of the fear! This machine will sew a neat tack very easily through the layers of pleated fabric on a drapery header.

Singer Tacker machine

 The shop is a bit messy, but that's what happens when you have work to do!!

A bit messy - sorry!