A serger at last!
February 26, 2010
I have finally bought my first overlocker (serger)! Callooh callay! It’s a Janome Mylock 204D, barely used. They retail new for around £200, but I bagged mine on eBay for £65.
Now that I’ve bought it, though, I hardly know where to start. Apart from Sew U Home Stretch, I don’t have any resources on how to use an overlock machine. What do you use your overlocker for? And what’s the best way to learn its ins and outs?
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Congratulations, Susannah on getting the new serger. The best way to learn it is to take the owner’s booklet and go through it, trying the different stitches and threading it time and time again until it’s not intimidating any more. It’s tricky to get the thread through the loopers (especially decorative thread), so I use the plastic floss threaders you buy on the toothpaste aisle. People use those to thread dental floss between their teeth when they wear braces because one end is a big loop and the other end is what you thread with. The tweezers that, hopefully, came with your machine will help a lot too.
Thank you for the tip about the floss threaders!
fantastic tip about the floss for threading!!! very creative and i imagine will save lots of time
Congrats on your new serger!
I found the best way to learn is just to do. Mind you I love to use them for french seams, you sew fabric right sides out and turn inside out and sew strait stich as you would normaly. My mum showed me that one, it’s great for childrens clothes and any thing that’s going to get a real workout.
Good luck!
Wow, that’s a GREAT idea. thanks, Kitty
I bought myself a serger in January, similar to yours, may even be exactly the same, thing is, apart from taking it out of the box once, I’ve been too chicken to use it. You’ve inspired me to get the Sew U book and I will try!
Hurrah for sergers! I have an old Kenmore serger (made by same company as Janome) which probably has similar features. I only started using it one month ago and already I feel very comfortable with it! I’ve been making skirts, dresses, pants, lingerie, whatever (all knit, so far).
I started by sitting down with the manual and carefully learning to thread the thing and make basic 3 and 4-thread stitches.
Then I made a baby onesie following the instructions in Sew U Home Stretch, which are excellent! And I took a one-day serger class at my local sewing machine repair shop, in which I made an ugly sweatshirt but learned A LOT. She made us really learn how to get proper tension and avoid rippling, to sew in a circle (not easy when there are knives involved), proper construction of knits, etc.
Kwik Sew sells a lot of “Kwik Serge” sewing patterns which are also great for learning serger ins and outs.
The books I have used for reference besides Sew U Home Stretch are Serger Secrets and The Easy Guide to Serging Fine Fabrics.
That’s the same serger I have! I use it for finishing seams and sewing knits. One bit of advice: Don’t un-thread it. Tie the ends of the new thread to the snipped ends of the old thread and run the serger until the new thread comes through. It is a bear to get threaded.
Thanks for the tip! I have read a lot of complaints about how difficult it is to thread sergers.
One thing I would mention, about sergers.
I admit I don’t have mine in use right now, but I’ve used one before at the drycleaners where I was the seamstress.
from my experience, You won’t always be able to draw the thread through by clipping and tieing on a new thread. and sometimes they threads will break somewhere in the thread path.
I found a pair of scissored grippers at a craft store which were invaluable for getting into the tiny hidden areas for threading. a long tweezer could work too. a tiny head lamp will be an aid, and if your machine doesn’t have color coded thread paths, get some of the multi colored nail polishes available today and color code your thread paths AND your tensioners.
Also learn which thread path to thread first and number either the path or the tensioner for each one according to what order you should be threading them.
Plan for the unexpected and you will have a lot less frustrated peering at the book or hunting where you put the rotten thing and swearing at yourself. LOL
Check YouTube for helpful videos.
I use my serger for seam finishing and rolled edge hems (so far). Need to learn a few more tricks.
I joined a serger group on Yahoo that just happens to be geared toward my brand but there are other serger groups out there. if you want to find one, try typing in serger in the yahoo groups search box.
Sergers are great for finishing coarse easily raveled fabrics like tweed, and even fine looser weave ones like mesh, or (I think) organdy? I’ve had the finer. the translucent overskirt type they use for formals? you still can’t put any strain on the seams but it will keep it from unraveling as you wear and clean it. Sergers are also being used now days for decorative finishes like lettuce leave edging on knits and all sorts of stuff I’m not up on. I have a serger book but I still need to special order an owners manual for mine and I’m not going to do that til I have a place to use it. LOL Kitty