Janome Serger 9102D - jammed while sewing

Don't know if it would help, but have you tried lifting the lever to loosen the tension and rocking the wheel on the side and slowly pulling the cloth? HTH Maybe Ron Anderson would have a better suggestion? Barbara in SC

Can be tricky stuff. Be very careful you can break loopers by pulling on it too hard. I would cut the threads as close to the work as possible break off the needles and take the needle plate off and then cut it free.

Thank you Ron and Bobbie I will try that Ron, I left a message on my neighb ors car door to call me when she left for her shop, which she makes drapes on sergers but she didn't call me, she must of figured I was asleep lol so hopefully I will be able to do it the way you said. I will let you know.

Judy, I don't have this machine. If I did this to my Juki, the first thing I'd do is to cut all the threads as close to the project as possible, and take the cones off the machine, just so I can see what I'm doing better. Then I'd open the machine and get in there with a pair of sharp pointed small scissors and a seam ripper and start cutting any remaining threads I can reach, and gently rock the handwheel. I'd alternate clipping threads, picking out any I could, and rocking the handwheel till it comes free.

Then I'd clean the machine, oil per instructions, put in some new needles, and check for timing problems.

Usually if I get myself in trouble with a jam, it's from doing something like not putting the blade down and starting to serge.

Kay

Uh-oh. I don't know what your warning "not putting the blade down" means. What blade, which blade? Do you mean "not putting the foot down"? Waaah. Help. ( Keep in mind that I suffer from Fear of Serger.) Polly

Thank you Kay

Hi Ron,

My neighbor came over and did it real easy, she said I almost had done it m yself. She set my machine up for the tension I should be using for the qui lt I am making. So hopefully it won't do it again. But I want to thank all of you for helping me. Now maybe I can get me some rest tonight lol

So glad your neighbor got you out of this mess with the serger. You might still need to clean the machine (I use a child's water paint brush as a dust mop) and give it a drop of oil and let it sit overnight before I use it again. Barbara in SC

Thanks Bobbie, I will make sure I oil it tonight but I want to sew a little bit this afternoon lol

Oh and I was going to tell you that is funny cause I use a paint brush too

With a serger, the very first thing to do is to clear a few hours of time, get out the manual and enough cones for each position -- in different colors. Primary colors are especially good if you have them. Then begin at the beginning of the manual and go through it page by page. If you persist, your questions will be answered.

Check to see if there is a workbook available for your machine, too. Going through a workbook is even better than going through the manual -- but read the manual anyway!

Sergers are made so that you can move the blade out of working position to do a number of things, but probably the most important is to replace a worn blade. Yes, there is more to a serger than putting the foot down, and that's why you want to go through that manual carefully, and the workbook if it's available.

Dagnabit, Polly, we gotta get you over this. Sergers are very nice machines that, like sewing machines, work fine if you just Do It Their Way. And they sew very fast and make nice neat seam allowances that I don't have to figure out how to fight the ravel battle with, and I don't think I'd be sewing without one any more.

Sergers have a pair of blades that act like scissors and trim the edge of the seam allowance off nice and straight and just before the seam goes under the needles and the loopers come around and wrap it all up tidily. Usually the upper blade will swing up out of the way so you've got a little more finger room for threading, or for cleaning. If that blade isn't engaged, then when you try to sew, the excess seam allowance that should have been trimmed off gets wrapped up by the looper threads and makes a big bunch that causes the machine to jam. And makes me say bad words while picking out the extra thread. Because I wasn't smart enough to remember that sergers want things to be done Their Way.

I don't think I've ever tried to serge with the presser foot up. I guess sewing machines have me too well trained to make that mistake.

(BTW, the lady that convinced me I really wanted a serger was just sitting there making onsies and little gowns for Newborns in Need when I stopped into the sewing machine dealer to explore the subject. She was going through piles of pieces lickety split, and they were turning into very nice baby clothes. I figured if they'd do that, they'd make big people clothes, too. )

If you ever get bored, I did a photo series of how serger stitches are made.

The upper blade is raised in the photos so you can see the loopers and stitch fingers better. Sergers have a very nice dance between the needles and loopers. It's funny... cranky sewing machines are generally due to bad thread, misthreading, bad or wrong needle, dirty machine, machine in need of oil or strange tensioning. Cranky sergers are generally due to bad thread, misthreading, bad or wrong needle, dirty machine, machine in need of oil or strange tensioning. They're really a lot alike under it all.

Kay

Oh and I was going to tell you that is funny cause I use a paint brush too

I also use a child's paint brush for each of my sewing machines. Emily

thanks for post Kay....I finished my quilt and gave to friend for her birthday...it looked great :) was first quilt done on a serger and love it.