$\"plain$ <\/a>

A top from the long grim\u00a0sergerless era. I still wear it sometimes, but those seams annoy me every time I put it on.<\/p><\/div>\n

And oh boy, now that I have a serger of my own\u00a0I would fight off zombie hordes to protect it. It is a beautiful, solid, reassuring piece of mechanical perfection. Let\u2019s start with the differential feed: that thing is golden! It\u2019s a dial that allows you to adjust the speed of the front and back feed, so that the fabric is\u00a0stretched or compressed slightly as you sew. This can produce\u00a0gathers or lettuce edges in extremes, but is more frequently employed to ward off puckers in delicate fabrics or prevent wavy seams in bias or\u00a0stretch fabrics. I have no idea why regular sewing machines don\u2019t come with this feature when basically all sergers have it,\u00a0but I would be quite willing to plunk down some dollars for it.<\/p>\n

I mostly use my serger in the standard 4-thread overlock mode, as it’s such an excellent general-purpose stitch for seaming knits and finishing edges on mid- to heavyweight fabrics. But in theory it can do a whole slew of other stitches, rolled hems and flatlocks and so forth. It also has all kinds of wacky feet, including ones for gathering, elastic, couching, and all kinds of other things that could theoretically come up someday (though admittedly I do just fine attaching elastic with the standard foot). It blazes through edge finishes, which makes long seams on skirts and pants much more bearable. I’ve even been known to use it for blind hemming on a t-shirt, when I was doing a rush alteration for a dude friend and didn\u2019t want to bother switching out the sewing machine thread.<\/p>\n

The biggest complaint about sergers as opposed to sewing machines is the complicated\u00a0threading, but I SWEAR IT IS NOT THAT BAD. Even the one I learned on, which had an irritating lower looper assembly that you needed a special extra-long needle threader to get through, was not that bad. Two rules: thread the machine in order (usually right to left), and follow the color-coded dots. Most machines have a perfectly good threading diagram in the manual, or often printed right on the access door. If you\u2019re actually allergic to poking threads through a series of loops, there are a number of brands now that are happy to perform a walletectomy in exchange for fancy pneumatic self-threading technology.<\/p>\n

As for the tension issue, well, it\u2019s just a matter of learning which control is associated with each thread. A good reference book will have you sorted in minutes, or just thread up your machine with a\u00a0different color on each spool so you can see at a glance which goes where. Grab a good-sized scrap to test on, then adjust and sew and adjust and sew until you\u2019ve got a nice balanced stitch that doesn’t crunch the fabric or hang off the edge. If you write down the settings you used, you can go right back to them the next time you use that stitch and fabric weight. Easy! And again, there are fancy-pants machines that will take care of all this business for you if you can\u2019t be bothered.<\/p>\n

$\"How$ <\/a>Unpicking serger seams is another area where people get hung up sometimes. It’s a lot of thread, and if you try to go about it stitch by stitch it is indeed a pain in the ass.\u00a0But here’s the thing: all you have to do is cut the looper threads and the whole thing unravels. You can zip a seam ripper along the loops or even trim the edge off with your shears. Cut the chain off right at the end of the seam, then tug on the needle threads and they should pull right out, leaving a trail of looper “eyelashes” that you can pluck\u00a0away with your fingers. Messy, but not difficult.<\/p>\n

I can think of a few situations where you might not want to shell out for a serger. If you\u2019re really really a beginner and still not sure sewing is your thing, it makes sense to keep your buy-in to one machine until you\u2019re more certain. If you genuinely don\u2019t give a shit what the insides of your garments look like, then don\u2019t let me tell you otherwise. If you are seriously on a budget, there are plenty of decent\u00a0alternatives to buying another machine, and you shouldn\u2019t worry that it will compromise the quality of your work. And if you\u2019re a hardcore couture nut who aims well above ready-to-wear quality, you may not be interested in the more utilitarian finish\u00a0a serger produces.<\/p>\n

But seriously, everyone else should consider getting one. I\u2019m more than willing to invest the time in handwork when it counts, but for mundane seam finishes a\u00a0serger is an invaluable time saver. It makes knit sewing a breeze, which should endear it to costume folks in particular. And given that you can have a basic model for about $200, it\u2019s a more than reasonable investment for most serious hobbyists. You’ve probably spent more than that on fabric. So don\u2019t let anyone talk you out of it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"