The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Interiors Sewing vinyl/upholstery

When sewing vinyl for interiors, is a walking foot required?

I’m looking at industrial machines and would appreciate any further input as well.

Thanks all.

If you have an old Domestic series 153 machine and you get the proper needle you can sew vinyl, heavy denim, leather. You will need the right thread. It must be UV resistant and heavy. The Domestic comes standard with a foot that will work okay. Maybe you already know this but sewing vinyl is something you learn by practice.

Some will disagree but I would avoid making a corded or piped seam. Normally you have to have a special attachment for that and some people don't like the look. That Domestic machine will pretty much sew anything. Good luck!

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In my experience (working in an upholstery shop for 10+ years) you don't *need* a walking foot for much of anything. You also don't *need* the special attachment to make beading (corded seams).

That said, it is much, much easier to do both if you have the extra parts.

At the end of the day, how much of this are you going to do? If you are going to put in the (many) hours to get skilled, you can get away with a much less fancy machine.

If you are getting the machine to make one or two vehicles worth because you don't like/want the commercially available covers, the extra money for the walking foot and beading attachment will likely give you better results faster.

I prefer to use a walking foot for 95% of sewing, but my old boss usually turned it off because she said she had better control of the machine without it.