Ok, first off, a few things you should know about me. I am an only child and I can be a little single minded in my focus. When I decide I want (or rather, when I convince myself I "need" :) something, I want it right then and there. For example, decided I wanted an iPad at 3:00 in the afternoon (while I was a at work) bought it at 5 that evening as soon as I left work. So actually the fact that I waited about a week and a half before pulling the plug and ordering a serger is a big step for me- I'm growing up!
All of that said, my new Brother arrived last Friday! So exciting! Prior to unpacking this and plugging it in- I had never used a serger. Never played with one. Never talked to anyone in a store about them. Read an article or two online (actually, I think it was just one article and it tried to talk me out of one- that didn't work too well :) and read the reviews on Amazon. That's it. So my method for choosing this particular serger was very scientific- #1. typed in "easy to thread serger" in the Amazon.com search box. #2. Found a Brother model at a good price with good reviews. #3. told myself "happy birthday" and ordered it :)
I was so happy when it arrived just two days later! The fiancee may have gotten a photo of the box and an email with many exclamation marks (if you haven't figured out yet, exclamation marks are another thing I like :)
It came prethreaded which was awesome! Not only that, but each of the tension wheels for the different threads is a different color, when they threaded it they used the corresponding colors so it was easy to see which thread ended up in which spot.
Before taking it all apart to rethread (crazy me did not want multi colored seams :) I took photos. I am a very visual learner and figured it was insurance in case I couldn't follow the instructions to rethread it, at least I would have photos to look back at. In the end my fears were unfounded as it was so easy to thread! Got it all the first time with no problems.
Ok, a little hard to see here, but this is the multi color seam (and also the very first thing I ever sewed on a serger! sewed on a serger? or serged on a serger? Hmm..). I ran a piece of fabric through to test it before I rethreaded it. That way I would know what the seam should look like and would know if I did it wrong when I rethreaded it.
And here is my pretty all white seam with thread threaded by me! (sidenote: "thread threaded" so weird when words are nouns and verbs and then get used together).
In all her glory with her pretty white thread! Also, note the lovely teal washi tape labels I added, lol. I knew in my OCDness I would want to thread these in order from left to right but apparently that is not the correct way to thread a serger. If I didn't label the order, I knew I would screw it up every time. Washi tape to the rescue!
The Brothers side by side. The serger makes my sewing/embroidery machine look so tiny! In all fairness though, the sewing machine sits down in the table so there are another few inches under there.
So far I absolutely LOVE my serger! For lack of a better, more grown-up word- it is so COOL! I used it on a pillow as I noted in a prior post, but I'm thinking it will be good for tote bags too- it always seems like it would be beneficial to have a reinforced seam on a bag. Am I the only one who does not trust a regular seam on a tote? And if I never decide to go that route, it will of course be good for clothes. The instruction manual talks about all the different stitches the serger can do, but I haven't attempted any thing fancy yet. I haven't even changed the foot on the machine. One step at a time. I'm still basking in my glory from threading it :)
No comments:
Post a Comment