What is a serger?Mar 04 '01 (Updated Sep 25 '01) Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line Can you get by with a sewing machine only? Yes. Can you get by with a serger only? Probably not. A serger *can* add greatly to your sewing experience.
A serger is the same as an "overlocker" which is the type of machine used in industrial sewing. Home sergers have been available for about 15 or 20 years, but only recently have become popular with those who are simply hobbyist. A serger sews, trims the seam allowance and overcasts it -- all in one pass! And at a higher stitch-speed than conventional sewing machines. Because the serger performs three functions at once, it saves sewists a considerable amount of time. Sergers are especially useful for seaming knits because overlock stitches have stretch *and* many modern sergers have a feature called "differential feed" which helps eliminate the puckering or stretching that often occurs while sewing knits on a conventional sewing machine. Differential feed can also be used for decorative sewing, such as gathering and lettucing (those ruffled edges that are all the rage). Sergers also do an excellent job attaching ribbing to clothing -- the stretch that serger stitches incorporate helps prevent (and eliminates, in my experience) popped stitches in neckline ribbing. Sergers can even do blind hems and there are numerous decorative effects that you can learn to execute on a serger. For that, I recommend a good book on serging....to find a plethora of titles, try doing a search on "Serger" or "Serging" at Amazon.com, BN.com or your favorite bookseller. There is literally a plethora of sergers available to the home sewing market today. Models range from basic 3/4-thread models to 2/3/4/5 and even an 8-thread model (which from what I have heard allows for nearly limitless creativity and decorative serging). Some popular serger stitches are 3-thread overlock, 4-thread overlock, 5-thread saftey overlock, 2- or 3-thread rolled hem, chainstitch and coverstitch (popular hem on ready-to-wear knits...looks like two rows of straight-stitching on the front and overlocking going between those rows on the back). Popular sewing machine manufacturers that also produce or at least market sergers include Viking, Babylock, Janome, White, Juki, Bernina, Pfaff, Brother, Simplicity and Singer. According to many sewing enthusiasts I have spoken with, not all sergers are created equal and price does matter. Inexpensive sergers have the reputation that they often have trouble holding proper tension, which will result in poor stitch formation and much frustration for the user. It is a good idea to shop several reputable dealers and "test-drive" your future serger before purchase. Lessons are very important for those who are especially intimidated or who are afraid of diving in and experimenting with their new machine. It is possible for a serger newbie to learn machine use without instruction, but this may not be for everyone. Even though sergers look intimidating with 2 or more needles and 4 or more cones of thread, many of the modern models are designed with ease-of-operation in mind. Many brands are designed for easy threading and some have auto-threading features for part or all of the areas to be threaded. There are drawbacks to sergers and reasons why I don't believe a sewist could get by with a serger alone. First of all, it is difficult to acheive the same level of accuracy as with a sewing machine....so often the details like attaching a neckline binding or hemming need to be reserved for the sewing machine. It is difficult to do tight curves and corners. And you need a regular sewing machine for buttonholing and topstitching in most cases. Features like the coverhem and chain-stitch are usually only available on the higher end ($1000+) models. I would encourage anyone interested in serging to visit a dealer and begin researching sergers. I cannot possibly cover every detail of sergers and serging in the article, but here are some resources to get you started on some more research: www.husqvarnaviking.com www.berninausa.com www.singersewing.com www.babylock.com www.pfaff.com www.brother.com www.janome.com www.elnausa.com www.sewandserge.com www.allbrands.com about.sewing.com (search for "sergers") http://www.sew-whats-new.com/sergers.shtml http://www.ianr.unl.edu/pubs/textiles/nf142.htm http://www.sergerplace.com/ http://www.lindaleeoriginals.com/ I am not affiliated with any of the above and all links are working as of this update on 9/26/01.  |
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