another serger milestone

I didn't even blog about sewing over the weekend. I felt the lack, so here goes.

After serging the edges on many fleece blankets for Christmas gifts (and I have to say, I think they are a fabulous gift), my machine was rather full of fluff. When I changed thread this last time, it wasn't sewing right. I thought, well, I've messed up with the threading, and/or this fuzzy stuff is wrecking havok.

First things, first, I cleaned the machine with little brushes, and canned air and more canned air, and then I swept. yikes. Then, I tried rethreading. Then I ran a test seam. Then I threaded it again. I found the instruction manual, and used that as well. (even). Still, one of the loopers was very loose.I could figure out which one, but still didn't effect much of a change, no matter what I tried. I gave the whole thing a rest for a few days, not wanting to get too frustrated, and to give myself time for ideas to percolate.

Sunday, I worked on it some more. I could tell it was a tension problem, so I made sure that looper went properly around the little tension knobby. Then for good measure, I checked the other threads and their tensions. I noticed that there were a couple of oil points where I had been opening and closing a cover, so I dripped a drop of oil on them. When I tried my test seam that time, it went just fine. I edged the blankets I had waiting on that serger for a couple more gifts.

I felt quite happy that I had worked patiently and diligently enought to solve the problem that the machine was having. They all do at one time or another, and the more I understand about them, the better I will be at using them. I felt like I crossed another serging milestone. Yeah, I still need to check the instruction booklet to make sure I get it all threaded correctly, but I diagnosed and problem solved and got the machine going again. I didn't let that be a reason to push the machine off to the side and not use it for six months or so. I felt like patting myself on the back. I called Roxanne, so she could pat me on the back, too.