overlocks and sergers oh my !

I got a fancy Singer 5 thread serger with coverstitch. It's not electronic, but as they have said, all the computer ones have is an information screen, no real function, but they jack the price up quite a bit. I made a Xerox copy of the settings page in the manual. That being said, I really miss my old Simplicity 3/4 thread serger that I passed on to one of the girls. Because it was so much simpler (Simplicity?) and easier to set up. This new one confronts me with so many choices and settings that I find I'm not using it. I would like to, but the notion of spending 30 minutes setting it up for a three minute sewing job.....well...you see my dilemma.

I 'upgraded' from a 15-year old Babylock to a Huskylock 936 two years ago and it was the best sewing investment I ever made. I love the sewing advisor, the 5-thread feature, the coverstitch option, the huge harp area that allows my arthritic fingers to thread it with no problems. I also looked at the Pfaff 5-thread but it did not have the sewing advisor and I've found that I LOVE not having to resort to opening up a book everytime I use the thing!

-Irene

Since you're a serger newbie, if at all possible, I'd suggest you buy from a local shop who can support it and teach you the ropes. In fact, I spent a long, quiet, rainy winter afternoon in the shop with my first serger, working through the manual, learning to thread it, and tearing it down for cleaning and changing the blades, then putting it all back together and getting it going again before I bought it. I'd pretty well narrowed the field to that one, and the salesman was quite willing to let me work through things my way while he did something else. As he said, if I managed to break it following the instructions in the manual, there was either a design or manual issue.

That was a Pfaff 756 3/4 thread machine that's sewed miles and miles and miles. I did manage to knock the timing out once, and it's now at the point that I can't serge heavy stuff with it. But it's still great for lightweight stuff, and I can probably baby it along for quite a few more years.

Later, I bought a Bernette (Bernina) 009D coverstitch only machine -- I was not impressed with the persnickity nature of combination overlock/ coverstitch machines. This one does a single width of coverstitch and a chain stitch. It just works, and it suits the way I work.

A couple of years ago, when the Pfaff got too crotchety with heavy stuff, I mail ordered a Juki 2/3/4/5 thread non-coverstitch machine. I'd tried several Jukis over the years I'd been serging, and was pretty impressed with the sturdiness -- they seem to show their industrial roots. I was also impressed with the manual for the machine -- very nicely laid out and clear instructions; I think a newbie with a little mechanical aptitude would have no problems with it. Juki MO-655 It's been handling heavy stuff easily.

Books that helped me when I was beginning: ABCs of Serging Serge Something Super For Your Kids Ultimate Serger Answer Guide.

Kay

I have had 3 Pfaff sergers over the past 20-years and have been happy with all; I began with a simple 4-stitch, up graded to one with differential feed, and gave that one to a DD, who uses it often when she sews. Then I bought a 5-thread with cover stitch, mostly so I could shorten an aunt's & my knit shirts. They have all been great machines. BUT

I've begun to have trouble theading the machines, and for Christmas 2008, DS with whom I live, gave me a BabyLock serger that is self-threading. It is the most wonderful invention, at least for me, since sliced bread. It is just the 4-thread simple serger, and I love it.

Sergers are like sewing machines, different ones fit different people. HTH, Emily

features

Thank you to Joanne, Kate, Irene, Kay and Emily

for the helpful advice and suggestions on the serger/overlocks.

robb