Sergers and Quilting: Yes, They Go Together

Hey Quilters, do you have a Serger? I’m in a bunch of online quilting groups and I’m hearing more and more chatter about Sergers and how you can use them in quilting. Did you know you can piece a quilt with your serger? You sure can! However, that is not what this blog post is about. I often break out my Janome Magnolia 7034D Serger when I’m finishing my quilt!

I’m very particular about my binding. I’ve been known to remove binding from my quilts when I don’t like how it turned out. I spent a whole year trying to perfect attaching my binding completely by machine. Early on in that year I spent a lot of time unpicking binding.

One thing I’ve found is that I have so much more success with my binding looking how I like it by serging my edges before attaching the binding to my quilt. First, it gives me a great landmark for where I want to attach my binding. Second, it also secures the three layers together making sure they stay exactly where I want them to. When I’m working with a complicated pieced quilt with a bunch of bias pieces meeting at the edge, serging them together ensures they’ll stay together and no seams will unravel. 

And, finally, my favourite, it lets me quickly and easily clean up any thread tails I missed while squaring up my quilt.

The process couldn’t be easier. I tend to use a 4 thread serge and I attach a 2.5” binding strip. If you use a smaller binding, you may want to use a 3 thread serge with the right hand needle only, as that will be more narrow. I simply serge edge to edge along all 4 sides of the quilt. I clip the tails close to the edge without a care in the world! No need to secure them because they will be nice and safe encased in your binding. 

Do you use a Janome serger in your quilting process? We would love to hear about it!

Stitch on!!!

AmandaBee

Pattern: Blowing Up Bunnies by Art East Quilt Company