The woes of sergers

I have had a serger for years, 10 I believe. I bought one first when my sweet K decided she needed to be Marie for Halloween. (from the Aristocats) It didn't take much sewing to realize that it was going to be a messy project...so I bought a serger. Since that project, I don't think I have ever used it again. It isn't that I didn't want to - but rather that it didn't want ME to use it. I recall threading it again and again and again...to no avail. I finally took my first one back to the store for a trade up. I had purchased the cheap version first time around and decided to invest a bit more and get the next model.     Still, I struggled...


Fast forward to today, (well, yesterday really) I haven't used my machine in at least 4 years as it was in storage while we were away. I am currently working on the mission project making hats, lots of hats, and decided it would be a great tool for really making them strong. I set it up, made sure it was threaded correctly and gave it a try.  The tension was horrible!  So, I did my research and started messing with all those scary tension knobs...still horrible.




 Front view of my serger....the loops on the right hanging off the edge are not correct.



Back view... a huge mess here!!
















About an hour later as I was about to give up I remembered I had recently inherited my late Grandmothers serger.  She used it a lot as she would make covers for Grandpa to keep his clothes clean and dry.  I headed into the depths of the attic, and maneuvered the box out. (If you have seen this tiny attic and it's lining of boxes you will know it was an act of creativity...I couldn't turn around or stand up to get back out. I very careful crept backwards praying I didn't fall!)

I was a little dismayed at first as the machine was completely unassembled.  I knew there was no way I had the patience to deal with threading it and  figuring it out still.  But, I forget ahead and had a huge surprise.  Yes, it was all taken apart but, she left thread in it with a wee bit hanging out the back to tie in to.  Yay Grandma!!  (I am confident she was smiling at me right about this moment)

I proceeded to tie on new thread..in pretty colors so if something was off I could tell more easily. Then I held my breath, switched it on and pressed the pedal.  Imagine my sheer joy that she worked!! The stitches were perfect.  I tried to compare the threading on the two at this time. My machine looked right..but the tension issue remained.  I finally stuck her into a box and moved forward.

Last night in a few short minutes I serged 50 hats.  Another 60 or so need to be cut and serged today and then competed.  What a adventuresome evening that turned out to be!