Tips on Serging - Beginning

Many people are literally afraid of their serger. They buy them and never take them out of the box, or try them out once or twice, get frustrated, and put them away forever.

I guess I can understand it...sergers (why-oh-why, in 2007, don't spell checkers recognize "serger?")... are complicated looking. Scary almost. With 4-8 cones of thread all strung up fancier than Christmas lights, 6 or 7 numbered dials, multiple levers, and don't forget the (gasp) knives. And if you open it up, there is what appears to be a mass of tangled machinery, the loopers and their threading mechanisms, that somehow move in concert to produce the various stitches. It can be intimidating.

With some time and practice, you can be as comfortable with your serger as you are with your conventional machine. I've taught classes on basic serging, fishline hems, and serging with decorative threads. I'd like to give you some hints that might bring you closer to your 4-threaded friend.

• Get some serger books. There are a lot of them out there. My favorite is Serging Fine Fabrics by Kitty Benton. It covers the basics but spends more time on actual applications so you might also want a "beginning serging" type of book.
  
• Set aside some time (you will need several hours, but not all at once) to just play with the serger. Thread each needle and looper with a different color. Match the thread colors to the threading guide colors on the serger body, or in the manual. You may wish to use masking tape or sticky notes to label each tension dial until you've internalized which is which.

Amass a huge collection of scraps, mostly muslin or other stable fabric in the beginning. Tear them all to strips of about 3-4" wide.

Start with all tensions at "normal" or 3-5, stitch length of 3, and medium cutting width. Using muslin or other stable fabric, just run strips through. Usually, right out of the box, the machine is set up properly to make a balanced stitch.

When you start stitching, notice where each colored thread ends up. Notice that the upper looper thread sits on the upper side of the fabric. The lower looper sits underneath the fabric. Notice where the needle threads are.

When you've learned what a standard balanced stitch looks like, and understand which colored thread ends up where, try adjusting the stitch lengths very high, then very low, and see what it does to the appearance of the stitch.

Once you're comfortable adjusting stitch length, try playing with looper tensions. Adjust only one at a time, always leaving the other at normal. On one long strip, make the upper looper tension very loose and see what happens. Then make the upper tension very tight and see what happens. Repeat with another scrap and the lower looper. Notice how the threads pull on each other. For example, a very high lower looper thread tension will pull the upper looper towards the back. A very high upper looper thread tension will pull the lower looper thread to the front. It's like a constant arm wrestling match between looper thread tensions.

When you're comfortable with stitch length and tension, you can play with cutting width. The thing to remember about cutting width is that the larger it is, the more fabric is incorporated into the stitch. It is like stitch width on a conventional machine.

Now play with the differential feed, all other settings normal. On one fabric strip turn it all the way up. On the next, turn it all the way down. Observe what happens.

• Differential feed is a handy tool. Basically, there are two sets of feed dogs. One in front and one behind. At a "normal" setting, both sets move at the same time, just as on a conventional sewing machine.
  

If you turn the differential feed dial to a higher number, the front feed dogs move relatively faster than the back. In effect, the slower back dogs make the fabric tend to bunch up under the foot. This is useful in a couple instances:

~when you want to keep fabric from stretching under the pressure of the presser foot as might be the case when serging a bias or knit edge.
~when you want to ease the bottom layer of fabric to a shorter top layer
~when you want to ease a single layer of fabric, as in prior to hand-hemming a circular skirt
~when you want to gather a very lightweight fabric

If you turn the differential feed dial to a lower number, the front feed dogs move relatively slower than the back. In effect, the faster back feed dogs "pull" the fabric through under the foot. This is useful when:

~You want to stretch a fabric as you serge, as on a long bias or stretch lengthwise seam
~you want to produce "curling" or waving on a rolled edge, such as a "lettuce" edge on a knit or a scalloped fishline hem
~you are having trouble keeping a very lightweight fabric (i.e. silk chiffon) from puckering or gathering under the presser foot

• Threading the serger need not be the bane of your existence. Most of the time you can thread the loopers by simply tying on the new threads. To do this, cut the old threads just above their cones. Put the new thread cones on and tie the new thread colors to the old, dangling threads with over hand knots. Release looper tensions and pull the thread knots all the way through.

When threads break is usually when you have to thread the loopers "from scratch." To do this you must follow the manual or illustration inside the serger front door. The key to success when threading from scratch is to make sure that the threads are correctly oriented before they pass under the presser foot. The looper threads in particular must be completely independent of each other, and the lower looper thread crossed in front of the upper looper thread. Try not to get the lower looper thread "trapped" between the upper looper thread and the upper looper mechanism. It may help to always thread the upper looper first. Get in the habit of noting how they look before you start stitching. If they're not independent the threads will tangle and break shortly after you start stitching. (For this reason, until you are familiar with the initial threading of your serger, take the first few stitches by hand before flooring it.)

On my serger, either of these two initial configurations work. The upper looper thread is red.

The important thing is to learn how it should look on your serger.

Overall, the key to becoming comfortable with your serger is to use it. Experiment with it. Don't be intimidated. It's a tool that vastly broadens your sewing capabilities. You be the boss.

****Edited 8/8/07 to correct written mistake and upload better pictures.