The Upholstery Forum

What is a decent stapler to use for holding panels before sewing?

I don’t know the name brand but I got one that looks like this.

https://www.tandyleather.com/en/product ... er-stapler

Mines heavy duty but I wouldn’t say leather heavy duty. I’ve gotten to the point I don’t use it much. It either doesn’t let the material sew through the machine right and I often adjust on the fly. This means pulling one or multiple staples. Or worse they don’t hold.

In the patterning process I like to make alignment marks or notches. Let’s me know if the are going to line up or not as I sew and can adjust accordingly without anything in the way.

Another idea I learned from my mom who use to sew clothing was to use pins. Reusable, easy to remove as you go, but can break a needle easy (so can staples), and hurt when you grab the material thinking they’re all removed lol

I just use a cheapie office/ home stapler, shopped for something with a deeper throat at Office Depot last week but couldn’t find anything better that what I already have.

Hi @miket!!! Welcome to the forum. Really happy to have you here! Those are some nice fish you got there in your picture!

So I'm just going to give you my honest opinion on stapling seams together. I don't recommend you do it. I think its a bad habit to start when learning. It is best to learn to sew your panels together by your self. Learning to read and understand your fabric and alignment marks as your sewing is essential to becoming a good trimmer. Stapling your seams will just make it more difficult for you in the future and add lots of time to your projects. It really inst that hard to learn without staples. I suggest watching my basic seam video on youtube where I discuss this a little. Let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks for the replies!
I plan to do most seams by hand on the fly but I watched a video where they made an outdoor seat cushion and she stapled the piping and boxing before sewing. It seemed to make sense but then I guess you have to remove all those staples.
She said the stapler took small staples also.

For now I will take John's expert advice and avoid stapling

Thanks again all

It will pay of a lot in the long run Mike!

@mikey,

There is alot out there than can confuse your learning. You will get good at running your seams it just takes practice. All the resourse you need is right here keep consistant with this and you will be ahead of the game. I get side tracked too like sewing plillows but it makes me want to bite into my next truck seat really bad.

BigRig wrote: ↑Tue Sep 18, 2018 7:36 pm @mikey,

There is alot out there than can confuse your learning. You will get good at running your seams it just takes practice. All the resourse you need is right here keep consistant with this and you will be ahead of the game. I get side tracked too like sewing plillows but it makes me want to bite into my next truck seat really bad.

I tell ya, it is hard to find decent outdoor cushions for a good price.
I'm trying to learn so I can teach the wife.
Then she can save me some money. 😁

I'm looking to get more into boat and auto related items.

Thanks for the reply

@miket You can sew them too. A good project you can do together.

@miket makenaure the material and the foam is for outdoor furniture. The foam is made to let moisture pass through easier and dry faster, biggest factor mold resistance.

@BigRig I wish I could get my wife to help me, but she can’t sew to save her life. She doesn’t want to learn either. So if mike has a lady who sews and willing to help I agree, go for it!

Ok I can only speak on Boat canvas and upholstery but the stapler is king! The more you staple the better. Staplers are considered tools and are as important as a sewing machine. There is a a lot of guys that are fans of older staplers and buy them up from places like eBay. The most popular are the b 8 staplers they are being reproduced but people swear by the originals

When doing canvas on a big piece like a Bimini top and sewing to 60 inch pieces together you use a long arm stapler. If using a stapler on on a non seam allowance piece that is exposed to water you must use seam tape between the canvas or it will leak when staples are removed

Cody wrote: ↑Wed Sep 19, 2018 3:18 am @miket makenaure the material and the foam is for outdoor furniture. The foam is made to let moisture pass through easier and dry faster, biggest factor mold resistance.

@BigRig I wish I could get my wife to help me, but she can’t sew to save her life. She doesn’t want to learn either. So if mike has a lady who sews and willing to help I agree, go for it!

The wife helping with the sewing is still to be determined.

Thanks again for your help @jayscanvas!
I went to Boat Canvas University and picked up a few pointers on his free video.

I've been fighting inconsistencies in my thread tension so didn't get much practice in yet.

I think I figured it out but I've said that before.
The thread got wrapped around the tension spring and no amount of loosening the knob would help

It was working fine then I change the thread and bam, issues.

@miket have you tried switching to a different thread entirely? Maybe you have. I have sunguard thread that was giving me issues and I always thought it was the machine. Wound me bobbins with the same thread thinking it was a bad bobbin etc. got some advice on the thread being bad, which was something I didn’t think could happen. Fixed the problem right away and tossed the thread out.

@Cody I have not but if the issue continues I will give it a shot. Thanks

I really need to start proof reading. But you got what I was saying. I always thought thread was good. But it’s crazy. The thread would break, get bunched up on the underside of the material at random spots etc. I adjusted tensions on both sides of the machine, etc. I have very little mechanical knowledge of machines when it comes to trouble shooting. But was shocked when how I changed to thread I used before I had no issues with and it worked. It was like nothing was ever wrong.

@Cody what thread did you end up going with? I just ordered Sunguard from Albright's along with the pre wound bobbins, hope it's not going to be an issue!

I'm assuming the answer I'm going to get is Coats.
@torriec do you think it would be possible to purchase Coats threads from Albright's in the future?

Some is qtc, some others are from the thread exchange, some Albright. I even have some other sunguard. It’s was just like it was that spool. Luckily it wasn’t my first time using sunguard or I would have never boughten more. I have bothe polyester thread and bonded nylon. I’m sure that didn’t probably help