NOT OT: opinions wanted as we start the Christmas planning

I would get the serger, without a doubt. For one, they are more affordable and it has alot more uses. Sewing goes much faster and the garments will hold together better and look more professional. Now I do love my embroidery machine but it is mostly fun (and I have a serger). But you have gotten me thinking about Christmas now and all I wanted to do was make some Fall clothes for me... I am not as organized as you I guess. Christmas will creep up on me this year as it does every year.

Kirsten

Tough choice. But I'd probably go for the serger, because it would save more time and see more use. Also, although a serger requires an additional investment for thread, that's not as costly as all the things one needs or wants to go along with an embroidery machine...not only fancy threads but designs, stabilizers, hoops.

Doreen in Alabama

Larisa wrote: ...

Serger.

Speed, fun, whippingthroughprojectssofastthatyouhavetimetodomorefunthings.

(Weren't you churning out pageant costumes a few years back, and asked how to expedite? Didn't I post "I hope you have a serger" at least once??)

HTH

--Karen D.

Hi Larisa,

If you plan to do a lot more garment sewing, the serger just might be the way to go.

My first embroidery machine, a Viking 1+, was purchased used, and bought primarily because it had a boatload of built in stitches and features I wanted for garment sewing. (It was the top of the line Viking model when it was new.) The embroidery part was an added bonus which I didn't use much at all for the first year or so. But then I got to using that feature more when I bought a reader/writer box and EMBIRD software. Then, this past summer I had an opportunity to buy another Viking embroidery machine (Viking Rose) which was the 'step down' model from the first one I bought, and uses the same cards and files....so I am loving the embriodery and and with the reader/writer and all the designs available, it is so much fun to use....but honestly for what I primarily do, I'd miss the serger more. I've had a serger for many years and just last November purchased a new Viking 936....I LOVE it...and use it constantly. I do lots of garment and craft sewing and those smooth, neat edges are hard to beat...esp. when you can trim and finish the edge in one step. Being petite, I do a lot of alterations, and it's fantastic for that, too.

-Irene=20

------------- "You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough."

- Mae West

My advice, which is worth every penny you pay for it, is to get yourself a serger first. It doesn't have to be a super-dooper fancy one with all the bells and whistles. Just get a solid 4-thread preferably with differential (but even that can be worked around) that you can set for 3 threads, and that has a rolled hem that is relatively easy to set up.

Then, consider a used embroidery only machine. My first (which I still have and have difficulty with the idea of letting it go) is a Singer EU

- a small machine with no computer parts -- I have an old laptop set up with it. The field is 4" x 4", but you know, most of what I want to embroidery is no larger than that. If it is, I can "piece" things together. I do have a new embroidery-sewing machine that has a larger field and does everything but start dinner, but I got along just fine with my little EU for many years.

My first serger cost me $150 at the Penney Catalog Outlet, and my first Singer EU was a P.O.E.M. that set me back $500. As someone else noted here, once you have the embroidery machine, you need thread, stabilizer, designs, lessons, scissors, sprays......

I vote for the serger too. I've had mine about 15 years, and couldn't do without it!

I have sergers and a high-end embroidery machine. If I

*had* to give up one or the other, I would give up the embroidery machine, sobbing huge chest-wracking sobs all the while.

I didn't get my first serger until about twenty years ago, a gently used Bernette 2-3-4MO, no differential feed, just plain vanilla. I had no idea until I had it, how much I would use it. I don't think there has been a garment project since that I have not used it some. I have upgraded to a Huskylock 936, only because I won it at the OR State Fair a couple of years ago. I kept the Bernette, because sometimes it's easier to keep them threaded with different colors.

I really *enjoy* the Singer Quantum XL5000 embroidery machine, and have had lots of fun with it. However, it is not a *necessity*, which the sergers now are. And if you do get an embroidery machine be prepared to shell out additional $$$$ for stabilizers, thread, designs, etc.

JMHO,

Beverly

offkilterquilter wrote in news:q56dnZvP-rpFFkDbnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com:

the embroidery machine. why? because it's more for fun than the serger. i look at it this way: the kids get a couple toys. those are fun. your hubby gets Star Trek. that's fun. why should *you* get the practical serger for a gift? you should get the fun machine. lee

Nope, I don't do pageant costumes.....I have done formals for proms and continue to do them and alterations as side projects....

Okey dokey.....seems that the serger is the winner. Now, I can have fun with a serger as well as the embroidery machine. I'm trying to figure out how to swing both of them.....my birthday is the 12th of December . So....I think I will look at new sergers and start pricing used embroidery machines.

For me, the fun is in creating from the get-go, not just the decorative touches and such, so a serger will let me speed through things and get more done in shorter time periods...lol.

Will post an update as I get more focused on the prospects.

Larisa

It isn't long after Christmas until Valentine day and then Mother's day. You can work this Larissa. One at a time will be fun to learn so stretching it out might be ok anyway. Taria

off kilter quilter @somewherequiet.net wrote:

Oh, Larisa, it's scary to think how fast you will be with a serger. I can't believe you don't already have one with all the garment sewing you do.

You'll love it.

Cindy

I know, you'd think that I would have gotten a serger before getting the EUroPro...but my brain just didn't work that way., I think part of it is that I'm doing more work with knits and also, I don't think pinked edges are very professional. SInce I'm trying to work on getting a business off the ground, more professional finishing is needed....right? :-)

Mother's Day might work...or anniversary (we didn't do anything other than a nice dinner this year, even though we celebrated 10 years!!)

Thank you for all of the feedback....I think I might stop by my local machine shop to see what they have and to talk to them about restoring the treadle (eventually).

Larisa

You .... and your DH .... can restore the treadle.

treadle.http://treadleon.net/sewingmachineshop/index.html> --> Joanne

singerlady.reno.nv.us.earth.milky-way.comhttp://members.tripod.com/~bernardschopen/Well, we started, but then DH broke "a metal thingy" so I'm afraid tolet him near it anymore. NOt sure what he broke, but I do rememberthe stress level in the house - he thought I was furious, I was just abit upset...no big thing at the time, but now I want it working :-)

treadle.http://treadleon.net/sewingmachineshop/index.html>>-->>Joanne

singerlady.reno.nv.us.earth.milky-way.comhttp://members.tripod.com/~bernardschopen/> >

Depending on what the metal thingy is, you might be able to mend it with epoxy. Or find a replacement through the extensive network of People-Powered Sewing Machine Enthusiasts.

If you earn money sewing, I would say a serger is a REQUIREMENT.