[icicle]

You could try a local/area sewing machine shop — that’s where I picked up my used serger for the price of a cleaning. Often people will trade in a model when they upgrade or someone will drop off or sell a repair shop an old machine that they no longer want.

[Anonymous]

You might also try craigslist.org. I’ve also seen them for sale on Diaper Swappers under Craft and Hobby Supplies here: http://www.diaperswappers.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=31

You’ll have to join to use the forum but it’s free.

[Sarvi]

At first, $1700 for a serger sounded so wild to me, but I wouldn’t blink at spending that on camera equipment, if I had it to spend. If this is where your passion is and you can afford it, why not get great tools. Your machine sounds pretty fab, jemellia. I’ll add it to the fantasy list!

[Kim]

I am researching for a serger too and I read that JUKI made Bernina and they are a good serger at less money. I am looking at a Juki MO-654 DE Pearl Series Serger. They have some on ebay. I read that some sergers are hard to thread, you can spend more money for one that uses air to thread. The review on this one said that it is not hard to thread. Also and to make sure it has a differential and this one does.

[JohannaO]

I just won one on e-bay. Now the waiting begins. Happy, happy joy.

[JohannaO]

I have my new serger in hand, managed to thread it correctly off of the threading diagram on the cover, (yeah!) and have done a few test strips to make sure nothing tangles. The thread that comes with it seems to be very fuzzy, and is probably not very good. Where to buy serger thread? Any tips on which kinds? I’m looking online for the Serafil that Nicole mentioned, but haven’t come across it yet. I will appreciate any tips you can offer.

My “how to serge” books should be arriving any day now.

[Nicole]

I googled Amann , which is the company that make it Johanna and lots of info came up, this may be worth a go?

[sewinginthecity]

I just wanted to leave a little thread changing tip for the new serger owners. It uses the old way of tying your new thread to the old one and pulling for as long as you can. I found a good way to do it on a serger, and I have never had to thread loopers from scratch again.

When you want to change looper threads, double knot on the new ones , but make sure you put the knots after the tension dials. Loosen the tension dials, then pull by hand until the knots come all the way out of the machine. You shouldn’t feel any resistance. Reset the tension dials, and rethread the needle thread/s by hand. This has saved me a lot of time. On my Brother 1034D, I haven’t had to use that darn sliding thing again.

[Nicole]

I would really advise new owners against fiddling with their tension. I use S I T C , excellent method, but find if you gently pull the thread through , there is no need to loosen the tension. This may just be my machine. If you decide to change your tension, make sure you write the numbers down, some overlockers can be temperamental !

[sewinginthecity]

Good point, motherof5, but I found that no matter how gently I pulled, if I didn’t loosen the tension, the knots would come apart, or the thread would slip out of the hooks and get tangled, then requiring me to rethread anyway. Just sharing what works for me…I’m sure it won’t work for everyone.

[cherry]

Motherof5- good point about noting down the tension settings… i *finally* managed to get the tension of my machine perfect last week, then changed the settings to 0 for rethreading, and now have lost my ‘perfect’ tension again. I’ll need to spend another 30 mins twiddling knobs to get it looking nice again now!

I’m loving my serger at the moment though (aside from the tension issues!). I only use three threads in mine, as I’m lazy and like being able to quickly switch it to the rolled hem setting then back again without needing to worry about that 4th thread.

Sewinginthecity- thanks for the tip! Rethreading the overlocker is my most hated sewing job, and I can easily waste an hour trying to find the right way to do it! I’ll def try your method next time I need to change threads.

[sewinginthecity]

I hope it helps, Cherry. I love using my serger too, and my most hated job is also having to rethread, and having to reset tension is my second most hated serger job. So, yes, like Motherof5 says, write it down. The more I think about it, fiddling with tension can be a little risky. On my machine, whenever a tension problem comes up, I always make sure the thread is truly sitting in the tension disks by tugging a bit on each thread right above and below the dials before I make any changes. Sometimes that fixes it. I do this after I change threads, too. Okay, enough sewing geekiness for the night — I must go to bed!

[Sarvi]

Ladies, what is the difference among these:

overlock

serge

coverstitch

?

Thank you!

[Nicole]

Serger is American for overlocker(just being cheeky)they are the same!

A cover stitch is straight stitch on the top and an overlock on the wrong side,most t-shirts have this finish.

[Violaisabelle]

Here is a good description of the differences: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overlock

Here is a good article too, scroll down for more information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sewing_machine

I am considering purchasing an coverstitch machine so that I have both a serger and a coverstitch machine.

Before purchasing a coverstitch machine, I would highly recommend trying one out, first. The coverstitch only machines offer a much larger space to work with, vs. the serger/coverstitch combo machines.

Carol