Many of the "Italian" SS Covers floating around share one common trait. The creator faked double needle construction. I have seen about half a dozen of these covers in person- 5 of the 6 had this little quirk. At the MAX I picked one up from a rather disgruntled dealer who had gotten it returned. There have been several furballs on WAF involving these- at first I wasn't sure faking this stitch it could be done. After one of the last go 'rounds on here, I went back into the factory and was able to work it out in before the coffee was done- but it's a bugger to do. (Both edges must be pre-folded, then held together evenly while sewing a curve- not fun or easy.)
This is an absolute 100% "smoking gun". Faking a 2-needle is very time consuming and difficult- hats off to the guy who did this nice a job- but they hanged themselves so to speak by doing so. No factory would ever waste time with this- they would simply use the single needle method (both are used on real covers).
The photos will do the talking, but I'll explain it anyway- I realize that this may cause migraines for those who don't sew. It's easy to see this via two things:
1. Two needle machines use fixed needles. They are mounted in a steel needle bar and screwed in (see pic). They move together- the stitches will be like railroad tracks. If the gap between the stitches wobbles, it's bad news. (However, when the fabric bunches up in the folder one stitch can look sloppier).
2. The smoking gun: Both stitches on 2 needles seams will be sewn in the same direction- both right and left will both be top or bottom stitches. Top being the side of the fabric the person sewing it can see, and the bottom being the underside. The top stitches tend to be more humped, while the lower ones usually are more "relaxed" and have traces of the needle punching downward.
This isn't "IMHO", this is physical fact.
- The third pic is what an original 2 needle seam looks like.
- The last pic is of one of the machines in question. The two pieces of cloth are fed into the sheet metal folder, which laps them around one another as they head under the needles. Feeding them in evenly, hour after hour, takes a skilled operator. (I hate this thing.)
(Side note: whether the machine is operated by electric motor or foot treadle has no effect on the stitch length! That is determines by gears in the machine head- which are adjustable on every machine I've ever encountered. ) <p> And yes, now the creators will change their ways, but they always do. The game continues...
Fake 2 needle = busted.<p>
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This is an absolute 100% "smoking gun". Faking a 2-needle is very time consuming and difficult- hats off to the guy who did this nice a job- but they hanged themselves so to speak by doing so. No factory would ever waste time with this- they would simply use the single needle method (both are used on real covers).
The photos will do the talking, but I'll explain it anyway- I realize that this may cause migraines for those who don't sew. It's easy to see this via two things:
1. Two needle machines use fixed needles. They are mounted in a steel needle bar and screwed in (see pic). They move together- the stitches will be like railroad tracks. If the gap between the stitches wobbles, it's bad news. (However, when the fabric bunches up in the folder one stitch can look sloppier).
2. The smoking gun: Both stitches on 2 needles seams will be sewn in the same direction- both right and left will both be top or bottom stitches. Top being the side of the fabric the person sewing it can see, and the bottom being the underside. The top stitches tend to be more humped, while the lower ones usually are more "relaxed" and have traces of the needle punching downward.
This isn't "IMHO", this is physical fact.
- The third pic is what an original 2 needle seam looks like.
- The last pic is of one of the machines in question. The two pieces of cloth are fed into the sheet metal folder, which laps them around one another as they head under the needles. Feeding them in evenly, hour after hour, takes a skilled operator. (I hate this thing.)
(Side note: whether the machine is operated by electric motor or foot treadle has no effect on the stitch length! That is determines by gears in the machine head- which are adjustable on every machine I've ever encountered. ) <p> And yes, now the creators will change their ways, but they always do. The game continues...
Fake 2 needle = busted.<p>
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) Many thanks for taking such a huge amount of time to educate us, not to mention the $$$ that will be saved.
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