The Sewing Mom

I purchased my new serger machine last Friday and had no clue how to use it! It came pre-threaded and I checked everything according to the manual and turned it on. I placed a piece of fabric under the presser foot and pushed down on the foot pedal and it fed the fabric through, but no stitching took place.

Thank goodness I was signed up to take my owner class today! Turns out one of the 4 threads wasn’t in one hole correctly and that was it. Once that was fixed everything worked great!

So, today I learned how to thread the machine, it sews with either 3 or 4 spools of thread. I learned to make stitch and tension adjustments and I learned that by doing those adjustments, I can create different looks with the stitching. Now, hopefully, I’ll be able to remember what I learned and put it to use on some of my current projects, including my fleece baby blankets.

Tags: serger, serger sewing

I am becoming more & more addicted to my sewing! A couple of weeks ago I took a little class on creating these small, fleece, cuddle blankets. At the class, we used a serger to go around the edges of the fleece, but I don’t have a serger at home. So, I’ve been using my sewing machine to sew around the edges.

Now, anyone who sews knows that most sewing machines can do a fine job sewing an overlocking stitch around the edge of fabric, but it also take a while to go all the way around, not to mention, it uses quite a bit of thread.

I happened to be in the store on Monday when the lady informed me that she had just sold a very nice, entry level serger machine that had been discontinued, for less than $200. She said it was very good quality and in fact, had purchased one herself and felt strongly that she could find a few more at area stores. Indeed she did find one and I purchased it yesterday!

Now, I read the manual this morning and, other than the one blanket I made in class, I have absolutely no experience using a serger and I can’t seem to get this one to sew anything. It came out of the box pre-threaded and I didn’t change anything, but it doesn’t seem to want to sew. So, I will have to wait to use it I think.

I am signed up for a class on Wednesday of this week to learn all about it and after that I will be powering my way through more fleece blankets. I stocked up on fleece this week because it was 1/2 price, so I’m ready to go. In the mean time, I think I’ll go start another project, maybe a new bag.

Here’s my new toy.

Tags: serger, sewing