Serger Victories

I've had my Brother 1034D serger for about two years and I can count on one hand how many times I've used it - usually on projects that I wasn't fussy about just in case it went haywire. You've heard the stories about how complicated sergers are and I'm here to tell you that they're all true. Compared to my trusty Juki straight stitch, my serger always unbelievably difficult. At least until now.

Last night as I was up enjoying my third night of insomnia, I started looking at You Tube videos about my serger. Then I started looking for bloggers that have the same machine and I found a couple of bloggers that made excellent tutorials. It was though the skies parted and suddenly everything made sense. Maybe there is some benefit to sleep deprivation after all.

I was also looking through what Brother generously refers to as a manual and I found out that I had all these fabulous accessory presser feet (presser foots just sounds wrong) and I was eager to find out what they do. First I found a rolled hem tutorial on LBG Studio's blog. It's not something I might use often, but I just wanted to see if I could do it. At first I was scared to take out the second needle and a piece of metal called the "stitch finger" because it took so long for me to prepare my serger to just do the basic stitch, but the tutorial was so clear that I decided to take the chance. I'm so glad I did. Anyway, this is what happened.

Isn't it gorgeous?  Yes, that's an old pillowcase. Yes, there are three different color threads; I like to think it looks festive. I'm slightly embarrassed to admit that I screamed "Yes!" when I finally got it to work, but you have no idea how frustrated I was.

There's also a fantastic gathering tutorial on LBG Studio's blog that I'm anxious to try.

***PSA for your mental health*** Do not use old thread that you found in a box somewhere. I spent well over two hours fighting with crap thread that kept breaking. Then I thought I'd just grab some of my regular sewing thread and give it a whirl. Instant success.

Then I skipped over to Coles Corner and Creations and found a PDF that shows how to use my newly discovered ruffling foot. Can I tell you how excited I was at the prospect that I may never again have to do the old "baste and gather" method? My ruffling needs work, but again, I'm so happy to be able to do it that I'll gladly spend more time playing with the settings. I also have a blind stitch foot that I haven't tried and I think I'm going to buy the elastic tape foot because I plan to be using a LOT of elastic over the next few weeks (more on that later.)

So, is there anyone else that now loves their serger after a very rocky start?