Opening my new Christmas Present

Opening my new Christmas Present

 

Merry Christmas everyone.  Just a quick hello from me today because I'll be far too busy trying to save my reputation and not become a laughing stock across the internet.

Yup, here I am on Christmas morning opening the box on my new serger.  Honestly, it's painful to watch.  I am such a dunce and have no idea what to expect.  Still, who cares.  It's real life and unscripted as they say.  If you want a giggle, watch me make a complete idiot of myself on camera when I try to show you around my new serger and bits of it fall off and it becomes completely apparent that I have no idea what I'm talking about.

We all have to start somewhere!

I look very happy until I undo the box and then I look utterly bewildered by everything.

 

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Enjoy the day and the holiday season and I'll be seeing you in the New Year with no doubt more silly serger fails.  Sigh… Maybe I should have gone with the other item I had on my wishlist from Santa this year…couldn't be any more complicated.

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kim parga
kim parga

Thank you so much for a very REAL look at someone opening up a serger for the first time. My son had gotten me one over a year ago, and I haven’t gotten any further than you did in this video. I opened it, looked at it and put it back in the box. I really do need to take it out and learn how to use it as I know that it will save me a lot of time sewing. I look forward to learning how to use my serger right along with you. I have the same one so it should be easy for me to follow along. Again, thank you for a cute video and a wonderful blog….and also for all of the fantastic patterns!

Beth Balius
Beth Balius

I have a serger and I love it! I never had any lessons. Just read your manual and see what is on UTube. You will find out very soon how handy it is. Can’t wait to see your first video. I love so-sew-easy. Your instructions are so well presented and clear.

.

Rachel
Rachel

Hi, I got a brother serger for my birthday this year. I love it and I agree the tip to watch the videos and there are some great ones about on YouTube showing how to sew different fabrics. My biggest tip is be careful about pins. With a sewing machine I had got into a habit of pinning at right angles to the stitch line and you can sew right over the pin no problem. This isn’t the case with a serger it can break the cutting knife and fly across the room! Not good. So. Keep pins parallel to the cutting line and a long way from the stitch line. The second is remember to sew off the end of the fabric. Finally if the thread does break I have learnt it is just easier to start from scratch with the lower loopers, if not the re thread doesn’t work. Enjoy I wouldn’t be without mine and email me if you want any help. I gave enjoyed your website for a couple of years. Thank you

Jane
Jane

You are gonna love it, and thank you for an interesting blog.

Sherri Katafias
Sherri Katafias

I got the same one 1034D last year. I have actually opened it and run one, yes one, stitch down the side of a piece of scrap fabric. Hoping you will post as you go and we can all learn!

marysiap
marysiap

Hi Deby,
Congratulations on your lovely Christmas present. I haven’t watched your video yet, just having my morning coffee and reading your blog!
What I can tell you though, is you will be flying along very soon. I had the Brother 3034d last year and having heard so many scary stories about overlockers I was very nervous…………………..I had a bumpy start. Mine had to go straight back and a new one was delivered. Terrified that it was me ( it wasn’t the needles were misaligned and hit the metal plate after a couple of stitches) you can imagine how tentative I was. I watched the video so many times but it got embedded in my brain eventually.

I love my overlocker and since the initial hiccup all has been smooth sailing. I found loads of clips on pinterest which I have put up and have found them invaluable.

Have fun and many thanks for your blog.

Happy New Year.

Toni
Toni

Thank you Thank You Thank you Deby. I feel much better! I bought a Juki in July- managed to put it together; decided to wait for a class I had also bought (long story – that class never happened!). Finally did a class and [sort of] made a teeny tiny child’s T-shirt, which was unusable because the sewing machine (oh yes you still need a sewing machine!!) chewed several holes in the fabric!

