sun shades

[evanbever]

I have been asked to sew some sun shades for a recreational vehicle windows, I'm not sure if I can sew this type of material with my walking foot or my industrial lockstich. It is COM material, I also need some feedback on what type of thread to use (assuming it has to be uv resistant) and what type and size of needle to use.

[evanbever]

I have some monofilament thread will that work?

[bobbin]

Monofilament is typically nylon.  Nylon is a very poor choice when UV resistance is called for.  I'd say no to that thread option.  Mojo uses Solarfix thread and swears by it.  My only experience with UV thread has been Goretex and it was sort of squirrely to use (a lot of fiddling with tension). 

As for machine suitability? I'm not really clear about the fabric the customer has supplied; if it's lighter weight, you should give both machines a try.  The walking foot might be a bit much, but I can use mine on lighter weight fabrics if I use a smaller needle, lighter weight thread, and make the time to fiddle with the tensions. 

What is your other machine, Evan.?

[Mojo]

I have sewn literally hundreds of sunshades for RV'ers. I dropped that part of our business because of all the Mom & Pop businesses that were running around the country making cheap shades at rallys.

Our shades were designed after the old MCD shades and were adjustable. In other words the bottom corners were velcro'ed and then we made a custom piece that also had velcro and snapped onto the side of the RV. You were then able to pull the corners tight sagging occured with the fabric during warm and cold cycles.

In the early stages I used Poly 138 and used nothing but Textilene fabric. I did not fold or hem the edges but rather finished off the edges using an acrylic binding. This gave them a real nice looking and professional appearance.

The Mom & Pops would simply fold theirs over and sew and hey all had square corners, etc. They also used a cheaper fabric then Textilene. Their prices were so low I couldn't compete and I was not going to lessen the quality of my shades to reduce my costs and maintain my margins so I dropped that line of work all together.

My suggestion is use Poly 138 or Solarfix. Like Bobbin said monofilament will not stand up to harsh UV rays. You probably could get by with V92. I am going to guess he is going to attach them with snaps. If so then the measurement of the final shade needs to be outside the window frame by about 1 inch. I typically ran the perimeter at about 1.5 inches around the outer edge of the window frame.

Here is some real good advice. If he asks you to install it, refuse. You run a screw stud into a hidden wire in the side of an RV and your in major trouble. Unless you have alot of liability insurance I wouldn't even consider doing the install. You HAVE to know RV's, their structure, wiring runs, etc.
You also have to understand the characteristics of this fabric as it has to be laid out into the sun for a half to 1 hour to heat up. It is then stretched and installed. Failure to do this will result in baggy/sagging ugly shades.

If this is COM I am going to bet it is the cheap UV shade fabric I have seen for sale at Camping World. They use this on patio awnings as a simple drop and it rolls up into the awning. This will probably be able to be sewn on a light weight machine.

I take it you have the hoover tool for installing the snaps ? Use nothing but brass or stainless hardware or a year from now this guy will be back screaming because there is rust running down the side of his RV.

Best of luck. If you get stuck on this project let me know and I will do whatever I can to help.

Chris

[Mike]

Loke chris time to time im Sked to make window shade cover cor boats if not complete shade with sunbrella ill use textine or phifertex screen and thread v92 poly or solarfix

[bobbin]

The shop I used to work for used V92 polyester for everything (New England).  Awnings and marine canvas typically required a restitch in 3-5 yrs.. 

V138 (polyester) fared better, with a restitch in 5-8 yrs., depending how much direct sun it had to endure.  I used 138 on the awnings and canopy I made for our home.  And I washed them every year and retreated them for water repellency. 

I've never used Solarfix, but have another friend in the marine canvas biz. and he uses it for everything he makes.  Swears by it, just like Mojo.  What he doesn't like, however, is that you can't "burn" the thread nubs and have them melt away, so getting a really clean, "polished" finish is harder.  I'd be interested to know how Mojo deals with the "aesthetic" (since we all know he's a little OCD, ;) ). 

[evanbever]

Once again you guys are great, so helpful, unfortunately I have had to pass on doing the job because my husband is in the hospital. Complications from blood thinners that he is on, he is bleeding internally and until they find the bleed we won't know how to fix it or what the implications will be. The customer is a neighbor and very understanding so no problem, but I really appreciate all your input.