My Serging Journey #1

So, with excitement and a little bit of trepidation I plugged in my serger for the first time.

I have never used one before, and was so excited to finally have a go!

So, I thought I'd share my serging journey, as I know other people out there might be in the same boat, or might be thinking about getting a serger.

I will admit, they can look a bit intimidating. But I have to tell you, this one was really easy to use!

This was my mum's, it must be about 12+ years old, and I've had the serger since Christmas, but my dad couldn't find the pedal/lead or instruction book. On my last visit home we found the lead and pedal - woohoo! - but still couldn't dig out the instructions. I really, really didn't want to tackle beginner serging without instructions, since I knew absolutely nothing about it.

Well, I found the instructions! It turns out that on the Toyota website, they have PDF instruction manuals for lots of older models. I couldn't find the one for my particular model, the SL3477DS, but on inspecting the drawings, I figured the general manual for the SL1A series was close enough. I was right!

With the manual printed, I sat down at the serger, and discovered some massive knots in the threads.

So I had to rethread. Again, it looked scary, but with the colour coded picture on the inside of the cover, it was actually quite simple. And then I got serging!

It was immediately satisfying. A bit of fiddling with tension, trying out curves, different fabrics, general tinkering, and I was sold. I'm going to be using this thing a LOT.

This was how the stitch was sitting when I used default tension settings

With instruction manual I learned how to correct the tension so that the little crosses sit on the edge of the fabric

The instructions were really clear. So, from my first foray into serging, I'd like to offer any other first-timers a couple of tips:

1. Do not be intimidated. The serger is not scary or difficult to use!
2. Take your time. Playing with your new machine will be super fun if you don't put any time pressure on yourself.
3. Your instruction manual is your friend!
4. Tweezers are also your friend when rethreading.

Erm - that's it! Using a serger is so much less scary and complicated than I thought it was going to be, and it gives you an awesome professional, durable finish.

I'd love to hear your serging tips? What should I tackle next on my new toy?