what kind of serger do you have and what do you like about it?

[Pumpkincat]

I am new to serging and am wondering what others are finding works for them. i was given a singer cg754 for christmas. I am not digging it so much, but maybe i just have to try harder.

[sabrinat]

Originally Posted by Pumpkincat

I am new to serging and am wondering what others are finding works for them. i was given a singer cg754 for christmas. I am not digging it so much, but maybe i just have to try harder.

I haven't heard great things about the singers, but don't know from personal experience. I have a viking 903 and a pfaff 4870. I love both of them. The pfaff is a model from the 90's and is an absolute work horse. The viking is lovely too...it's one of their lower end models, but it does a great job and makes the most beautiful rolled hem. The pfaff was a gift from a friend, but I see them on ebay from time to time for $350-450.

[scrapadoozer]

I love my Janome 634d. Unfortunately they seem to have gone up on the price quite a bit since I purchased it two years ago.

[AlwaysByMySide]

I have a relatively cheap Brother 1034D that I use, on average, for 2 hours a day. I've had it for a year and haven't had any issues with it.

[sewchris2642]

I have 2 sergers at home (Babylock 202 and Phaff 4752). The one I use at work is a Singer 14U64. I like all three of them. The Phaff is a 4/3 thread with differential feed. It's my main serger. I use it to sew seams. The Babylock is a 4/3 thread without differential feed. It is set up as a 3 thread, usually for roll hemming. The Singer is also a 4/3 thread, no differential feed. It is set up as a 3 thread as I only use it to finish the raw edges of seams and to put a pencil hem on veils. I have also owned an old Juki and a White serger.

Did you get your serger from a dealer? Or from a discount place (i.e. Walmart, Sears, Joanns)? If it came from a dealer, find out about operating lessons so that you learn everything that it can do. If not, then you will need to seek out the lessons. Not all sewing skills translate from the sewing machine to the serger. Try fabric stores, community college, or adult ed for classes.

[orangefoot]

Mine is a Janome 434D 3/4 thread with differential feed. I bought it off Ebay for about £60 and it came with a bout 50 cones of thread too. Now that I've worked out what I was doing wrong when threading the lower looper it is great. Sometimes getting it out and sewing on it is faster than swinging my Singer up out of its cabinet!

My last job on it was sewing some underwear from myself with just two seams one in the back and one for the gusset. Very satisfying!

There is a lot of info online about sergers and some good videos on YouTube too if you can't get IRL help.

[Carson]

Originally Posted by AlwaysByMySide

I have a relatively cheap Brother 1034D that I use, on average, for 2 hours a day. I've had it for a year and haven't had any issues with it.

I just bought this last week. Glad to hear you enjoy it. I'm not allowing myself to open the box until I finish a project I started but hoping to make some CDs this weekend...

I've been watching the videos on youtube and think that they've been pretty helpful, even if not my machine, learning some of the techniques on a serger.

[AlwaysByMySide]

Originally Posted by Carson

I just bought this last week. Glad to hear you enjoy it. I'm not allowing myself to open the box until I finish a project I started but hoping to make some CDs this weekend...

I've been watching the videos on youtube and think that they've been pretty helpful, even if not my machine, learning some of the techniques on a serger.

Mine came with CD-ROMs with video on them, so you may want to go ahead and open the box to just get those out.

[Carson]

Ha, there was no way I was opening that box until I was ready to sit down with the DVDs and the machine. I know myself too well and that I'd want to stitch all day.

So far, so good - it's not very hard to use and the DVDs were very informative. I practiced on chiffon, cotton, canvas, and birdsey. Very happy with the machine and I think it will definitely enhance my future projects.

[courtenay_e]

I have a viking 905 and I absolutely HATE it. If there is even one millionth of an issue with the way the thing is threaded, it breaks needles, gets caught up, breaks thread...it's a total pain in my butt. In fact, I've had it for six years and have in the last year just let it sit and gone back to a double zig zag on the sewing machine because the serger is so tempermental that I'll get half a project done on it and then something goes wrong and I spend the rest of the day trying to "fix" whatever made it go out of whack, and never finish the project. When it works, man, it's like sewing through butter...I love it. But it so seldom works allll the way through a project that, well, I just have day dreams on those days about throwing it out the window. I got it as a christmas gift, and often sadly tell my husband that it was the worst $600 he ever gave me.

And I have used and loved sergers for two decades, so it isn't that I just don't know how to use it. *sigh*

[Mama~Love]

I have an Elna 654. I'm pretty happy with it, if I wasn't so scared of using it . I've only used it a few times, and was happy with it. Not that big of a pain to thread.

[Timmie]

I have a Babylock serger & it has many features I like but the most important to me is that it threads itself. That makes it worth its weight in gold to me. I had another serger from a top maker but when I was trying to pull the threads thru they broke & I was never able to get it threaded properly again. I sold it & got the Babylock & my life is sooo much easier. I am all for not working too hard if you don't have to.

[Pumpkincat]

Thanks for your input ladies! I have been working with my singer (yes, from walmart) and it is still tempermental and an absolute b---h to thread, it is coming around a bit tho. I am starting to make sense of the machine, but it really is not the best one out there by far. When i can afford a better one, i might get an elna, babylock, or a white. I am still researching it. I have been trying to teach myself to sew as i need to have a profession that will provide me the opportunity to work from home. Plus, i need a place to direct my creativity.