Leather Sewing Machine Best Practices

Sewing leather is by far the most common task that we have in our leather shops.  Whether you are hand sewing everything, or using a leather sewing machine, you will have to sew leather on just about every project.  In this post, I share the first of a three part video series on leather sewing machine best practices with the hopes of helping you become more efficient and safe while using an electric sewing machine.

When I started doing leather work, I didn’t have a leather sewing machine and spent many hours hand sewing my projects.  Though this is not the most efficient way to complete projects, I do believe that it is very important to become proficient at this skill.  So if you are still in the hand stitching stage of your leatherworking journey, don’t fret!  You are at a very important stage and learning this skill will serve you well for the rest of your leather career.  But when the time comes when you can upgrade to an electric sewing machine, I would highly recommend adding this piece of equipment to your shop.

When it comes to investing into a leather sewing machine, or any leather machine, I recommend doing your research and taking your time to get the best machine available and that your budget will allow.  I researched for the last year or so because I was wanting to upgrade my big harness stitcher (Ferdco Pro 2000) after 15 years of service in my shop.  The machine still stitches very well, but I didn’t want to just wait until it broke before having a backup.  As for me, I am a full time craftsman and I have to be prepared and can not chance not having a machine to sew on if my machine quit on me.

leather sewing machineSo after my research and talking to many people about the machines that they recommend (since my machine is no longer available), the machine that kept coming up in conversation was the Cobra Class 4 leather sewing machine from Leather Machine Co.  I spent some time on their website as well as visiting with Aaron Heizer at Maker’s Leather Supply (he is a dealer) and found many things about the machine that I really liked.  Soon this was the machine that I decided on and the machine that I was recommending to anyone that asked.

All of my fellow craftsmen that had this machine had nothing but good things to say about the machine and I even had one good friend that told me if I bought the machine and didn’t like it, he would buy it from me at full price and then he would have two… and this friend isn’t one that “falls in love” easily!  That confirmed it for me.

In January of 2018 I received my Cobra Class 4 and after setting it up in my shop I was in very pleased.  The machine performs better than I could of imagined and so far we are getting along great!

So in this video, not only will I be showing you some basic sewing machine processes that I use on a daily basis, but I also do a full review of this machine.  I also point out some safety tips as well.  The machine is now the new work horse in my shop and I show you why.

If you aren’t already, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel so that you will be notified when the next video in this series is posted and if you like the video hit that thumbs up!

If you are looking into getting your first leather sewing machine, or are wanting to upgrade your current machine, check out Leather Machine Co. or give Aaron a call at Maker’s Leather Supply and they can answer any questions that you might have and the different machines they have to offer.

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