A Gardeners Forum Forums Members History Forum Life 2007 I just got this ...Surger

Does anyone know anything of how to use one it looks kinda alien to me!!

I hate to admit my stupidity...but what does it do?
I have a sewing machine...they must be related.

Here ya go, Rita- manuals You can find and download a manual for it here...hopefully!

It is suppose do do those edge stitches.. Cut roll and finish.. like on the edge of a tablecloth...


Thanks Tonya I will check it out..

I was not even sure what is was?I go to the dry cleaner when i need repairs?good for you though Rita;-)cool,looks like a fancy thing.

I have one, but don't know how to use it. :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:
I was going to take lesson's but went broke before I could go...someday after kids, I'll
go take some lesson's..

Threading is the only thing that really scared the ba~geeshes out of me...
So, I would suggest **Unless you can get someone here to give you step~by~step instructions here.** to go to a sowing center, and take some lesson's...

OK weezie I read the book through you thread the right side first then the left ... took me an hour to get it right but I did it!! I practiced and I actually did it!!

it cuts the fabric and everything.. just find a bunch of scraps and give it a whirl!!

now I have to sew my mother in laws couch cover to pay for it :rolleyes:

I know that thing can work some serious fun and magic on clothes.. but it will elude me for while..*need more space around here too...*
I did some sowing when I got married, made my self 2 garters..*one for me to wear and one to throw* and my ring barriers' pillow, and something else, but I can't remember...

I hope you do lot's of projects and fill us
*ME* in on all of it... love to hear about it...

It is one frightening machine!! I can sew like a wizz on the regular machine but this is intimadating!! I am not quite sure I will be able to do anything creative with it at all.. Maybe I will show the pic to the seamstress at work ( she don't speak english well) and perhaps she can help me with this thing

SpringFever - when you put the foil on the glass did you heat the glass on a paper towel in an electric frying pan, the foil will adhere to the glass much easier and if you where to be doing a lot of piece - say in a tiffany lamp with 2,500 piece your fingers take a real beating - the heating causes the copper foil to become more malleable and less damaging to fingers. I always get the thinnest foil I can.

I use to produce a collection of 12 inch round windows of different flowers and I have a zinc bender so I could make a solid border for them making it easier to hang the panel.

I got interested in glass because of a plant terrarium I seen and decided to make one it was Buck minister Fullers icosahedron or basic solid made with 20 equilateral triangles.

P.S. When you look at a piece of Stain Glass (Stained Glass)it does not look like a dirty filthy job but you can get real black from the lead in no time...great care and understanding of the medium is imperative.

I have been getting pallets from the shipping department where I work and with a few tools they mill down to some gorgeous wood from the Orient/south east Asia.

Thank you Cliver... I use scraps at this point.. There is an artist near me that tosses BIG scraps for 2 bucks a pound.. I have never heard of heating the glass before but it is an idea that I will remember.. I do agree handeling the glass will make your fingers sore and tired!
How exactly do you do the foil? I have a little machine thing that helps me place it and then a little wooden stick thing that I use to rub the copper tight to the glass.. Of course after I clean it well..
Also I have a real tough time making the hanger stay on seems to pull off on one side all the time!!

I do not heat the glass so hot that it is uncomfortable to handle. Heat make the glue really stick. I burnish the foil after I have bent it over the glass with a sharpy black magic marker as there is always one in the studio Because of some designs containing deep concave cuts. I think the heat helps the foil take the shape of the glass with out cracking on the deep curves.

I do not use foil much anymore with the exception of the Clive-A-Scopes (play on words) I make every couple of years by a hundred or two in a mass production run. I use dried flowers in one round disk and all greenery in the second disk that make a beautiful array of colour and detail x 6.

I find the machine way to slow for me. I am good at foiling after 30 years and 100,s of thousands of pieces later. I remember trying to make extra money foiling for ten cents per piece and doing thousands of pieces.

I have made many of the tiffany lamps that are in the Worden mould kits. My favourite lamp was and still is the cheery tree lamp made in the Tiffany Studios in N.Y. with 3600 pieces and made with real polished jewels for the cherries.

Here is a good picture of the Cheery tree

http://www.tiffany-lamps.de/TIFFANY_LAMPS/25IN_CHERRYTREE/AA.html

I use only thick copper wire and I tin it first and always connect it to where a lead line comes to the borderor at the edges on the vertical. If you want round pieces of copper then wrap it around a pencil till you have several wraps then use side cutters to snip down one side making many round pieces to hang. It looks like you used a ¼ inch lead on the borders I prefer zinc came and tin it so I can copper plate it or some other patina. A cheap and fun way to make great gifts is to take scraps and break them in to ½ inch pieces and using white welbond glue, wood glue, and glue the pieces on to some clear glass. Spread only enough glue on the clear glass that you will finish. If you can dry the glue in bright hot sun it will dry quit clear.

