Prism99

If I were to buy another serger, I would definitely look at the self-threading type (I am really slow at threading my old one, probably because my eyes are not as good as they used to be and neither is my fine motor coordination).

I would also look for a serger that does a cover stitch. If you turn up the hem on a t-shirt, you will see what a cover stitch looks like -- two parallel lines on one side, a zigzag that covers the raw edge on the inside. That is really nice to have when serging knit garments. There are separate cover stitch only machines you can buy, and that can be better than having all stitches in one machine, but I am not familiar with costs these days. My old serger is a 4-thread, and I think you need a 5-thread in order to do cover stitch.

You also want a serger that has differential feed. Maybe all of them have that nowadays. When I bought my old serger it was an optional feature. Differential feed helps a ***lot*** when sewing stretchy knits so you don't get a stretched seam.

A serger lasts a very long time, very similar to a sewing machine, so it's actually a good idea to invest in a good quality one that will give you hours of pleasure (instead of hours of frustration!). You don't need a top-end serger, but be sure to avoid the low-end sergers.

Edit: Regarding your skirt, the problem may have actually been with the pattern. As I recall, many sewing patterns are sized excessively big. I remember having a similar frustration with garment patterns -- with the garment coming out way too big for my measurements.