Revisit Mike's method of sewing cording

[baileyuph]

Mike,

You talked about how you sewed cording in a seam without a cording foot.

I had a minute and tried your method, but maybe I need to understand your method better.

What I did was cut a 1 1/2 inch strip, wrapped it around a plastic cord and tried to sew it with the standard flat seam feet on my 111W155.  The left side of the foot rode on top of the welt and that aggravated the needle foot from walking the material through.  Couldn't do it.

What do I not understand?  My feet are the standard flat feet for the machine and the needle foot is also the standard foot. 

I can get the part numbers for the feet I am using, if I am not clear by what I refer to as flat feet.

There has to be something I am missing.   :)

Doyle

[RocketmanMH1]

What you would have to do in your case is set the feet so that they step higher up to allow the extra thickness to feed through.  The adjustment  is just behind the left side of your machine.  If you don't have a man. for that machine I would give gregg a call and get one or find one online for that machine. If you are not familiar with this adjust ment  it can be a little tricky. 

Mike

[sofadoc]

What you would have to do in your case is set the feet so that they step higher up to allow the extra thickness to feed through.  The adjustment  is just behind the left side of your machine.  If you don't have a man. for that machine I would give gregg a call and get one or find one online for that machine. If you are not familiar with this adjust ment  it can be a little tricky.

If you already have cording feet, why risk a "tricky" adjustment? It seems to me that the best results you can possibly hope for, is to compensate for no cording feet. Or am I missing something?
Mike's work speaks for itself. Obviously, his method works very well for him.
But if you have cording feet, I'd leave well enough alone.

[RocketmanMH1]

I'm with you sofa, I prefer my cording feet.  If my memory serves me correctly this was  a response to Mike's video of him sewing cording with the regular feet. I could see where it might save some time if you have only one machine, but with the price of the combo feet I think I would have to go with those. 

[baileyuph]

This is about understanding his method, it is phenomenal that the man can produce such beautiful work with standard feet.  It is not about throwing away welt feet.  Mike 8560(?) is merely doing something that is definitely intriguing.  Mike, that was great insight on adjusting the pressure foot but did not get that idea regarding his technique. 

Mike 8560 explain it again.

Doyle 

[Mike]

ok Doyle i just went out and did it for you , cut a strip i used white for better visibility and blac thread, i not a expert on feet but i bot what i think is standard feet they came with the machine a fat toe on the left a small toe on the right and the center that walks with the needle is about the same as the fat left toe with a hole it for the necldle. i fold the strip around the cord poly cord, and the cord rides under the fat left toe the center toe and neddle pull the vinyl down tight and sew it . i just wtarted sewin canvas and one day had to try and make a seat with piping and i tried to duplicate what i saw ( prety much how i learned everything )
here the vedio and a shot of my feet  the machine feet i wouldnt want to scare ya lol


this was an older vid a bit hard to hold the camer weith on ehand and sew with the other

[Mojo]

Doyle: I do not know how Mike does a lot of things but I admit he is truly a master at his crafty. I have learned a lot from him.

Don't beat yourself up to badly, I tried Mikes method and made a mess of the practice piece I used. I tried it again and was able to replicate Mikes method and actually did a job using his technique. But it was so slow going that I finally got PO'ed and installed a welt foot. :)

Mike is the man. What can I say.  ;D

Chris

[Mike]

im nit say my way is right at all , but if i can sew ine thin ine minute and swint and make piping the next with out changing feet ( i know some of you are plrobly real fast at it )it works for me .
help cause i dont h ave to have a machine dedicated and i havnt got the room

[Mojo]

I watched your video and am just amazed at your speed. Heck I do not even sew that fast with a welt foot Mike. :)

Chris

[sofadoc]

We probably ALL have some type of technique that uniquely works well for us, but would seem cumbersome to others.

I tried Mike's method out back when he first posted that video. I had trouble JUST holding the camera. :D

If I'm reading Mike's reply right, he made no adjustment to the machine in regards to the step of the feet. Right Mike? Because if he had to re-adjust every time he went from a welted seam to a flat seam, that would defeat his purpose of not having a dedicated machine.

I wonder if foam welt makes it easier to perform Mike's method than tissue welt would. Because I tried it with tissue welt. I was all over the place. I think I actually drove my machine off into the ditch. :o

[Mike]

right sofa , Ive never tried tissue

[RocketmanMH1]

Doyle, In your own words you commented that " there has to be something I am missing"  also, in your own words you said          "The left side of the foot rode on top of the welt and that aggravated the needle foot from walking the material through.  Couldn't do it." 

Well I did the best I could to give you the answer to your question.  Let  me try again, If the foot on your machine is dragging on the welt and vinyl, then the answer is to adjust your machine so that the foot clears the material with the outside foot while maintaining the feed process with the inside foot.

There is no reason to think that any two machines are set up identical,  In this case yours vs mikes . I would bet that most people that own an industrial machine are not aware of how adjustable they really are.  The height of your feet (both feet) stroke can be adjusted  at once by the quick adjustment on the back of the machine and in about  one min. you can set it back if you dont like it or it does not do what you want.  Again I say that is for increasing or decreasing the amount of step height  of both feet in relation to the throat plate and feed dog.

You can also change the rate of stroke independently of the presser foot and the needle foot. This is the "tricky" adjustment that I would use if I were sewing welt without a welt foot.   You can set the feet so that the outside foot lifts twice as high as the inside foot, and you also can reverse this process.

  You mentioned that  this technique or method is different,  the method is the same as using a welt foot, the machine however has a higher step than yours hence the dragging of the outside foot on the material.

This being said, if you don't have a manual for your machine and are confused about how to accomplish this, it would be a good idea to get one. A man. will  detail this process better than I can.

I hope this post doesn't sound to blunt, just trying to help you accomplish what you set out to.

Mike

[baileyuph]

Not blunt at all Mike, I too was wondering if his machine had the lift of pressure foot and the needle foot adjustment tailored to this situation.  But, since the machine is used for flat work as well, obviously it hasn't.

If mine was adjusted to the situation, then I would be able to walk the cord through.  Then, the question is, again, has his machine been custom set for the disparity in lift of the pressure and needle foot?  That supposedly has been ansewered.

The manual, thanks for the adivice but I have the technical information in dealing with setting feet rise above the feed dog plate, the lift of the walking foot action , plus the pressure setting of the feet, and lastly (something not mentioned before), the timing of the needle foot to the feed plate.  Been threre and done that so to speak.

There is one parameter not verified and that is the feet numbers.  I looked at mine and the only information is they were made Seiko, no numbers.  But, I reference them as the standard flat fell feet, meaning no grove on the bottom for a cord to feed through.

I don't know, it seems Mike is fairly unique for in this thread, others have tried his technique on their machines with what I interpret as no or very limited success.

Therefore, all I can say, given we are working with the same outside and needle feet, Mike is just the man!  I sure would like to be like him when I grow up!  ;)

Thanks again, both mikes.

Doyle

[RocketmanMH1]

The machine will still sew flat work, it will be able to sew material of varying thickness easier as well.  Good Luck ;D