still not a seamstress

I had quite a few readers ask me to keep posting about how I'm using my new serger. I've had fails and successes. First up, the fail:

I did try to make that 90-minute shirt from MADE. The issue wasn't with the tutorial, which is great, but with the pattern I drafted from one of Cooper's old onesies. Let's just say boatneck tops are not his thing. He's saying "cheese" in the photo but had previously yelled, "No Mama! No, no, no!" when I put it on him. I've since tried the raw-edged raglan shirt from Sewing for Boys, with some success up to sewing on the neckband. Problem is it uses only a sewing machine! No serger! Next try will be the envelope tee pattern from Growing Up So Liberated. And I'm going to do some simple flannel pajama pants for the girls.

Next, a success:

I'd say more about this project, but I've recently learned that Claire and her friends sometimes read my blog during computer lab at school. I don't think they'll have a chance again until next week, but I don't want to ruin any surprises. I'm working on Valentine's gifts for the kids-- and the serger was so dreamy for finishing off some edges in the construction phase. I'm still in love with the turquoise thread too and might never change it out.

So I've had better luck with projects of the non-clothing variety. I'm definitely going to keep trying though! I do love my serger.

I hope you all have a great weekend!

serging

Rob surprised me at Christmas by buying me a serger! It's a Brother 1034D, which gets incredible reviews and is very reasonably priced (especially for a beginner like me). I've been wanting to learn to sew clothes for the kids for a long time, especially using knits. So I'm really, really excited to figure everything out.

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?