Bought a Serger!!!

[DragonWing]

  I am so ashamed.....I have always wanted one and.....I guess the price has always scared me.  I am not worthy. 


I am so Buying one!

[Pascal]

Also, if you unthread it, you can use the knife to cut your own bias tape.

What a good idea! 

[Kate XXXXXX]

I am so ashamed.....I have always wanted one and.....I guess the price has always scared me.  I am not worthy. 

Don't be daft!     All are worthy.  Look out for a nice pre-loved one in your loca sewing machine emporium.  This is how I started.

I am so Buying one!

Oh good!  Another one bites the dust!   

Honestly, they are not the least bit scary.  My first was a pre-loved 3 thread Toyota: a very neat bit of kit, though it doesn't like woolly nylon much and if you break a needle thread, you HAVE to start from scratch on that one!  For most you can get away with just threading that needle again...  Sold on to Big Sis when I bought no 2.  She still uses it, mostly for rolled hems (at which it was always brilliant), seam neatening, and seams on knits.  She's a decent home sewist who does several garments a year, and it suits her fine.

My second was a Huskylock 910: big, butch, tough...  But I wore it out being careless.  You MUST clean all the fluff out and oil them VERY regularly.  Great at everything, but I never used the memory function.  Turned out to be a waste of £100.  YMMV...

My third was another pre-loved Toyota: great little machine bought as emergency stop-gap when the Huskylock was dying.  4 thread this time.  I sold that on later, when I upgraded.  This Toyota did not have differential feed, was a bit slow, and had no free-arm, which the Huskylock had and I missed.  Otherwise a brilliant machine with superb stitch quality.  The newer ones with diff feed (helps a lot with stretch fabrics), would be great as a starter machine, and did almost all I needed as a professional sewist.  I sold this on to a friend, who is very happy with it.  I have 'borrowing rights' if I ever need it!

The next one I bought was my Brother 1034D.  Now, I do NOT rate Brother sewing machines: cheap, flimsy, prone to go wrong and have plastic bits drop off.  There ARE some good ones, but spotting them without extensive testing is too time-consuming for me to bother with.  Their SERGERS are now a very different story, and this one is a gem.  Free arm, easy to switch to rolled hem, a doddle to thread, dreadfully easy to use...  Cuts through Polartec 300 with ease and is equally happy on silk chiffon!  It's a little slow...

I also bought a Bernina 1150MDA.  This is my main machine.  It's an unmitigated success.  While the Brother is brilliant for the price, once you use this one, you can feel why it costs twice as much!  The only reason I bought the Brother was that this one has no free arm, and while I don't use that function often, it is very useful when I DO need it.  The Bernina is so easy to thread and use, takes delight in everything I fling between the blades, and is much faster than the Brother, as well as much smoother and quieter.

Hm...  Noise can be an issue with sergers.  They are nothing like as quiet as good quality sewing machines.  The motors are a bit more butch and noisier, and the blades also make a noise.  No problem for me, but those who sew late into the night in small spaces with others sleeping close by may need to be aware.

[LadyElizabeth]

WOW, I feel so more informed and like I desperately need one now...  haha! Serger envy!

[DragonWing]

LMAO! at KateXXXXXXX  Thanks for that slap up side the head. 

[Kate XXXXXX]

LMAO! at KateXXXXXXX  Thanks for that slap up side the head. 

Giggle...

Look, mate, this kid was 12 when he used my Bernina!  If he could do it, what's stopping a big fella like you?   



His first garment project was this pair of jeans:


You can see the whole story here: http://www.diceyhome.free-online.co.uk/KatePages/Sewing_Projects/Boy%20stuuf/Jeans/jeans_for_james.htm
Unfortunately, he's now 14 months older and 4" taller, and they no longer fit anywhere!  I refer to him as the Giant Mutant Ninja Teenager.

[DragonWing]

  What a wonderful story.  I started sewing in high school, home Ece, we didn't have sergers then. Or at least not in high school.

thanks for sharing.

[Lorraine]

I have a question for you Kate. I have the Brother serger too and when I do a rolled hem on chiffon it works great on the straight areas but when I get to an inner curve part the rolled hem starts ripping away from the fabric, any ideas?

[Kate XXXXXX]

You are probably not making a wide enough cut...  I always find that the cutting width suggested in the manual isn't wide enough for some fabrics: just experiment with a few more millimeters of cutting width and see how you get on.  Another thing to do is to lengthen the stitch a tad.