I am longing for your videos to help me make sense of my Juki (and also hoping that another teaching session maybe on offer in 2015) …

Have a wonderful New Year…

Diane Cullum
Diane Cullum

You are so cute and funny opening your new serger! It’s not as bad as it looks and I know you are going to love it in no time! 😀

sue
sue

A belated Merry Christmas! Thank you for showing your video. You coped very well with all the bits and pieces. It increased my desire to get a serger! How will you manage to plug it in? I guess you must have a special adaptor? I ask as I am also from the UK but living in the US. I am a beginner sewer unlike yourself. I have learned a lot from reading your blog and am now looking forward to serging as well. Happy sewing in the New Year on your new serger.!

Sandra
Reply to  sue

We moved from the UK to the USA to live and when we had our kitchen redone we had 240v installed. (Simplistically the electrician joined 2 110 volt wires for it and put a special socket so that we would always know the difference. I only took kitchen equipment out as my sewing machine was already dual voltage. There is no adaptor to raise the voltage only to lower it. Hope that this helps you. Just find an electrician to rewire your sewing area to include a 220/240 volt socket and all is ok.

wendymphx

I would not say you were in any way a dunce, you merely verbalized what we all experience with something new! I’m willing to bet we could all post our own video and the words might just about exactly fit!
It is also nice to see that “you bloggers” don’t automatically know everything from the get-go!!! God bless and happy serging

Elaine, Gilmer TX
Elaine, Gilmer TX

Such a funny video. Like many of the other comments, I have had mine for a while but can’t stick with it long enough to learn it. Looking forward to learning with you, maybe I’ll try again.

willknitforbeer

You are hilarious! You did just fine. Enjoy your serger.

SeamsSewCreative
SeamsSewCreative

So brave of you to share your experience with us all! We all started in the same boat; however, it’s your destination that counts. Just watch where this gift will take you…you’ll be amazed at what you can do. My advice is to make your manual your best friend. Go through it with a highlighter and make personal comments for quick reminders you’ll want to quickly refer to as you travel along. I kept a 3-ring binder with pages of my work (samples as I experimented), made notes of thread type, tension, stitch length, fabric etc. Even samples of your BAD outcomes can be helpful because you have a visual in front of you!! Also, since you teach, it’s sometimes good for your students to see the ups and downs of your progress. I encourage you, above all, HAVE FUN!!

Maxine Mac Neill
Maxine Mac Neill

You will love your serger. So I look forward to new projects that you will create using a serger. Your to funny yet adorable.

Mandy

I have that exact same serger! I love mine….when the thread doesn’t gum up. It will run fine for a while and all of a sudden it goes all squirrely on me. I don’t know if it’s a tension thing or the type of thread I’m using, but when it works I love it, but most of the time I spend re-threading it 100 times and I get so frustrated I banish it to the cabinet until I forget how mad I get. I’m an expert at threading the darn thing now, however!

shan't a
shan't a

I got the same one for Xmas and I was tickled pink with your “struggle” because I just looked at it and shook my head and said “maybe I should’ve reconsidered asking for this thing”. I eventually called my mom whose a seamstress and asked for help. I thought I had torn the thing up at first!!

Gina S.
Gina S.

The video was great, lol. You are going to love it when you get the hang of it. I got one about 16 yrs ago and loved it. I had 2 grandson born 2 months apart and it took me for ever sewing for them. So i went out and got one, never even seen how one worked. Popped that baby out skimmed the book and took off sewing with it. Wow, i could not believe how fast i could make clothes with it! I gave that one to my daughter and got a new one last year. The most trouble i had was threading the lower looper. I did learn one good tip-take a picture of the tension dials before changing them, that way when i have it all screwed up i can set it back and start over, lol. Nancy Zieman had a series class on pbs this year and it had a lot of good tips i didn’t know about ( cause i still haven’t watched the cd i got with mine, come to think about it i never watched the video tape that came with the first one :(, lol). Craftsy has classes too. I have those to still watch too. Anyway you’re going to love it!

Daryl

Deby I think you will become an expert in no time with your serger, since you are already fantastic seamstress. You will be making how-to videos for us to learn I am sure, lol! I have a 2nd hand serger that is very basic and I only use to finish seams with. I haven’t learned much, but I do know how to thread mine with the easy to follow color-coded diagrams.
I love that sofa and the colors and print you are sitting on.

