NEED EMERGENCY HELP with Babylock Serger on Lycra/Spandex

Hi. i bought a Babylock Evolve last year but have not had time to mess with it until this week. i promised a friend i would hem a dress for her, thinking i would have no problem. The dress is lycra/spandex. i got the cover stitch to work beautifully with one problem: every time i come to a seam to cross (side seams, front seam, back seam, etc.), the presser foot bogs down and the stitch jumps over to the left, then straightens out again once it is past the seam.

i've tried decreasing the pressure on the presser foot (every setting between 1 and 5), pulling on the fabric as it comes out the back, sewing fast, sewing slow, etc. The differential feed seems to be fine.

i'm about to pull my hair out. my friend is coming this weekend and i don't have her dress ready for her.

Any ideas?

Thanks.

--elizabeth baker

Reply to
baker_eliz
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Have you tried stitching the hem with the seams facing up? I occasionally have this problem with cotton knit and running the fabric through with the seams facing up (right side down) appears to solve the problem for me. melinda.

Reply to
melinda

Melinda, as the Babylock Evolve is a serger (sorry i didn't make that clear), i don't see how this would work. Unless i'm missing something here? i'm a newbie at this, so i could be.

Reply to
baker_eliz

I think it may be that the foot is pressing the seam down too much into the throat area for some reason turning things over with the seam facing up helps. I only get this problem when working with stretch fabrics though, for some reason rigids behave (almost) perfectly. melinda.

Reply to
melinda

Elizabeth, You're right as to the fact that you can't turn it upside down. (Melinda- if she were only serging the edge, this would be fine, but because she's cover stitching there is a specific top and bottom to the stitch.) I've always had the same problem myself (I have a Viking 936) but have always just dealt with it since I've only done it for myself, not for friends. Giving more thought to your problem, though, I've got some ideas you could try. Make sure that on the seam you're crossing, the SA is folded one way on the dress, but folded the opposite direction on the hem- so when the hem is folded up it minimizes the lump that the SA's make. Another thing to try, though I've never done this myself, would be to use a button reed or "hump jumper" just as you would on a heavy jeans hem on a sewing machine. This would reduce the pressure over the seam more than just adjusting your serger.

Hope this helps, Tiffany

Reply to
Tiffany

What about laying a strip of adding machine paper tape under that part of the seam? That would not add to the thickness, but would provide a smooth surface in contact with the plate. Once sewn through, the paper pulls away easily and any left covered by the stitching can be pulled out with tweezers or left to come out in the wash.

Reply to
Pogonip

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