The finish is a plaster of Paris with lamp black in it to fill the joints around your mosaic. If you want to make a candle holder foil it together and flat solder the glue on the stained glass.

And I forgot to say stretch the copper wire to make it perfectly straight...

Hey you two..
I am seriously enjoying this conversation...
but it's under your surger question...

Anyone wanna copy and paste your info you already wrote back and forth to each other and I'll come back here *after you let me know you two went and re~did these posts'* and edit them out..

The info is tooooooooooo good to get lost under the surger conversation....

I am having trouble navigating. I thought the thread was called stained glass...I will figure this out...

Not a problem Clive..
We're on If either of you two want to start a post..
Go ahead..

If you'd like me to..
I can also..
**I just didn't want to loose any of the great info you two have been talking about...**

We'll figure something out..

I use a Serger at home all the time.
It is great for heavier cloths as well as thing.
It makes a seam that you dont have to turn up to hem...
It can be used raw.......for hems. I love them.

dodge

Rita, that is a cool looking machine. I want one, dunno what all I would do with it, but I want one especially if it can hem clothes!!

spring Fever,
those are one of the best inventions ever! I use it for everything I make, including underwear.
Turn any piece of clothing you have inside out and you'll see what it can do. I couldn't imagine my sewing room without one. I've used it for every single piece of clothing I've made, prom dresses and all. It's an amazing machine! (can you tell I adore the darn thing? lol)

Try googling 'easy serger projects' or something like it and it should come up with tons of stuff to do with it, not just clothes. Or maybe the Joann's site, or Sewing With Nancy...there's tons. You can make some very beautiful placemats and matching napkins by using specialty threads. (Lurve the sparkly gold and red for Christmas!)

You lucky thing you! Experiment and have some fun with it!

Sewobsessed, I have been working here and there with it.. Getting the tention just right is the hard Part!
I do have a question though How do you thread it to where the right colors on the right side of the machine??

SpringFever, I'm not sure I understand exactly what you mean. You should be able to use that for either a 3 or 4 thread stitch, which would mean you have 2 loopers and 2 needles. Correct?

To use as 3 thread, just omit one of the needles (I believe it's always the outer most left one to leave out for 3 thread, though I always use 4, so can't really remember!)

There should be arrows that show you exactly where each thread goes as you thread the machine. (If you pull the front door down, there should be arrows or a picture in there, too, that shows you how to continue threading). The one farthest right should go from the cone, down into the right tensioner (give the thread a little tug after you get it in the tensioner to make sure the thread is seated properly) and then through the loopers (for that perticular thread) and across the feed bed. Same with the next one in to the left. The 2 farthest left should go from the cone, through the tensioners, around the little thread holder, then down and through each needle and out the back.

Ok, HUGE hint here: When you want to change thread colors, don't UNTHREAD the old color! Snip it way back by the thread cone, then tie on your new thread to the old in a very small knot. Run the machine on some scrap fabric (or nothing, since these babies sew on air and you can do cool things with the thread chains), and the new thread will run right through until you are sewing with it. But, just don't try to make the knot of the new thread go through the eye of the needle, cause, uh, it won't fit! lol. Just snip it when it get to the needle and rethread needle with new color. Voila!

You can't use regular thread on it like the spools you use for a regular machine - they are much too think. Serger thread comes on big cones (cause you go through LOTS) and is much, much thinner than regular spool thread. If you're using regular sewing thread, you may never get the tension right.

Ok, have I confused the heck out of you yet?
Just keep playing with it....you'll get it! No fear!

OH my That is a lot of information! But it is usefull!!

I have tried and finally got some practice in that don't look totally terrible! Pretty good now to figure out the other attachments.. So you can sew instead of having it cut the ends... And also figured out I need a lot more cones of thread.. It does use a bunch of it your right and the Idea for changing the thread is terrific! It is not tooo bad to change but my big thing was trying to get all the old thread out of the maching...
I guess the question was do you use all the same color or a bunch of different ones.?

back to Serger......

It is very easy machine to use.. Threading is the hardest part.

I made many hooded zipper jackets with mine. It binds the ends so one does not have to roll the material 2 times to hem....makes very neat seams.
Just take 2 pieces of material doubled , and run the end thru and you can see.

dodge