Brenda
Brenda

Then there was the day that I broke the needle and in trying to remove the broken off bit I dropped it into the machine. After digging It out with the tweezers (which was not as easy as it sounds) I then had to figure out how to rethread the new needle. I was so stressed I had to take a break for chocolate and tea. No sewing that day.

Jann from Newton Custom Interiors
Jann from Newton Custom Interiors

Deby, great video! Everyone who has a serger had to start from scratch. I have an industrial serger, and there weren’t any videos or very good instructions with it. The person I bought it from helped me some. The very worst part of a serger, in my opinion, is threading it. So your way ahead of the game since it came threaded.

Jacky
Jacky

Don’t worry too much about the threading, Deby. I bought a Brother 4243D overlocker last Christmas and, like you, I’d never used one before. Just follow the instructions, either written or on the DVD, and keep checking as you go with the diagram on the inside of the machine and you’ll be absolutely fine. I got the hang of it really quickly, despite being over 60 and terrified of ‘the beast’, and so will you. Wish I’d had one years ago!

Misha C

That’s such a funny video! I got a new violin bow for Christmas. Much easier to handle than a serger!

Gail
Gail

Cracks me up! !!
I’m jealous that you’ve got serger!!!
Enjoy it!!!

jackye bowen
jackye bowen

I received my mom’s serger she bought years ago but never used. She said she couldn’t figure it out and I haven’t tried it yet either. I may need to take a look now that I know I’m not alone in my need to learn.

Becky H
Becky H

Love the video! You were braver than me. I was so intimidated. Here’s the link to a video on threading. This helped me a lot. Have fun!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ohtf7H_gyc&noredirect=1

Debbie
Debbie

Loved the video, you are too cute! I’m looking forward to you sharing what you are learning with it and I’m sure you will be a total pro at it in no time. Who knows, you may convince me I need a serger, right now they look awfully scary LOL!

junem7
junem7

It’s ok Deby! We all started somewhere when first learning to use the serger. Try having 4 different ones and then you will be confused even more! Congrats on your Christmas present. Main thing to remember is to Have Fun!
Hugs 🙂

Cindy
Cindy

I’m sure you have figured it out by now, but I believe that screw goes into that first little piece that fell off the bottom in the front. You will be fine with it. Watch the Brother videos on youtube. You will probably get a lot more out of the class after watching them. I am so grateful that you posted this. Using a serger is definitely a learning experience, and it makes me, and I’m sure everyone else, feel a little less defeated to know that even experienced sewers are a bit challenged with it at the start. I know I sure was!

Cindy
Cindy

Deby, that is so, sew, funny!! Love it!! You will love your serger. We’ve all been there.

Becky M
Becky M

Ouch. That was painful to watch. Haha. I’ve had my serger for so long that I can’t even remember how it felt when I opened my first one. You will get the hang of it and learn to love it, I’m sure. The video’s should be helpful since they are machine specific to your model. Don’t be afraid to move the tension dials. You can’t mess it up by doing so. It will just change the look of the stitch it makes. By the way, I don’t think it’s a good idea to turn the handwheel backwards. Other than that, have fun experimenting! I can’t wait to see the new things you will create once you get the hang of it!

BeaJay

You gave me a fabulous laugh and took me straight back to when I got my serger. I was lucky enough to get lessons with mine but they are so different to a sewing machine aren’t they! I have had mine a couple of years now and wouldn’t be without one. You will be zooming through those seams in no time at all.

Karen
Karen

I love mine. You will be brilliant. Merry Christmas. Looking forward to what 2015 brings. Thanks for sharing 2014 K xXx

dm
dm

Love the video! That’s exactly how I felt when I got my serger, but I wasn’t brave enough to make a video! 😉

Ann Powell
Ann Powell

Priceless! Prepare to be amazed. (Those tweezers will become your new best friend.) And you will soon realize that you can’t ever live without your serger! I’ve had one since 1988 and really need a new one because I wore that one out! You’ve mastered so many things in the past couple of years with learning to sew. This will be no different. Enjoy Deby. Happy New Year!