Serging question

[boscopup]

As I think about my (hopeful) Christmas present serger... I need to see if my pattern will need to be tweaked for serging. Someone said that tight curves are difficult. My tabs are currently exactly half inch smaller all around than the tabs on the size medium VB fitted. I like the size of my tabs (they don't fold up so much), but I'm wondering if they might be too small to do easily with a serger? Will I need to make them bigger, or will the current size be ok (at least once I master curves, of course)? Having never used a serger, I just have no clue what to expect.

Just trying to see if I need to tweak my pattern more before my next test diaper. I'm thinking I might make one tomorrow. I need more fitteds!

[michellerene]

Oh, man, serging around tight curves is a major PITA! I had to change my pattern to make the tabs have a wider, shallower curve than I wanted just for that reason. I still fight with it sometimes! You have to make sure the fabric is feeding under the serger foot absolutely [/I]straight[I] & that's almost impossible on tight curves. I really don't get how some gals get the tighter curves I see sometimes, unless they're using one needle instead of two, which will make for a less durable diaper. I recently bought a better machine, but it actually seems less able to do curves than the cheaper one I had that jammed up all the time.

One step forward, 1/2 step back!

If anyone has any tips on serging curves, please enlighten us!

[boscopup]

I forget whether you have the VB fitted pattern, but if you do... My DS's size in my pattern has tabs pretty much the same size as the newborn VB fitted size. Have you tried serging that size tab?

Now you have me scared.

[michellerene]

No, I don't have any purchased patterns, but from looking at the pics of their serged dipes, the tabs look fine to me.

[our3boys]

Originally Posted by michellerene

Oh, man, serging around tight curves is a major PITA! I had to change my pattern to make the tabs have a wider, shallower curve than I wanted just for that reason. I still fight with it sometimes! You have to make sure the fabric is feeding under the serger foot absolutely [/I]straight[I] & that's almost impossible on tight curves. I really don't get how some gals get the tighter curves I see sometimes, unless they're using one needle instead of two, which will make for a less durable diaper. I recently bought a better machine, but it actually seems less able to do curves than the cheaper one I had that jammed up all the time.

:

Mine especially does not like hemp with 2 needles around curves! I did not want bigger curves last night (they were already pretty big and gentle, just not for my machine), so I ended up serging off and restarting. It's not very pretty. But I did finally discover a couple nights ago a new trick: I used one of those tiny "snag fixers" (looks like a super small latch hook) to pull the thread tail through. All this time I have been threading 3-4 threads through a needle to sew the threads through to lock them in place.

[our3boys]

wow - that italics html thing is not working!

[LoveBaby]

Originally Posted by our3boys

:

Mine especially does not like hemp with 2 needles around curves! I did not want bigger curves last night (they were already pretty big and gentle, just not for my machine), so I ended up serging off and restarting. It's not very pretty. But I did finally discover a couple nights ago a new trick: I used one of those tiny "snag fixers" (looks like a super small latch hook) to pull the thread tail through. All this time I have been threading 3-4 threads through a needle to sew the threads through to lock them in place.

brilliant idea on the latch hook! i'm soooo excited to know that! I've been doinf the same thing and it takes forever!

[LeosMama]

Vera, I don't have any trouble serging VB newborn wings. Admittedly, I did at first and most of my early projects with curves were pretty bad. But I was just last night commenting to dh what a difference practice makes. I have a cheap brother overlock machine from JoAnn's. i think we paid $120 for it about five years ago. It's a PITA to thread, but it really does curves well and makes nice seams (as long as ds hasn't been messing with the tension! )

So...practice practice practice!

[boscopup]

Ok, good! I'll be practicing by making wipes and mama pads and soakers. My first practice will be curtains, but those aren't curvy. I guess I need to load up on $1/yd fabric to practice on?

[LeosMama]

I think I had my best practice on rounded inserts/soakers. It doesn't really matter if they're not perfect, and they are usually rather tight curves. All of my wipes are just square (I use the mf towels and get 6 per towel).

[boscopup]

I figured for wipes, I could do rounded corners, just to throw some curves in there.

[judybean]

whipping up easy doublers, wipes and more is *exactly* the reason I want a serger!! I mean, I'm doing fine with my el-cheapo (yet completely doing it's job) plain ol' sewing machine... but a girl can dream, right?!

[LeosMama]

oh, yeah, sure. as long as we're dreaming...

I want Amberthesugarcat's embroidery machine!! My mom has a wonderful Husqvarna thing and I would LOVE to have something like it. *sigh*