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Do You Really Need a Serger?

Published February 22, 2014 by missa

Since it’s that time of year when people here in the U.S. start thinking about what to do with their tax returns, I thought I’d point out that you don’t actually need a serger.  You may want one, and that’s totally your business.  I just think it’s disempowering to believe that you can’t sew cool things without a bunch of specialized machines.

Disclaimer: I have a serger.  I luvluvLUV me my serger.  But…

We've been renovating the kitchen for several month (which is three decades in reno-years) and there's a lot of kitchen in the garage. I needed to sew something, and I finally got to my sewing machine, but the serger remained barricaded by things I don't feel like moving.
We’ve been renovating the kitchen for several months (which is three decades in reno-years) and there’s a lot of kitchen in the garage. I needed to sew something, and I finally got to my sewing machine, but the serger remained barricaded by things I don’t feel like moving.
So I did what we all used to do before sergers became so gosh-darned ubiquitous.
So I did what we all used to do before sergers became so gosh-darned ubiquitous.

 

I set my machine for a fairly wide zig-zag stitch.
I set my machine for a fairly wide zig-zag stitch.

And edged my pieces.  Does it look as factory-perfect?  No.  Does it do the trick and keep things from fraying?  Yes.  Does it have any advantages over serging?  Actually…. Yes.  Check this:

When you serge over a notch, it's basically gone. Poof! Good luck ever finding that again. When you zig-zag over a notch, you get a break in the zig-zag pattern.
When you serge over a notch, it’s basically gone. Poof! Good luck ever finding that thing again. When you zig-zag over a notch, you get a break in the zig-zag pattern.
It's actually more noticeable than the original little notch-clip.
It’s actually more noticeable than the original little notch-clip.

How cool is that?

As for the reno…  I’m hoping it’s almost done.  I know I need to put new hinges/pulls onto all the upper cabinet doors and putting them back up, and there’s a backsplash to go in, and then the new range hood goes up, and then I think it’s done.  Mom disagrees. There’s still this one electric that is 3″ left of where she feels is optimum for toaster plugging potential….

This was the studio garage a couple weeks ago. There really is a platter tutu and a trim saw on my worktable. Does that ever happen to anyone else?
This was the studio garage a couple weeks ago. There really is a platter tutu and a trim saw on my worktable. Does that ever happen to anyone else?

Published in Sewing and Tips and Cheats

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