Sergers/Overlocks - millionth thread on these LOL

[lylagus]

Ladies and Gents,

I have a used Pfaff hobbylock 788. It's tricky to use if I have to change any of the tension dials because they are really difficult for me to set. This is my first and only serger/overlock. I know it will be very difficult for me to find parts for it due to the age. I'm dreaming about my birthday next year and am thinking that I would like to save up for a new one. I'm looking to sew 4 way stretch knits, chiffon type fabrics and other cossie worthy fabrics

What do you have and love?
What would you not buy again?

I'm searching for some older serger/overlock "threads"
http://www.bhuz.com/showthread.php?4...erger+overlock
http://www.bhuz.com/showthread.php?4...erger+overlock
http://www.bhuz.com/showthread.php?3...erger+overlock
http://www.bhuz.com/showthread.php?2...erger+overlock
http://www.bhuz.com/showthread.php?7...erger+overlock

[shahla]

Hi Lyla. I'm fortunate enought to have a SO that get's my costuming craziness. For my birthday last year, he got me an Elna 654. It's the only serger I've ever owned and I really like it. It's relatively straight forward to thread. There is a photo to remind you if you forget. It works well with all the costuming fabrics I sew with (velvet, satin, chiffon, lycra, etc.)

A friend loaned me a serger several years ago and I tried to use the darn thing and just couldn't make it work. I wish I could remember specifically which one it was. I think it may have been a White but can't say for sure.

Before I got my Elna, I was shopping for them a little. The nice lady at my local sewing machine store recommened coming into the store with some fabric scraps to play with and try the different machines before deciding. Of course I never got around to that and got lucky enough to have a really nice one given to me. I don't know what there is for sewing stores in your neck of the woods, but I think it was good advice to go try some in person. Alot of the stores sell nicely reconditioned used machines as well as new ones. You might get a better buy on a used one.

[xochitl]

One thing I would recommend is to make sure you get one with a differential feed. This allows the machine to gather fabric as in a ruffle and also stretch the fabric as you would with a curly hem on a skirt. I have sewn miles of gypsy skirt ruffle and curly hems on an elderly Hobbylock and it was a huge time saver to have this option.
This summer I got a free serger at the end of a garage sale and was SO excited, got it fixed which can cost as much as car repairs ($120!) only to find out it didn't have a differential! I just assumed it was a standard feature. But I can't resist a good deal and could kick myself now ..l;,

[andalee-oriental]

After some trial and error, I have really come to love my White Superlock. It completely changes my sewing experience. I bought mine used off of Craig's List for $150. It's 10 years old but had never been used. For some strange reason it only came with a narrow/rolled hem foot and plate and I had to spent about $70 to get the regular kind. But now that I have both I am so happy. I just made a circle skirt last night!

ETA: I want to mention that I think you should make sure your serger comes with both a regular and a narrow set up...if not, make sure those parts are relatively easy to buy.

[zorba]

I have a Pfaff Hobblylock 776 built by Calanda in Japan. The same "family" as your 788 I believe. It has differential feed (can someone PLEASE point me at a website that gives this dummy a CLUE about how to use differential feed?), and works well once I got it figured out (NOT easy).

BTW, the Goodwill auction site is a very good place to pick up a used serger for next to nothing...

[lylagus]

I've been obsessing online and asking local people I know about what they are using. There is a Pfaff dealership close by but Pfaff's are super $$$. I'm really looking into the Juki MO654DE after i've run into it online a million times during my searches. It's out of my price range but I'm a goal setter LOL! I found a Juki dealer a little under a 2 hour drive from my house. I emailed her to see if she carried Juki sergers because it's a quilting website and I don't want to waste a drive.

Patternreview.com has some awesome sewing machine/serger reviews. I signed up for a monthlong free membership and was able to find lots of reviews for everything! It's a pretty awesome site for this type of thing. They had 10-11 reviews for this model.

[Doozer]

I'm using an old Bernette (made for Bernina by I have no idea who) that sounds like a Mack truck and is really fussy about being threaded right. It's a machine I use at the sewing shop I work at and now I'm considering finding one of my own because the tensions are easy to use, the manual is easy to read, and other than the threading issue (I think all sergers are like that anyway) it's a nice little unit. It's even pretty simple to thread and it's working great with a Mickey Moused thread guide that I fabricated when the original broke.

[Annessa]

Differential feed is just a feature that allows the top and bottom sets of feed dogs to feed at different rates. If your material stretches or gathers when feeding at a 1:1 ratio, you can adjust the feed to accommodate the fabric. Or you can use the differential feed to create these types of effects. I don't use my DF option often but it's handy to have.

I have had awesome success with a White 2900 - around $220. My sister bought the Brother serger (less than $350) from Costco about a year ago as her first serger and she loves it. You really don't need the high-end bells & whistles (jet air threading, "wave" stitch) to get a lot of use out of the machine.

[Yolanda]

I have a Baby Lock Imagine with Jet -Air Threading and love it! The thing that most irritated me with my Brother Serger was rethread and then the tension for every project. My first serger was a Baby Lock about 25 years ago, so I checked them out again.

You don't have to bother with the tension. Beautiful rolled hems on chiffon circle skirts. This baby does everything!

I totally love all the bells and whistles. It was a gift from my husband.

[NazirahDances]

I have a Baby Lock Imagine with Jet -Air Threading and love it! The thing that most irritated me with my Brother Serger was rethread and then the tension for every project. My first serger was a Baby Lock about 25 years ago, so I checked them out again.

You don't have to bother with the tension. Beautiful rolled hems on chiffon circle skirts. This baby does everything!

I totally love all the bells and whistles. It was a gift from my husband.

