Anyone here using sergers?

[Kattt]

What kind of serger? What do you use it for?

I use one for hours every week but for the most part use the 4 thread rolled hem only. I am starting to get into different stitches and applications . The speed of these machines sets them apart from any sewing machine I own. I am now starting to work  with lightweight knits and while sewing machines have settings for stretchy fabric….the two step forward and one step back makes it deadly slow going.

I would be interested in sharing information and techniques if anyone else here uses sergers. Tomorrow I am driving quite a ways to take a 6 hour serger class which claims to include tensioning, cleaning, oiling (!!) and a lot more.

I have used a Babylock Evolve for about 10 hours a week for 4 years now and it has not missed a single stitch. I have only had to change the thread. I also sew 10 to 15 hours a week and have had countless many minor issues all along, the thread in the bobbin getting all tied up being the main one.

 

[Kattt]

Ugh. Should have left first post empty…..can’t edit and fix it :(

[Craig B]

I do not, although I just started sewing about 9 months ago.  I have an old home style machine that can do pseudo-coverstitch stitches, but I have not made anything with stretchy knits.  It seems like most ultralight gear is made with wovens, with the raw edges being tucked inside a seam or such, so you would not need to use a serger or coverstitch machine on them.  They are also very expensive!  Neat machines though.  So what do you do that requires so much serger work?

[Kattt]

Funny timing…I just got back to BPL.

I sew hammocking accessories and external pockets for backpacks, mostly out of noseeum. The rolled hem is a one run job, cuts the fabric and neatly hems it all at once. I use both serger and sewing machine depending what I am doing but the motor on the serger is just so fast and the entire machine so solid and reliable …

I have also used it for dyneema and sil but I don’t work much with either fabric.

[Edward John M]

My beloved wife uses hers all the time, so much so that she also owns a dedicated coverstitch machine.

She says it is almost impossible to sew stretch fabrics without a good one and I always get her to do the edges of any of my work so the tightly woven fibres don’t fray. I do wish she had purchased the much more expensive 4 needle machine tho so she could do strong flatlocked stretch seams on the PowerStretch  for my skiing tights and underwear shirts

[Kattt]

^^^ there is always Christmas :)

once you start looking at your clothing you see that pretty much everything has been serged. Figuring out  everything you can do with it, and changing the threading…is what I need to get better at. Plus cleaning it more than just blowing it off.

Mine is packed in the car right now but this is what I have. Can use up to 8 threads at once…

the Babylock Evolve

[Kattt]

The serging class was really good and I learned a good amount on this machine, enough to feel more confident threading it in different ways and exploring more stitches.

While mine will do more than most people will ever use , I think that anyone interested in doing serious sewing would benefit from a good overlock machine.

[Nick Smolinske]

I’m curious which specific seams you find it helpful for. The rolled hem is an obvious one, but other than that my impression of sergers was always that they were more of a clothing-specific type of machine, not that useful for general sewing. But I have never used one.

[Kattt]

A serger can’t replace a sewing machine. If you sew fleece, the serger can do a flat felled seam that does not add any bulk. If you need to hem something you can do it better and faster on the serger. Any knits and stretchy fabric in general are much easier to do on a serger because it has a differential feed so you can set it to push the fabric with the front dog instead of pulling it; really thin and slippery fabric can be pulled by the back dog instead of pushed. Fabrics that unravel can be sewed with one step instead of two or three. it makes the perfect seam for tarps too.

I sewed some knit beanies last week and then I serged some last night. The last batch took 1/3 of the time and lay completely flat and look professionallyf finished.

A sewing machine will do most everything someone needs and a serger won’t. Someone doing a lot of sewing will benefit ftom the addition as it is great at what it does, including the speed and the ability to do it all in one run. Slippery fabrics have never been easier. For the hobbyist it does not make sense to spend the extra money and I would stay clear of buying a used one unless one knows about the machine.

[Jerry Adams]

What can be done on a sewing machine that can’t be done on a serger?

That makes a lot of sense that serger is a lot faster.  I do several passes for one seam on my sewing machine that can be done in one pass on a serger.  If I was sewing a lot I’d consider one, but since I only do occasional projects probably doesn’t make sense.

[Kattt]

You can’t do a flat locked  seam on a sewing machine, nor rolled hems. Can’t overlock any edges to prevent fraying.

But yeah, occasional sewing does not warrant getting a serger, I definitively agree with that.

[Jerry Adams]

I know what a rolled hem is – you fold the edge over twice and sew through it – to keep the edge from fraying.  With a serger can’t you do something to an edge to keep it from fraying?  Several threads going in some sort of a zigzag like stitch?  Isn’t that just as good?

A flat locked seam is sort of like a flat felled (or faux flat felled) seam.  except maybe it’s flatter?  I would just do a flat felled seam with my sewing machine.  And with thin fabrics I don’t bother cutting one edge to 1/4 inch.  Isn’t there something functionally equivalent you can do with serger to connect two pieces of fabric, hiding the raw edge?

[Kattt]

Hi Jerry I think you should read up on sergers.

What you are describing is not a rolled hem but a narrow hem.

The flatlock is  different from a flat felled seam as there is no folding of the fabric.

The last question ….that is exactly what the serger is good at, much better than the sewing machine.

If you have one machine it should definitively be a sewing machine.

 

[Kattt]

[Kattt]

 

 

Flat Felled (  3 layers of fabric at the stitch)

 

Fkatlock ( one layer of fabric at the seam)

[Ken Thompson]

Never heard the term narrow hem used for that example. What Jerry and I were taught,

[Kattt]

I have . It just mean 1/4 “

[Kattt]

 

Each of these 3 seams can be done with just one run on the serger.

 

 

[Kattt]

I see that Ken, but that is how to achieve close to a rolled hem by using a sewing machine but technically that is a narrow hem but mimics the function of the rolled hem. It makes sense to have all kinds of tutorials so people can do what they need with a sewing machine. Now try and do that with silk or tulle ;)

I do the 3 thread rolled hem on the serger on the noseeum for the tarp sleeves. Have been doing it for years and it’s one run through versus folding the fabric.

[Jerry Adams]

Thanks, good info Kat

Sewing names seem to be ambiguous sometimes, like some people call it a flat felled seam and others call it a faux flat felled seam and use the term flat felled seam for something slightly different…

[Kattt]

To be completely technical about the name…Rolled hem was originally hand sewn, as my mom taught me. You would take silk, wet your thumb and index finger and roll the fabric and then hem it with a very fine needle and thread. When sewing machines became items a lot of household could afford, they could make perfect small hems and women told one another they could now do the rolled hem on a machine.

The serger doesn’t actually roll the fabric either, it just bunches it up and throws the thread around it making it a nice rolled edge.

[Kattt]

 

Just look at this thing!

 

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