Wow, I didn't know they make sergers w/o diff. feed.<br>
OP, you would definitely want to make sure you get one that does. IMO, this is a big part of what makes a serger so useful. I tried sewing on T shirts on my regular machine and quickly decided, uh, NO. lol But diff feed on the serger feeds knits together beautifully and so now I can make T shirts, repurpose knits, etc....and do so many other things, too. I haven't figured out how to automatically ruffle...I tried it once and it ruffled very loosely....I still baste and hand pull my threads for gathering...<br><br>
but thats aam, sorry. OP, Janome makes several sergers for under $200, and I vouch for these little machines as being easy to operate and understand, real little workhorses. You will be so amazed at how many possibilities it opens in your sewing and it really will take you to a much higher level. All you will need is patience (and/or possibly a small tool that may help) in threading the lower looper. But you will not have to do that often. You really can just tie the new threads on and will only have to rethread in the rare event that a looper thread breaks.