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How do FOSS enthusiasts sew? What hardware do they buy? (slrpnk.net)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I think I need a sewing machine that can do a variety of different kinds of stitches. One use case is to repair holey socks by cannabalizing fabric from other holey socks. Thus the stitch needs to be the kind that can stretch and ideally not create an awkward feeling on the foot.

Some sewing machines have a fixed number of stitches they can do. Would it make sense to get an embroidery machine and use #inkStitch (an Inkscape variant)? I’m not sure if that’s strictly for embroidery -- or does that give the ability to do a variety of stitches using FOSS?

The inkstitch.org website steers people toward taking a basic sewing machine and modifying it using 3d printed parts. That’s too ambitious for me. I don’t want a hardware project. I just want to buy hardware that’s ready to go and use free software to control it. Is that possible with things that exist already?

#askFedi

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I appreciate all the good advice. Testing the machine would have been tricky because I knew nothing about doing even the simplest test. The machine I bought was heaviest I could find at a street market where if I wanted to test it I would have to track down someone at the market with a portable power generator. Some sellers had samples under the presser foot of machines they were selling but the seller I dealt with did not do that. I didn’t think I was going to buy it.. asking price was ~220% of my budget. I was walking away but the seller was highly motivated & came way down in price. I thought telling him what I would theoretically pay would end the discussion due to the big gap, but then he accepted. So I agreed to buy before I could really give the machine much thought or inspection. If I had been more knowledgeable and diligent I could have even tested it just by threading it and manually turning the wheel which would have revealed that it needs an adjustment, which I mention here.

I could take it to a pro but I should ultimately try to gain some independence and master the machine. So I guess I'll fiddle with it to see if I can get it to stop skipping stitches.