Were I to ever get another serger this is the one I would get. I HATE my White. Hate. Did I mention HATE? I am very picky about my thread matching my projects, which means rethreading every time I start something and fighting with my machine to do that just made it NOT worth my time. Until I can afford the Imagine, I will just use the stretch stitch for knits and the lovely shell hemmer for chiffon on my regular sewing machine ;-)

[Yolanda]

Were I to ever get another serger this is the one I would get. I HATE my White. Hate. Did I mention HATE? I am very picky about my thread matching my projects, which means rethreading every time I start something and fighting with my machine to do that just made it NOT worth my time. Until I can afford the Imagine, I will just use the stretch stitch for knits and the lovely shell hemmer for chiffon on my regular sewing machine ;-)

I know what you mean. God forbid the thread should break! It would take about 45 minutes to change thread even with the tieing the thread to each other and pulling through and then get the tension perfect. Argh!

[lylagus]

I'm doing a lot better with mine on heavy fabrics. I'll finish all my house projects then fidget around with the settings to work on the pretty stuff. I will figure it out....I will figure it out....I will figure it out...I keep telling myself! Maybe it's from reading "The Little Engine That Could" so many times to my son LOL.

[sophie]

I've been obsessing online and asking local people I know about what they are using. There is a Pfaff dealership close by but Pfaff's are super $$$. I'm really looking into the Juki MO654DE after i've run into it online a million times during my searches. It's out of my price range but I'm a goal setter LOL! I found a Juki dealer a little under a 2 hour drive from my house. I emailed her to see if she carried Juki sergers because it's a quilting website and I don't want to waste a drive.

Patternreview.com has some awesome sewing machine/serger reviews. I signed up for a monthlong free membership and was able to find lots of reviews for everything! It's a pretty awesome site for this type of thing. They had 10-11 reviews for this model.

Thanks for the patternreview tip, I didn't notice before that they have so detailed reviews for registered members.
Looking at Bernina, Juki and Elna reviews this very moment.
What did you eventually get?

[lylagus]

Thanks for the patternreview tip, I didn't notice before that they have so detailed reviews for registered members.
Looking at Bernina, Juki and Elna reviews this very moment.
What did you eventually get?

I haven't gotten anything yet. It will be a while before I can afford it. I'm just dreaming and researching and trying to get the one I have to work with me. My new goal would be to buy one in late summer or the fall.

The "local" Juki dealer doesn't have any sergers...she's a quilt shop and only has regular machines in stock.

[sophie]

I haven't gotten anything yet. It will be a while before I can afford it. I'm just dreaming and researching and trying to get the one I have to work with me. My new goal would be to buy one in late summer or the fall.

The "local" Juki dealer doesn't have any sergers...she's a quilt shop and only has regular machines in stock.

I know how it feels! I've been dreaming of a serger for so long... This month I've made more money than I expected in teaching so I decided to reinvest it back and buy a serger. I bought a Bernina 800DL yesterday, will report back how it is later.

Thanks again for posting the link, the reviews helped a lot!

[tigerb]

Thanks for the patternreview tip, I didn't notice before that they have so detailed reviews for registered members.
Looking at Bernina, Juki and Elna reviews this very moment.
What did you eventually get?

I love patternreview and have been a member for many years. If I am trying to decipher a pattern instruction, I go to the boards; trying to decide whether to buy a pattern, off to the review section. It's a terrific resource.

[tigerb]

ZOMBIE THREAD!!

Now I am trying to choose a new serger. Lylagus, what did you finally choose? Do you like it?

Does anybody have a machine that does an awesome "barely there" rolled hem... and/or a machine that is super easy to change to rolled hemming? It makes me crazy to have to partially unthread, change the plate and realign my old Singer.

[lylagus]

I bought a Pfaff hobby lock 2.0

It's easy to do a rolled hem. I'm not totally in love with it but that could be completely due to operator error. It's not a fan of heavy fabrics.

If I had more money at the time I would have purchased this one - Juki MO654DE. It has awesome reviews everywhere. I might sell my Pfaff eventually and get one of the Juki's.

Juki MO654DE $429FreeShip $50VideoWorkbook* Pearl 234 Thread Overlock Serger Machine RollHem DiffFeed LooperThreader 2ThreadConverter 5/2YrWnty ONLINE at AllBrands.com

ARGH! The price went down : ( It's not that much more than the Pfaff now LOL!

[lylagus]

There is a Pfaff dealer near by so I was able to get a lot of support from them. There is no Juki dealer anywhere near me.

[zorba]

Even my old Pfaff 776 will switch over to rolled hem easily - just change the foot.

One thing I've learned - the HARD way - since this thread started: Older sergers, like mine, where the tension knobs face the operator and the tension disks are behind them can drive their owners INSANE! Until you get in the habit of jacking your head around to the side of the machine to make sure that all threads are going BETWEEN the tension disks, not just laying on top. From the front, everything looks just fine!!

I almost threw my serger into the swamp behind my house one nite until I figured out that one of the threads wasn't actually between the disks! This is why newer sergers all have "sideways" tension dials and disks - you can see immediately if there's a tension problem.

If I were to spend the money for a new one, I'd DEFINITELY spring for an "air thread" or similar system. Re-threading a serger is NO fun at all - especially the lower looper on mine, and its ALWAYS the lower looper that loses the thread!

But they are wonderful. You love them to pieces when they're chugging merrily along doing their thing. But you have never felt sheer *HATE* until you're dealing with a misbehaving serger and can't figure out what its little problem is...

The other advice: Learn your serger, learn its idiosyncrasies, learn how to fix its little snits. Then NEVER use anyone else's! One of my dance sisters has one that works just great for her, if anyone else touches it, it promptly "blows up"! I'll swear the damn thing is possessed...

Of course, I can say pretty much the same thing about her sewing machine!