What is a serger/ difference between Sewing machine?

[mamacitarisa]

Hi,

I'm new in this neck of MDC, But I have been doing alot more sewing and I notice that alot of commercial clothes are made using a Serger. True That?

My question is whats the difference between sewing with a sewing machine and a Serger.

Does a serger do more, like does it cut the fabric too? or it's stronger so you don't have to double sew your seams?

I have an lod singer, only sewing machine I've ever used, but I want my work to last and am always double sewing everything...do you guys do that too?

PeAce LiSa

[Kari_mom]

Sergers sew on the edge of the fabric only, it can cut the fabric and can be a strong seam. You can use from 2-4 threads in most sergers. If you use four, two of the threads sew parallel lines of stitching for the seams and the other two, called loopers, go over the edge to prevent raveling and fraying. That is what you see in most mass produced commercial clothing. Sergers are also wicked fast. They only sew in a straight line, so you have to use cheat techniques to do curves, which are much harder than on a sewing machine.

I just bought a serger 4 months ago and up til then I used my sewing machine for everything. I didn't doublesew most seams though, just high stress seams like the butt curve. IME, the fabric tears before the seam gives way. I did use different techniques to finish the edges. Sometimes I would have to sew one seam three times compared to one pass with the serger. Consider though, that most couture clothing is sewn only on a sewing machine, no serger.

I think your old singer sounds lovely, I would snap up an old singer in a second!

[mamacitarisa]

Thanks for clearing that up, I thought thats what a serger did...But I didn't know that curves were so hard LOL Now I know. It sounds so cool that the machine can cut and sew at the same time !

I'm gonna check with my aunt and see if she has one, maybe try it out.

Yeah I 've only ever used a singer so i know how to thread it But I see alot of work being done with embroidery machines & sergers...it looks really Professional... Alot of the time I was by hand & do my embroidery by hand...But it takes forever!

Thanks,
I'm gonna hang out on these threads for awhile see if I can't learn anything.

Blessings
Lisa