Good, cheap serger?Does it exist???

[Leilalu]

Hi,
I am hoping to ask MIL for help buying a serger and snap press. I've got soaker knitting and diaper sewing fever!!!
I am talking about a small one, kinfd of like what I learned to surge with in my high school knitting class. It was kind of small, but did the job. I just need it for me, making diapers, sewing dresses, shirts, etc.

[AngelBee]

:

Hey Leilalu.....how much is a snap press on average?

[Lynski]

I have a White 1600 that I got off of eBay. It goes on sale at Joannes occasionally for less that $200. It's not the best, and I wish I'd spent more and got something better. But it works okay for now.

[Leilalu]

Angelbee, I think they are around $60 usually.The one I looked at is $62. But then you have to buy the snaps and stuff.I've just looked here briefly: http://thesnapstore.com/catalog/prod...c59c8ef6012ac2

So, are sergers usually $200 and up?

[Lynski]

I think that is probably as low as sergers get.

For the snap press, don't forget you need the dies which are another $30 and then shipping on those things is about $30 too. They are VERY heavy!

[wildthing]

I have heard from several WAHMs that the Brother is a good serger. I had the White ATS2000, but it couldn't go through many layers of fabric. I had to get it serviced a lot.

[Kari_mom]

This is an interesting question. I have read elsewhere that you can buy a Brother serger at Walmart, and sometimes it works fine and sometimes it doesn't. The thing with Walmart though, is that you can keep taking them back until you get a good one.

The flaw with this, in my mind, is if you are new to sergers and don't have a tutor, how will you know if it is the machine or user error?

[jentilla]

Hobbylock

I have a Pfaff Hobbylock and it is awesome! I paid a bit more about $400, but it is so worth it! I suggest going to your local vacum sewing center. They usually give service warranties and will sell used machines. I could take mine back after a year and get full price and after 2 yrs 80% of what I paid. They also will fix anything, clean it and give free lessons for 2 yrs. I only have one lesson and had never serged and I sew on it all day long! I have also heard bad things about White machines. I know you just need it for diapers and such, but you want a reliable machine and one that you could resell later if you needed to. Also a friend and I went in on a snap press from diapershop.com and it was $90 w/dies, but her die sets don't work with snapstore snaps even if they are the same size. Her snaps are bigger.

Crazy : mom to O :

[boingo82]

If you aren't afraid of used, the old Jukis are good. I have a MO-134, about 20 years old, it's great. I paid $75 from the orig owner, you can find them on eBay from $50-$150.

[drea2447]

I would also suggest checking out second hand models. Typically the sewing center checks them out pretty well and services them. Take some fabric that you plan on using and play with them. Also check on ease of threading. When I started looking for sergers, I found one at Sears that I thought was a great price. It was something like 250. I had it for a week before I returned it. It was a PITB to thread and it kept jamming on the material. I went a week later to my local sewing shop and got a 12 year old Bernina for 275 that runs like a dream and takes me 2 minutes to thread. I have never had a problem. Good luck.

[kvan]

Originally Posted by boingo82

If you aren't afraid of used, the old Jukis are good. I have a MO-134, about 20 years old, it's great. I paid $75 from the orig owner, you can find them on eBay from $50-$150.

I bought one recently, used, about a 1997 model, and it is an awesome, solid machine.

You'll want to know how old the machine is, though. You can look at the Juki site and can see how long ago the model came out. Here's a link to the site:
Juki home sergers

Mine is an MO-643DE, BTW

[Lynski]

Boy I wish I'd read this thread before I bought my White! I was leary too since I had trouble w/ a White sewing machine but it had good reviews somewhere. I should have talked to people who use it to sew diapers! Next time, I'll probably get a Pfaff. I love my Pfaff sewing machien!