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A couple of basic serger questions

Hi All,

Do I get a special sewing machine 'baby' shower for having (non-identical) twins? ;-) I got a Husqvarna 425 and a Husqylock 910.

Now, this is my first ever serger, and whilst free advice is available at the store, its a 20 mile drive away and I can only go on a Saturday :( I have read the instruction book and watched the video please!

So, my serger questions are as follows:

1) What do I line the material up on? All my patterns etc. are based on a standard 5/8" seam. I can see 2 little marks on the front of the presser foot which indicate left and right needle positions, and there is also a cm and inches set of marks on the front cover. I'm having difficulty knowing what to line up on, and what I should be aiming the material at. Serging a straight line is not happening ATM :( So, any hints or tips for straight seams, and what to line up on? I think I need to line up on a combination of the needle position marks on the foot and the 5/8" mark on the front cover.

2) What and when do I use all these different stictches for? I've presently been advised that I would use a 4 thread o/lock for normal seams

- i.e. side of trousers, side of blouses etc., and that a 4 thread o/lock is the strongest - which makes sense to me. The shop also suggested that I would use a 3 thread o/lock for finishing a seam sewn by the sewing machine - i.e. instead of my previous zig-zag finish. However, my machine will also do a 2- thread o/lock - supposedly for fine materials. So, now I'm confused as to what I should use when! And that's just o/locking! This baby also does rolled hems - help! Any advice please?

Thats all for now - I have actually managed to re-thread it once from scratch - very fiddly, but it chained straight away.

TIA,

Sarah

Reply to
Sarah Dale
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Congratulations, Sarah, I suggest you get a couple books from your library on sergers, or buy them if possible. There are many available, Kate has a book list on her web page. I always have Chris James's complete guide to serging next to which ever serger I'm using plus the Pamer-Pletsch's The Complete Handbook for Overlock Sewing is very good, and there are 2 videos published by the same co. that go into much more detail than your instructional video. I have the first one and it helped me a lot. I just looked up in the P P book and it says, "The seam line is where the needle enters the fabric." Gail Brown, one of the authors of this book, says you can use a permanent felt-tip pen to mark the needle line on the front of the serger foot. When you get very familiar with the serger, you can "guesstimate" the seam line. Using a 5/8" seam will give you 1/4" seam allowance left because the knife cuts off 3/8".

Both books go into detail about the 9 ways to hem w/sergers. So easy with a little practice, especially if yours has differential feed. I am sure others on the group will offer even more help than I can at this time. Emily

Reply to
Emily

Baste or draw a line 5/8" from the cur edge of some practice fabric. Aim you left needle at this line and see where it goes... I hardly ever look these days, so I can't remember. It's cut edge roughly to the 3/8 marker... Generally these days if something needs pinning or basting, I do this on a line that slides past the left edge of the foot, so it doesn't get stitched in!

Does your machine have the nifty little attached gadget for 2 thread stitching? That's a new feature mine doesn't have - I have a separate widget, rather small and prone to being mislaid... ;)

Reply to
Kate Dicey

I have been doing this, and am gradually getting to grips with serging a straight line, and getting the needle thread on the seam line. I also managed to fix my lose tension problem - I had managed to pull the left needle thread out of its tension disc - the serged edge went perfect when I put the thread back through the discs!

Yep, happily I do have the nifty little attached gadget. I know what your gadget looks like as this is still being shown on the user video. As I watched, I thought "now, thats easy to lose"!

Sarah

Reply to
Sarah Dale

Glad to hear it's going better! Once I've threaded through the disks, I always give the thread a yank to make SURE it's gone in! Remember, always thread with the foot UP!

Reply to
Kate Dicey

When I got instructions and hands-on experience with my serger I was taught to 'saw' the thread (pull up and down a couple of times) in each tension to be sure it gets in right.

Reply to
Jean D Mahavier

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