For my next series of posts I’m going to focus on a fabulous machine which I feel anyone who sews should have in their studio – The Serger aka Overlock machine.
I love working the Janome booth at shows because I love meeting people – the Janome fans – and most importantly, hearing their feedback. I’ve heard from many beginner sewers that they’re intimidated by the serger and aren’t sure they really need one. From the experienced quilters I’ve heard that they haven’t used their serger since they got into quilting and stopped making garments. I’m afraid I’ve been guilty of that myself, but not anymore! I’ve taken a new look at my serger and now use it every opportunity I can.
Though once considered a specialty of a select category of sewists i.e. Garment Sewers, the serger can now become a staple; a versatile tool in one’s proverbial bag of tricks to get the job done quickly and easily, be it quilting, fibre art, or garments – all with professional results every time.
Like many, my sewing roots started out in garment construction while in high school. I was fortunate that my high school had a Fashion Arts class which focused on sewing, so I didn’t have to take regular Home Economics (in which I had no interest). I know I’m dating myself now. Does anyone remember Home Ec.? lol! In retrospect, maybe I should have taken Home Ec. after-all because I’m a lousy cook. My joke is that the best thing I make in the kitchen is reservations. (wink!)
The machines I used in high school, and later in college while studying Fashion Design, were simple, industrial-type machines which were easy to use and could take a beating – just like machines from Janome! www.janome.com
Stitching twice as fast as most domestic sewing machines the serger is hugely efficient: it stitches a seam and overcasts the raw edge so it won’t fray – all in one step! This revolutionized the sewing world.
A big plus to the serger is having no bobbins to wind like with a domestic sewing machine. The serger typically uses large cones of thread (as pictured above) so you’ll spend less time changing thread and more time serging; getting your projects done fast.
The Janome XG-43D is the serger I use and dearly love. Though it’s considered “entry-level” it’s quite versatile and has the strength and durability to never let me down. I’ll share some projects I’ve created with it in future blog posts.
Like all Janome machines, Janome sergers start with a full aluminum frame on which the rest of the machine is built. The plastic covers make it sleek, lighter in weight and easy to clean. In the case of Janome’s Four DLM Maker model, it’s cover coordinates with the Janome Maker line http://www.janomemaker.com/assets/mseries-comparison.pdf of sewing machines. http://janome.ca/brochure/En/janome/crd/M50_QDC-PC16.pdf
How cool is that?!
National Education Manager and Janome Life Managing Editor, Liz Thompson, wrote an informative, descriptive post on the complete line up of JANOME SERGERS , and, as always, visit your local Janome Dealer to give a serger a test drive and check out it’s awesome features.
If you already have a serger, dust it off and give it a good tune-up! In my next post I’ll go into some fun things to do on the serger, specially Quilting with a Serger.
Stay tuned!
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