Today I tackled what I've heard to be one of the trickiest things about sergers-- threading the machine. It went more smoothly than I thought! Gutterman thread was on sale at JoAnns last week so I picked up some turquoise cones along with basic white and grey. I thought it would be more inspiring to start with a fun color as I'm learning. And it's silly, but it really is more fun.
Since I'm not quite sure what to sew yet, I've just been testing things out on scraps. But then I decided to try the rolled edge hem first and make some cloth napkins.
I'm still sort of in shock that it was so easy! One thing I haven't figured out-- is there a way to do needle down and turn corners with this stitch? I ended up doing each side separately, then putting a dab of fray check on each corner where I had to cut the thread chain.
Now what to do next? I'm not sure I'm ready for clothes quite yet (although this 90-minute shirt from Dana of MADE seems doable, and I wouldn't risk much recycling a t-shirt). For those of you who have a serger, do you have advice for a beginner project?
12 comments:
I love love love my seger! Remember to always thread in the right order or your threads get tangled & break. Have fun with it!
Congrats on the serger! You can definitely do a needle down & turn to do the corners for a rolled hem. you need to stop about 1/4" before the corner and then it should tuck in when you make the turn. I wrote a blog post about it a while back, but looking at it now, the photo of the corner turn does not seem to helpful:
http://monpetitlyons.blogspot.com/2011/03/napkins-two-ways.html
I've had my serger a little over a year & love it, too! And Ditto what Katie said-very important! One thing I do when changiing colors is tie the new color to the old on the bottom loopers & just pull it through-makes it super fast!
I'm pretty sure there is no needle down to pivot function (if there is I sure would like to know how!)
I think it's because the knives are ahead of the needle so the cut has already been made.
Good luck with it-it really makes sewing knits a breeze, but I use it a lot on wovens as well-love the finished seams
Have fun with your serger. I've had one for years but don't use it that much anymore since most of the sewing I do now is quilting. I've only taken one sewing course in my life and it was a "get to know your seger" type course. It was so helpful. There are a number of great books on sergers out there...probably money well spent to invest in a couple.
Oh fun! I hope you will write more about it as you learn because it's one of those things I have considered from time to time and I would love to learn more about it. What a good husband!
Fun! You could whip up a nice stash of receiving blankets and burp cloths for your new little sprout.
oh I want a serger now.
sigh.
awesome! i have yet to try a rolled hem, well maybe I tried once but didn't succeed!
Keep posting...I almost asked for this one for Christmas, but was kind of daunted by it. I'd love to see how do-able you find other projects.
love the napkins!
*Sigh* I really need to pull mine out. It collects way to much dust....
Oooh, very happy to see this post! I have the exact same machine, but haven't learned to use it yet. I'm actually going to a one hour workshop on serging tonight at my LQS! Keep posting -- I'd love to follow along as you learn.
I used a Kenmore serger since the 80's and just upgraded to a Babylock Evolution last winter. Love it. If you are going to be making tablecloths and napkins, you will want to get wooly nylon thread for your loopers. It fills up the edge so you don't have those little threads sticking out. Make samples of your stitches and staple them to index cards - write your settings on the cards. Then you don't have to look them up every time. N
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