Justus4250

I purchased my serger (pfaff) about 12 years ago I have used it ....MAYBE.... 5-7 times. Never for quilting. If I had it to do over again, I would still purchase one, but I would purchase it off of ebay or buy it used. I would never buy a new one or spend a bunch of money on one again. I just do not use it enough to get my money out of it.

maxi

I use the serger to serge the ends to wash fabric, to do garment construction, and in the rolled hem mode a lot. But have not used it for quilting. At our local quilt shop they actually do a serger quilting class. So I know it can be done.

kwendt

I walked into my local sew store, asked the owner to educate me on sergers, what they were good for, what they did and how they worked. She spent 2 HOURS with me, even teaching me the basics of how to thread/sew. They happened to have a beautiful self-threading Babylock Evolve (8 thread machine, Cover and Serge) just come in on a trade in. The owner showed me the difference between 4 thread models and the big one. She in fact did NOT try to sell me the big one, but recommended the 4 thread for me (a beginner serger). I left the shop, an hour after closing time having put a 'hold' on the Evolve. I bought it the next morning and spent that day at the shop having a one on one training session with the shop's serging instructor. I left, tired... but knowledgeable and confident. (and much poorer!).

It's been 6 months and I've used the serger to:
repair or make towels,
cover stitch knit t-shirts,
make curtains for my sew room,
serged pin tuck doll dresses,
ruffles for pillows,
cushions and canvas covers for my bar stools,
finished seams on garments,
cool handle & pocketed book bags made out of upholstery samples and home dec fabric swatches,
a quilted Thinsilate Lunch Tote, with inside pockets for those plastic Ice bricks, plastic silverware, and tupperware,
an easy/quick quilted thanksgiving wall hanging (ohio stars),
rolled edge linen napkins to match,
a pretty silk scarf (rolled edge again),
Sunbrella boat cushion covers,
nylon ripstop fabric 'flags' for the flag pole out front,
mending and reshaping my DH's golf and work shirts,
and prob. much more that I don't even remember.

A serger can do many things, piping, cording, felling, rolled edge, hemming, blind hemming, flatlocking, pin tucking, gathering, elastic gathering, beading, decorative stitches, etc. It can even do multiple things, at the same time and cut the fabric for you too. I still use my sewing machine for lots, but I turn back and forth between the two all the time now.

Okay... so all the above is to say... you will only use your serger - if you get training on it, and it's fun and not frustrating to use.

That big babylock of mine has up to 8 threads and 5 needles! - but it's self threading using air puffs. When I do a big combo stitch requiring 6 or more threads... it would be HORRIFIC if I couldn't thread it fast. (It takes me about 5 minutes tops to thread even the most complicated cover or cover/serge combo stitches. That makes me happy!)

Most people seem to get frustrated with their sergers cause they take so long to thread, the machine is fussy/keeps jamming or the threads get tangled or whatever. So do yourself a favor, and buy a self threading serger. Even if it's a lot more $$$. You will actually USE the machine versus having it collect expensive dust bunnies....

Also... get it from a good dealer or pay to take it in and have classes on it. Classes on YOUR machine. Then use it. Explore it, try new things... just for the coolness of it.

Oh! To the lady that did the quilt with WAVE stitches on the outside... try using that stitch on the outside of pocketbook style bags joining sumptuous upholstery fabrics with velvets or thick silks or other various types of home deck stuff. It's stunning!

As you can tell, I'm having fun with my Evolve!

kathidahl

Oh my word, you make me want to trade my Imagine in on an Evolve!!

kwendt

<giggle> Well... serging is a whole new world for me, and I don't spend a whole lot of time in my craft/sew/quilt room - on average maybe... 6 hours a week. Sometimes more, sometimes less. But that Evolve makes me want to try new things. I figured out how to serge on curve... simply because there was no one there to tell me that 'it couldn't be done'.

The Imagine is nice.. .and likely to do 90% of whatever you could want. I knew that I'd never again be likely to purchase another serger... so I wanted the one with more functionality. That, and the sewing store owner had me actually sewing a cover stitch on a knit hem, the very first time I tried it. Wasn't hard at all... just needed some hand/eye coordination and patience while learning!

If I had gobs of $$ I'd get an Imagine too, just so I could keep one set for specialty stitching and the other for overlock serging.

Do you use your Imagine????

kathidahl

I sure do. It is about the 6th serger I have owned and far and away my favorite. The ease of threading is wonderful. I also have a Singer that I keep set up for cover stitch. Is it quick to switch to cover stitch? Switching to rolled hem is so easy on the Imagine. I really could not do without my serger. I would give up the embroidery machine first.

kwendt

ah... so you're a PRO! Okay... well... I'm so not! <laugh> The cover 'side' of the machine is mostly, but not all, seperate.

To change over from overlock to cover on the Evolve: basically, you pull the needles out from overlock area, and put 1 to 3 needles in the chain needle area. Change out to the sewing 'deck', engage the chain looper, and dial in the chain looper tension and the Chain needle tension. Upper looper is down. Dial in the length, align your fabric and go. With the three needle positions, you can opt for a simple 1 needle chain stitch, various 2 needle coverstitches (either right, left or wide) or... put in all three needles and do a triple cover stitch. It's really neat when you set the sucker up for a Triple cover + 4 thread overlock. All five needles going at once! It's SCARY! lol!

kathidahl

Ah so...I think I will keep my combo of Imagine and coverstitch machine. I do not want to have to do all that switching around when I want to do a cover stitch hem in the middle of my project. I am intrigued with the decorator stuff you can do with the Evolve. I bet you end up doing some neat things with your quilting projects. Check out the Yahoo group for Babylock sergers.

kwendt

Oh the rolled hem on the Evolve must be identical to the Imagine. There's like 3 or 4 ways to do it... depending on what the fabric is. I discovered I really liked running lite chiffons, silkies and sheers through it, to lettuce the edge. Never could do that before! I also tried the gathering foot and the one adding elastic, encasing and blind heming all at once. I wasn't so good at that, but I figure that practice will help me do it better. It was too many things holding/happening all at once for me to keep up with. It worked, but I need to work on my guiding/feeding 'skills'.

I just got a couple KwikSew knit patterns, and I think I'm about ready to 'graduate' from doing little projects... to attempting my first ever knit garment. Something really easy... like knit work out pants. I mean like, those are so easy I shouldn't be able to screw them up! (too much!) lol.

kathidahl

You go girl!! keep practicing with the gathering foot..it took me a while to get the hang of it. Sewing knits is a breeze with the serger. A good thing to do is make yourself a little book of the different combinations of stitches and fabrics using examples you then label with the settings you used. You can use that for a resource as you work on different projects and want to achieve different looks and results. Different fabrics react differently tho the automatic tension is fabulous. My other machines did not have that and I really appreciate it.