Where to buy fabric

[taipan821]

I'm looking for a source of basic outdoors fabrics (sorry simonm, not looking for hexon...yet) can anyone recommend a store (online or otherwise) that stock normal ripstop nylon, My local spotlight has some...but its day-glo yellow and a bit hard on the eyes

[simonm]

That's ok. What will you be making with it? That might help others recommend something. I don't think there is much else available locally.

We do have regular ripstop though - http://www.tiergear.com.au/11/online-sh ... stop-nylon.

[taipan821]

looking at making some stuff sacks, to making a wind breaker shell that actually fits me, but mainly to practice before moving onto specialised fabrics (calendered, sil etc)

[andrewa]

I've made my own gear for 30 ish years, and Simon appears to have the best quality easily available stuff that I've ever come across, and at competitive cost. Whilst I've bought fabrics from Spotlight, they have all been of low quality, and if you just need to practice sewing, then save money, and buy some $1/m stuff to get it right, and then use good quality fabric.

Other sources that I've previously used are places like OWFINC , Dimension Polyant, and Zpacks. I've had some good and bad stuff from the first 2, and beyond this the exchange rate may make a difference. I'm now at a stage that I'd probably buy from Simon, except that I have a gazillion yards of other fabric.

Certainly sleeping bag nylon and down is way easier through Simon.

A

[Moondog55]

Op-Shops for old sheets to practice on, also good place to get woollen yards goods cheap
But Simon for sure for the better stuff although I could help out with some cheaper Ozcam

[Gadgetgeek]

opshops, for practice stuff, find some slick synthetics to do practice runs on. old sheets for patterning, half of the struggle is getting the machine and yourself dialed in, so just doing lots of straight practice seams has its value. I'm too impatient for that, and my stitching shows.

[ofuros]

Ikea & Spotlight is all I can think off if you
want practice materials before moving onto the good stuff.

[simonm]

I also have a box of remnants that I eventually put up on the site at a much reduced price. If you are interested just send me a PM and I can see what we have.

[Nikad19]

What size needles do you use on ripstop nylon (hexon). I may need to get some more before my order turns up from Simonm.


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[simonm]

What size needles do you use on ripstop nylon (hexon). I may need to get some more before my order turns up from Simonm.


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Normally you would match your needle to your thread and for the Mara 70 thread a metric 14 or 16 needle is recommended.

[taipan821]

thanks for the info everyone

I brought some calico and made a scale tarp (200cm x 180cm) to practice working with large quantity of fabric and long sewing runs, had fun and learned from my mistakes...like double checking seams, seam allowances need to be sufficient to properly do a french seam and use a seam guide for next time!

as for needles.... I've got 10 needles of every gauge from 8 to 24 on order, should be here in the new year.

[andrewa]

Well done. Biggest needle I've ever found , with difficulty, was an 18g leather point, and even they're hard to find. With your arsenal, you'll be able to sew bits of wood together. Where'd you find the 20-24g needles?

A

[taipan821]

Well done. Biggest needle I've ever found , with difficulty, was an 18g leather point, and even they're hard to find. With your arsenal, you'll be able to sew bits of wood together. Where'd you find the 20-24g needles?

A

my correction...9-22 gauge was what I ordered (its been a while)

http://stores.ebay.com.au/Admcity-Austr ... =918503619

[andrewa]

Wow. Lots of needles!

Can anyone tell me whether there is any difference between needles that fit a household machine and those that fit an industrial machine?

Having just hand stitched a leather holster for one of my knives....took ages....I reckon a size 22 leather needle would have worked nicely on my household machine ( using the wheel in the machine).

A

[Moondog55]

Domestic machine needles have a flat on one side industrial needles are round shanked [ usually] I can get Schmetz to 21 locally but I'm told that no bigger is available. I used #18 on the battle dress pants and that size was much better then the usual #16 I use for cotton sheets; #8 was more than enough for the silnylon using Rasant thread

[andrewa]

Ah, thanks. I need domestic machine with flat sided needles. Haven't seen bigger that 18g, but will look for 21g on net.

A

[paddlpop]

Note. If you try and run heavy thread through a domestic machine you are in danger of prematurely wearing out the lower catch mechanism...domestics aren't designed to run heavy thread.

[Moondog55]

Note. If you try and run heavy thread through a domestic machine you are in danger of prematurely wearing out the lower catch mechanism...domestics aren't designed to run heavy thread.

True enough
Metric 20 is as big as I would go and M60 is a dream to use in my machine after the service.
At the moment Lincraft locally have some excellent hardfaced 100wt fleece that is as good as Powerstretch for only $8- a linear metre