[rbmcgill]

several years ago, i would have never guessed that i would be asking for a serger for christmas!!!!

anyway, i’m a little overwhelmed in my research…do any of you know of some good review websites, etc…

i am also totally open to personal opinion/experience!!!

thanks!

[Nicole]

How exciting, very quick comment!

My last overlocker was a second hand Husqvarna (sp)? I purchased for $300, it was/is fantastic! For my birthday last year Husband bought me a 5 thread Bernina that hems t-shirts. A nice machine , but very fiddly and not worth the $1800 pricetag.

[Emily]

Pattern Review also has reviews for machines, including sergers. I used that when I was looking to buy one and found it to be helpful, although the site is NOT easy to navigate.

http://sewing.patternreview.com/

[Rebecca W]

I am asking for a serger for Christmas too! I had been planning to ask for advice on here too! I was at Joann’s with my mom a few weeks ago and we started talking to the sales lady a little about them and she assumed that we knew way more than we did (well, she assumed that we knew anything about sergers) so I left more confused that I was when we started talking to her!

Anyway- I was wondering- if you have a serger, do you do most/all of your clothing sewing with one?

Nicole- The 5 thread one that hems t-shirts- that is the professional looking hem on t-shirts, right? Does it have to be a 5 thread one to do that?

[sewinginthecity]

I have a serger, and I use it almost every time I sew. The only time I didn’t use it in recent memory is when I did all french seams with the ice cream dress. I sew knit tees and pants almost all by serger. (I use a double needle on my regular machine to do the hems.) With wovens, I use the serger to finish seams.

I have a Brother Lock 1034D and it works fine and is inexpensive (about $200 on Amazon). If you can, I would get one a little better. It’s not so great with lightweight fabrics, and works best with middle weight fabrics. The lower looper takes some patience to learn to thread, but once you know how, it’s pretty easy.

Here’s a link to a review. http://products.howstuffworks.com/serger-overlock-machine-reviews.htm I’ve never bought anything based on these reviews, but might be helpful.

[Nicole]

I use my overlocker with most garments and I find with O+S patterns I tend to neaten all my seams and then construct the garment. I make the garment once and mark on my pattern where the seams should be finished first.

Recently I invested in some overlocking thread called Serafil (sp)?, it was quite dear , $10 a spool, but it is neutral, almost translucent and very,very strong! Since purchasing this thread I have not changed my overlocker thread again, ( I used to match my overlocker thread to my garment ) this has saved me so much time.

Yes Rebecca, it does the professional finish , and if you did a lot of stretch knit you possibly would use it a lot ( I don’t )!

I think there are 4 threads that do the same, I am fairly sure Pfaff make one. It does involve re-treading your machine , so I tend to make all my skivvys in one hit and hem them all in one sitting.

[sewinginthecity]

Nicole, are you talking about coverstitch, the t-shirt hem with two rows of stitching on the right side?

[mrsc1345]

I also have a Brother 1034D and for $200 it works great. They wanted $400 for it at my local shops but got mine for $200 on amazon. (Yikes, I try to buy local, but I can’t afford an extra $200!) This was the only one in my price range (the others were all $600 and up) but it works well except for the fiddly threading. It always takes me 20 minutes of cursing and video watching to remember which order to thread it and what thread has to be laying on top of what. Although this seems to be pretty standard issue for sergers, unless you can shell out the big bucks for a self threading machine.

[Jemellia]

I have a Babylock Imagine, I love it! Here’s my blog post about it: http://jemjam.typepad.com/jemjam/2009/06/my-serger.html

[Nicole]

Yes, I think it is coverstitch. I must confess , this machine is wasted on me, I just don’t use the features. Husband purchased it as it was recommended as the more heavy duty machine.

[Toyota888]

Nicole – where did you get your clear overlocker thread? It sounds very handy. If it is at hand I’d love the details and proper name/number of it.

[Nicole]

Its called Serafil , Miranda, and it is sold by AMANN , It is 5000m, 120/2, I bought colour 4000 for dark ( which I have never used ) and colour 0326 for lights and neutrals , and have not changed it since I put it on. I did have to play with the tension , so I would suggest getting the store to thread your machine for you and set the tension. You need to purchase stretchy nets to go over the spools to stop it coming off ( but these are cheap and a good practice anyway ).

I get all my sewing machine bits from All Make Sewing in Adelaide , from a chap named Heinz , he is my guru! If I have a problem with my machines I can ring him and quite often he will fix it over the phone!

Its about $25 per spool , but the time saving , lack of fluff and breakage make it a good investment.

x Nicole

[Toyota888]

Oh thanks so much – yes I am willing to pay a bit more to avoid having my overlocker sitting there unused… I know if it is too hard I won’t bother!

[Aviatrix51]

A very dear friend just got me a second hand serger at a yard sale for 40.00. She says it’s really nice! Color me excited. 🙂

[JohannaO]

I’ve been hunting for a used serger. I’ve been on ebay, shopgoodwill, and my local “yardsale” site. Any other good places to look for them?