I’m curious what it takes to do furniture upholstery. And in a completely different scope, what it takes to sew Lycra in clothing like cycling bib shorts.

I mean the secret to doing it right.

For instance, if you want to paint cars, I can tell you all kinds of levels, but the secret sauce is sticking to a single paint system from primers to clear, 3m imperial sandpaper used wet with a drop of dish soap, block sanding with guide coats, degreaser for reflections tests, a reliable air drying system for compressed air using an oilless compressor and very large tank, a full set of Sata spray guns, the best pneumatic DA sander your paint jobber sells. Then you’ll also need a variable speed buffer, fresh cut/medium/finish pads, 3m Perfect-it 2 and whatever fine finisher they sell now that does not contain oil fillers. Tape, paper, all all that is a given. Perfect automotive class paint is 99.9% prep and sanding, and only 0.1% painting. The number one rule is: when you think you should be done, step away for a break, when you get back acknowledge that you are only halfway done and get back to work. Your emotional state is irrelevant; the only truth that matters is in sanding guide coats and degreaser reflection tests.

All that said, with all of my experience, I can mix paint systems to get cheaper combinations between systems, I can spray with a $20 harbor freight gun, and polish with a sock and toothpaste in a zombie apocalypse pinch.

Does anyone here know sewing on this level? In a (coco) nutshell, what are the machines and standards to do it right?

  • Adincar@discuss.tchncs.de
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    3 months ago

    For sewing stretchy fabrics my advice is to purchase an overlocker not a sewing machine, sewing machines will generally suck at stitching stretchy fabrics. If all you have is a sewing machine I recommend triple stitching if your machine has that as a setting.

    I’m not a professional at this, I just repair my family’s clothes so if I’m wrong feel free to correct me.

    • j4k3@lemmy.worldOP
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      3 months ago
      Thank you. This entire question was to draw out this kind of reference. I know the machine for stretchy fabrics is different and that there are a couple of techniques. People explained this stuff to me when I was a Buyer for a chain of bike shops, but I never wrote it down.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overlock