Need a good serger book for making knit garments, esp with Cover Stitch

I recently upgraded my Bernina 1100DA serger to the new Bernina 1300MDC serger to get a cover stitch. I want to be able to make simple knit items, especially tops, that I have trouble getting a good fit in ready-to-wear (sleeves and body are always several inches too short!). I have found excellent stylish knit fabrics online at places like

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and I have several good serger reference books. However, I'd like to find a book that deals mainly with using the serger to make garments, especially knit ones, and that goes into the cover stitch more in depth -- like which cover stitch to use with different fabrics, what order to do the sewing steps, how to get the most professional results, etc. My dealer is great for quilting and embroidery stuff, but they don't have much to offer as far as garment sewing and even less with the serger (classes were AWFUL!!). Can anyone recommend a good book or magazine article I should hunt up? I've bought all this gorgeous fabric but I feel like I need to do a little more research before I start cutting! I don't have ANY experience sewing clothing (just window treatments and quilting) so I need a little hand-holding -- the pattern instructions assume that the sewer knows a bit more than I do! Thank you!

I know it's not quite what you want just yet, but because stretch fabrics have their own peculiar handling and fitting characteristcs, if you are not a garment sewer yet, it might be a good idea to start with some basic garment sewing first. The tecniques you want for sewing stretch knits are more advanced, and almost all books dealing with them will assume basic garment construction methods and sequences are already known.

That said, one good book that deals with basic sewing of stretch garments is the The Stretch & Sew Guide To Sewing On Knits by Anne Person. ISBN 0-8019-8593-5 (Chiltern Book Company 1994) $19.95 I don't think it deals with cover stitch, but your manual should tell you how, and the cover stitch can then be applied to hems in place of the hem dealt with in the book.

One technique book I find invaluable is The Complete Serger Handbook, by Chris James ((New York, Sterling Publishing Company) ISBN 0-8069-9807-5 $17.95

Another good one is Serger Secrets, ed Susan Huxley ((Rodale 1998) ISBN

1-57954-464-9 $19.95

Both of these last two cover a lot more than serging knits. :) They DON'T cover garment construction methods, but will give you lots of ideas about where and how to apply the different things your new machine can do.