keep loosing the thread out of the last hole of the lower looper while serging

When my serger does this I get out the instruction book and rethread while looking at the pictures. The problem is usually with the looper threads being crossed over wrong down where they are threaded in the loopers. The back looper needs to be threaded first and pulled through to the back. Then thread the front looper. This usually works for me and I hope it helps you. Barbara in SC

simplicity SL350 serger...very simple machine...and i've been using it without any problems...i sewed some gathered edging to make ruffles which went fine and then when i went to put the rolled edge for the bottom of the ruffle it started acting up...basically it serges ok and then i get a tug and notice that there are only 2 threads sewing and that the third thread that should be in the lower looper is out yet still connected to my sewing project...any tips on what to check? i've rethreaded the whole machine at least 4 times and checked the setting and made sure i have the correct throat plate on...still same problem??!?! AND...it does serge a regular stitch fine...

Have you tried unthreading the eyes of the needles and then rethreading the looper and rethreading the needle eyes? That's the fastest way of getting the correct crossings. If you leave the needles threaded and rethread the lower looper, the thread just breaks again at its earliest convenience.

Sergers, even more than sewing machines, like to teach you to do it their way, not the way you think it should be.

Kay

Kay is right. You might as well do it "the serger's way". It 'seemed' to me that I could do serger 3-thread stitches by simply unthreading one needle. Logical? Reasonable? sure ... but that is not how it is. My serger would not do a 3-thread nicely if there was an extra needle there, threaded or not and it Will break the thread if I don't unthread the needle(s) when threading the loopers. Such is life. Polly

"Kay Lancaster" On Fri, 17 Aug 2012 13:07:21 -0700 (PDT), >> so i've been trying to figure

I asked why because I like to know the why's for doing anything. There really was no sensible reason other than, according to her, it worked if you followed the manufacturer's sequence and you would have problems if you didn't follow their sequence. I hate to admit that I always follow the sequence.

Fran

Did you put in new needles? The last time this happened, it was a needle with a burr that was catching the looper thread.

There are some internal thread crossings that are difficult to get correct (especially for beginners) if you don't thread in the specified order. For instance, if the lower looper thread breaks and you rethread it without unthreading the eye of the needle(s) first, you're going to get another broken lower looper thread in a few inches. So you rethread the lower looper, serge a few inches and it breaks again. And again. And again. Then you remember to unthread the needle(s) first. And all is peaceful again.

I challenged myself to learn to thread any thread position without unthreading the rest of the machine. Yes, I can now do it. But it takes longer than threading the whole thing from scratch.

Kay

(snip of previous posters comments) ______________________________

The other thing she told me to do was that, when I was rethreading the lower looper, the 'L" shaped thingy, MUST (again that verbal underlining) be in a very specific spot - no further to one or other side. This is not mentioned in the instruction book but I made copious notes on it during the lessons and she was right. If it's not in preciselythe position she specified, the thread keeps breaking.

:-)) You have much more patience than I do by learning to do that. I have manage to rethread the two lower loopers by pulling the thread through and have no trouble with that, but if I need to do a rethread from scratch, for some reason, it's drag out the book and follow it as described.

Interesting... I've never come across that. Which serger do you have? I've sewn on most that were available ca. 1995 (and threaded them), then again 2007, and that's the first time I've run into this. I wonder if there's something about that position that keeps one thread from getting snagged accidentally.

Nah, I was bored one cold rainy day, couldn't sew (power was out), did want to play with machines. Remembered something one of the sewing book authors said on a discussion group one day about having to learn to thread sergers backwards to get the photos for a book... they'd sew samples, leave extra, extra long thread tails, and rethread backwards to get the photos. So I tried it. Yah, I'm stubborn. But it actually wasn't difficult.

I only get about a 90% success rate on the pull through method (I don't tie good knots, it seems), so I'd just as soon cut to the chase and thread from scratch. After I do it a few tens of times, it's engraved in the fingers.

Kay

Finally, Kay, maybe I can teach you something. I thought my sneaky method of sending a new thread through the loopers was called an overhand knot. I looked around a little on the net and am not sure if it is or not/knot. =)

Take a red spool of thread and a blue spool of thread. Hold the ends of both threads together. Form a loop - like a cursive small e - and poke Both thread ends through the loop. Always keeps both threads together as if they were one. Leave about 3 or 4" hanging. Pull tight. Mr. Esther learned all manner of fancy knots and is quite impressive with it. I only know that one (except for tying my own shoes) but it works very well for a quick serger looper sneak. Polly

Polly Esther wrote: :Finally, Kay, maybe I can teach you something. I thought my sneaky method :of sending a new thread through the loopers was called an overhand knot. I :looked around a little on the net and am not sure if it is or not/knot. =) :

Take :a red spool of thread and a blue spool of thread. Hold the ends of both :threads together. Form a loop - like a cursive small e - and poke Both :thread ends through the loop. Always keeps both threads together as if they :were one. Leave about 3 or 4" hanging. Pull tight. Mr. Esther learned all :manner of fancy knots and is quite impressive with it. I only know that one :(except for tying my own shoes) but it works very well for a quick serger :looper sneak. Polly That is indeed an overhand knot, and it's how I change thread in my machines. Much faster than doing it from scratch, and no risk of doing it wrong. I'd have to look at the manual to make sure I'm doing it right, and even then, it's not clear, because the 20U had a change in the thread path, but the manual I have predates that. (I should probably take some pictures, eh?) I'm sure it's pretty common -- I was shown how to do that by a mechanic, and my current mechanic did the last time I brought a machine to him. (And he fixed it in five minutes, while he showed me what he was doing.)

A Bernina 800 DL.

My notes that I wrote in my instruction book say the following: "When threading on red marker make sure that lower looper eye (step 10) is only just (and I've underlined the word 'just' multiple times) showing from the left beyond the stitch plate. If the looper eye is too far to the right the thread continues to break. In the right position the blue looper eye will be hidden."

:-))) I can recognise that sort of desire but I usually go play with old black Singers when that don't need electricity when that happpens.

Remembered something one of the sewing

LOL. Being a bobbin lace maker, I know how to tie knots; 'right over left, left over right'.

Interesting how we have favourite knots. I always use a reef knot.

Why not pick up a new manual, maybe even free?

(and yes, I agree, the homebrew manuals are the best).

Kay

Kay Lancaster wrote: :On Thu, 23 Aug 2012 23:08:17 +0000 (UTC), David Scheidt wrote: :> machines. Much faster than doing it from scratch, and no risk of :> doing it wrong. I'd have to look at the manual to make sure I'm doing :> it right, and even then, it's not clear, because the 20U had a change :> in the thread path, but the manual I have predates that. (I should :> probably take some pictures, eh?) I'm sure it's pretty common -- I :> was shown how to do that by a mechanic, and my current mechanic did :> the last time I brought a machine to him. (And he fixed it in five :> minutes, while he showed me what he was doing.)

:Why not pick up a new manual, maybe even free? :

Well, the manual wasn't updated, and the current iteration of the machine is different yet again. It's pretty clear if I think about what the various bits of the thread path are supposed to do. It's just that I don't thread the machine enough from scratch, so I don't have it all in muscle memory.

:(and yes, I agree, the homebrew manuals are the best).

:Kay