Can you ladies help me out, here? I bought this machine the other day (over the phone from my longtime dealer, who I trust implicitly), hoping to make a lettuce-edged rolled hem on the chiffon skirts of my gown. It is not working. The rolled stitching is not catching the thin chiffon except intermittently, and it's driving me mad.
Any ideas? Thanks in advance. This is almost all I have left to do on the dress, which is turning out so well, otherwise. And the event is tomorrow night. Eeek.
Have you double checked all of the settings? I've had my Evolve for a couple of months, but don't consider myself an expert. There's a note in the manual on page 33 that says: "To avoid the stitching from pulling away from the fabric, increase the width to a slightly larger number".
pocket.com/ 2007/05/serger- rolled-hem. htmlhttp://sewing. about.com/ od/sewingmachine index/ig/ Serger-Stitches/http://www.enchante dcostumes. com/costume_ details.shtml Karen, I took these off of another list I'm on. I also think that on another group someone suggested a "Solvy soup" as a solution for making unruly fabric more managable. But you don't have time to make the 'soup'. I haven't looked at the above addresses, I just stored them for future use. But if a 'paint on' water soluable solution works, why not just strips of water soluable stablizer fed through with the fabric. Just off the top of the head brainstorming.
I have used rolls of adding machine tape (picked up in thrift stores) to give the edge a little more body -- stitched over that and then ripped the paper off. I don't know how that would do with a lettuce edge, though.
Karen a few days ag you mentioned that you had 2 other overlockers. Can either of them do a rolled hem? I know nothing about the Babylock Evolve so looked it up and the advertising blurb says that it has "an automatic rolled hem function". Since that doesn't seem to be working as you need it to, why not go back to the other machine you know and check out the if they can do it. I have a Bernina and that requires me to take out a needle, add a dooverlackey and pull a lever forward but from then on it does a lovely rolled hem so perhaps one of your other machines might do the same for you. Good luck!
The reason I got this new one is that my little sewing room TV, which is perched atop a shelf unit on my sewing table, fell off it's pedestal, and onto both my sergers. It broke the oldest one the worst, and I don't think I'll get that one repaired. But the newer one also was broken, and when I picked up the Evolve, I left that one at the shop to be repaired. As I was fussing about last night, trying to get this to work, I realized what a dumb move that was.
But I think I have it figured out. I do have some Solvy, but I think I'll first try doing what Teri Jones originally suggested, which was to run a line of machine stitching along the hem edge. Then I can trim, and double the fabric, and then do the rolled hem, which should work. I hope. As a fallback option, I'll try the Solvy. Adding machine tape will not work, I'm afraid, as it would tear this delicate silk chiffon.
Thank you all so much! It's much easier to come up with a solution when you brainstorm! I'll let you all know Sunday what works best.
Hmmm... no babylock eveolve, but I'd suggest you either set your stitch width wider and / or adjust the cutting width to something a bit smaller, so there is more material under the needle.
If you have some scraps of Solvy, you can melt them in a solution of warm water to make a liquid you can "paint" onto the edge of the fabric. It should dry fairly quickly and leave the fabric with a bit of stiffening to help. If you have any of the solution left over, refrigerate it to keep it from getting nasty.
I to have a Babylock Evolve and I use it quite a lot for rolled hems on fine and slippery fabrics and had the same problem,so I rang my dealer and he told me to tighten the pressure foot screw and I found it works,otherwise I disengage the blade ,and do the rolled hem that way.Hope that helps.
Thanks to everyone for your suggestions--the gown is finished, except for a waist stay to hold the bodice in place (I tend to pull at my clothes unless they are secure, and I definitely don't want to do that at an elegant affair). That job should only take a few minutes, but I have to try on the top again to do it, and it was too late to mess with it when I got it all done last night.
Anyway, I did try the Solvy on a scrap of chiffon, but that would have been messy (and the scrap I washed it out of is stiff as a board after it dried, which is unacceptable). It was easy to rip it out, but I didn't want to take the chance on pulling the stitching away--this fabric is like a cobweb, it's so fine (and yummy!).
What finally worked was to widen the stitch length--thanks for that hint. Who knew that the part of the gown that the fewest would see or even notice would be the part that gave me the most fits? Thanks again!
It's not original, but handy to know. Solvy is expensive if you use a lot of it. If you have quite a few scraps, you can do the melting thing, then pour it in a teflon-coated cookie tray and let it dry - get it even - then peel it off and you have a new sheet.
If you use a lot of it, try to get some hospital laundry bags - they're the same thing, actually. Strong when dry, but dissolve in hot water. There's a lady here in Nevada who buys them in bulk, then sells them in small lots. She does Organ needles that way, too.
What a great idea. Thanks for the tip. I've not yet tried using Solvy but I have a few ideas I'd like to try out using some nice fleece I have and Solvy would be essential to that idea.
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