I recently bought a serger.  It’s my first.  I shopped around and found that this machine is a 5-thread serger, and it includes the cover stitch. (It’s a Singer model 14TC968DC)  I purchased it from Sew Vac Direct

A day or so after I brought it home, I wanted to make sure it worked properly (boxes do get dropped in shipping).  It was already threaded for the three-thread cover stitch, so I tied on the new threads, and tied it out.  It worked perfectly fine.

I am in the middle of getting my living room ceiling repaired, so I had things moved around a bit & didn’t feel up to setting up the machine.  But Tuesday, when I got home, I made up my mind that I was Going To Get Started.

That’s where the score of Serger 1 comes in. 

I had already printed out the manual that comes on CD (each stitch is a chapter), and decided that I really wanted to do the rolled hem.  My experience reminded me of a couple of things that I will pass on:

1.  Give yourself plenty of time.

2.  Don’t plan on making anything right away.

3.  Don’t have it in your head that this is some difficult thing to do.  Think of the other stuff you do every day that is more difficult, and you’ll see that you can do this.

4.  Have plenty of light.  I keep a bunch of those little Eveready tap lights around.   These things are terrific.  Very bright, and small enough that I could set one inside the machine and see into even the otherwise dark areas.

5.  When I put the thread on the spindles, I put the color of the color codes on (red thread for the red path, green for the green, etc.).  Remember you are just learning here, so who cares if you have some garish color combo.  It really helps to keep everything straight.  Also, at this point, you don’t need to use serger thread. 

6.  When you start getting tired or pressed for time:  stop.  When you’re tired or rushed, you miss things & make mistakes, then you get frustrated, etc.

Art any rate, I missed some little part of the threading process, so my stitch did not turn out, and I was getting tired (and I had some crocheting I wanted to do).  Score :Serger 1

 Last night, I decided to start at the first chapter:  the chain stitch.

 I followed my own suggestions, and you know what?  It worked beautifully.   There was one thing that I missed, but when I looked at the manual on the CD in color (I had printed it in B&W to have toner.  Bad idea.), I saw the problem, fixed it & started sewing away.  Score: Lisa 1

 As time allows, I will do a chapter (in order).  I’m not one for classes, as I like the light bulb to go off for me.  And it really is not difficult.