Struggling with waxed cotton!

[John Fenna]

A little while back a very generous Toddy sent me some waxed cotton to have a play with as I had mentioned that I had never tried it as an outdoor clothing fabric for my DIY gear projects.
I decided to make a Merino blanket lined body warmer using a pattern that I had used with great success in the past using Poly-cotton and a Merino blanket lining.

I have struggled!
OK the resulting Gilet is wearable and will perform well but the finish is not up to my normal standards....
Is it the fabric or does my machine need attention?
I found that the waxed cotton did not feed well and I found I was not only geting skipped and uneven stitching but also "jumps" where the foot slid sideways away from the sewing line when working around thick seams and the zip.
I also found turning the hems trough to top stitch them a nightmare as the waxed fabric "grabbed" the Merino making the turns hard to get neat.
I am not going to post photos of the Gilet as I am not that proud of it - but some of you will see it being worn in the woods!

My next Waxed Cotton project will be unlined leggings - waterproof chaps if you like - and I hope for a better finish on these

 

[leon-1]

Don't know what type of machine you are using John, but it sounds like you need more pressure on the foot and that possibly the tension on the thread wasn't quite right.

You may require something a bit more "Industrial".

 

[John Fenna]

Don't know what type of machine you are using John, but it sounds like you need more pressure on the foot and that possibly the tension on the thread wasn't quite right.

You may require something a bit more "Industrial".

I can sew clothing grade leather with the machine I used ... though it is classed as an "embroidery" machine.... it is a Husquvana Rose

 

[Toddy]

It's a right royal pain to sew
I love the waxed jacket I made from it, but it took me days to sew instead of done in a few hours.
I ended up using one of the knurled roller feet to get it to feed.
Keep the meths bottle handy John, and clean the needle, feeddogs and the cover plate, often.

Best of luck with it

M

 

[Ogri the trog]

Watching this with interest as I had planned to make a set of leggings just as John suggests

In all likelihood though, I'll end up hand sewing them.

Ogri the trog

 

[birchwood]

A little more info on the type of machine you are using would help.
More foot pressure may help compress the turned seam but may cause more problems with the material binding under the foot.
Have you got a walking foot on your machine.? Have you got a wide or narrow foot on it ?
Any material that does not feed properly under the foot , like waxed cotten or pvc, will cause stitch length problems.
You could try loosening off the foot pressure and feeding the seam through carefully with one hand in front of the machine foot and one hand behind.
Depending on what machine you have, you may find that with the thickness of the merino and cotton and turning the seam it is just to much
for it. If it is handling the `thickness`. sewing through a binding on the seam instead of straight on the material would help.

 

[leon-1]

I can sew clothing grade leather with the machine I used ... though it is classed as an "embroidery" machine.... it is a Husquvana Rose

I have a 17u241 that will stitch through nine layers of canvas doing upto 1450 stitches per minute, nearly all of my stitching is done by hand as the machine, although industrial, is not man enough to get through the thicknesses of leather that I use.

I was once told that if you want a machine that'll handle everything you need to get either an old hand machine or a tredle, having seen what they are capable of I wouldn't disagree.

 

[Oldwoodyrock]

John:
Most home machines have, as standard, a very fine toothed feed dog, which will do just as you describe whilst sewing heavy, or coated material. I sew mostly canvas, or sail cloth on my old Pfaff 130 using a coarse feed dog. Most commercial waxed clothing is waxed after construction...at least the old "tin pants" the Forestry in Canada issued us was.
Woody

 

[topknot]

Sorry to hear your problem John.
Is the waxed cotton really waxy ? only asking. Make this one up and had no prob's with it on the machine.

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=57664&highlight=

Looking forward to seeing what you have made up.

Cheers Andy

 

[John Fenna]

I have come to the conclusion that my machine is out of sorts - my tame repair man is in hospital at the moment so I will not bug him until the new year...

 

[Toddy]

It just clogged mine up with stickiness
The 'wax' is really a kind of absorbed mineral oil, if you put a bit of the cloth near a heatsource it'll go soft and floppy and feel wonderful (if you use the tumble drier you'll need to clean it out afterwards), but you kind of get the same effect working it on a hard working sewing machine. The wax transfers itself to everything it rubs over when the fabric is as new as that John. Even the edge of the bed of the machine gets a coating. The needle coated up so badly that it gunked up all the way to the knurled screw that holds it in place.
Meths.
Lots and lots of meths.
Or paint thinners, which now I think on it, worked slightly better, but took the varnish off the table too.

I do have more of the fabric John, in a different colourway though, but I could have a nosey in town and see what's left on the bolts too ?

atb,
M

 

[Elen Sentier]

I was once told that if you want a machine that'll handle everything you need to get either an old hand machine or a tredle, having seen what they are capable of I wouldn't disagree.

I agree with that ... if only I could find one, and afford it. I grew up with a treddle one but parents chucked it in favour of an electric one

 

[Mesquite]

The 'wax' is really a kind of absorbed mineral oil, if you put a bit of the cloth near a heatsource it'll go soft and floppy and feel wonderful (if you use the tumble drier you'll need to clean it out afterwards),

I read somewhere that if you want to tumble dry any wax cotton product the best way was was to put it inside a large cotton bag like a pillow case to protect the drier

 

[Oldwoodyrock]

If your needles are gumming up with junk, get a thread oiler. This can be as simple as a wee bit of felt soaked with silicone oil through which the cotton runs. The commercial ones are not much fancier being a wee tub with felt pads. I use sailmakers seaming tape to hold, and waterproof seams so the thread oiler is nearly essential to prevent gumming. The one I have cost the great price of $6.00 US dollars.
Woody

 

[John Fenna]

It just clogged mine up with stickiness
The 'wax' is really a kind of absorbed mineral oil, if you put a bit of the cloth near a heatsource it'll go soft and floppy and feel wonderful (if you use the tumble drier you'll need to clean it out afterwards), but you kind of get the same effect working it on a hard working sewing machine. The wax transfers itself to everything it rubs over when the fabric is as new as that John. Even the edge of the bed of the machine gets a coating. The needle coated up so badly that it gunked up all the way to the knurled screw that holds it in place.
Meths.
Lots and lots of meths.
Or paint thinners, which now I think on it, worked slightly better, but took the varnish off the table too.

I do have more of the fabric John, in a different colourway though, but I could have a nosey in town and see what's left on the bolts too ?

atb,
M

I have cleaned the machine with white spirit but I am still having probs just with ordinary fabric - I guess it just needs servicing!
Thanks for the offer of more fabric Mary but I will pass as my "project list" is about 12 months long.... and growing!
I also need to use up fabric I have already to make room for more!

 

[grey-array]

And while looking at this Thread I am thinking, I need to get myself a machine.
Handsewing.jpg all I do is hand sewing. But would love to get to know the horrid problems of machine sewing
Yours sincerely Ruud