We are now ready to start threading this machine.
First thing we're going to do is just clear all the threads out of the serger - the ones
that came with the machine.
I'm just going to clip those and then pull these off.
I've already taken off their little spool claps.
Honestly, throw these away; they're not really a great quality thread, but they came with
your machine.
Lift up the presser foot that's going to be right on the backside kind of like a sewing
machine.
If you open up the door, you're going to slide that to the side and then roll that down.
Then, really, if it doesn't want to come out you can help it by giving it a little tug
and all the threads will come out.
We're just going to throw that guy away and we have a serger with no thread on it.
Next we're going to go ahead and put those little cone holders down and on these machines
or even ... They're kind of tight so push those down hard.
Everything we're going to do is going to be color coded, so I am going to actually have
today's colors be with the colors of the serger.
There's my green; that's going to be on the upper looper.
My blue is the lower looper.
My red - I'm going to use pink - is our right needle, and our left needle is the yellow.
See how this one hangs off a little bit?
I'm going to make sure that that pushes up and in a little bit, so I'm going to hold
that up a little bit, and then push that down.
What I always recommend is when you thread a serger you want to thread from the inside
out.
We're going to divide these in half and we're going to thread from the right out and the
left out.
We're going to start with the upper looper.
You'll see why in just a second.
You're just going find the end; you're going to go up and over the back little guides.
Then right back here, what you need to do is just hook it underneath.
You're going to notice I'm going to hold a lot of threads with one hand and slide them
underneath.
Everything is going to have guides that you're going to lay in, tuck under, lift over.
They're all going to be open, which I absolutely love.
If you miss one, you can always go back and hook it in.
We're going to follow this down.
The upper looper, we're going to come down.
If you hold it you're going to make sure you lay it in the tensions - this is key.
In this serger, these tensions are going to open and close as you lift and lower this
presser foot.
You know how on your sewing machine if you thread with the presser foot down you don't
always get in the tensions?
Make sure that presser foot is up.
Lay that down there; holding back here is going to make sure it gets all the way in
there.
The loopers are going to be a lot looser than the needle threads, so these are the ones
you're really going to need to make sure you force them in and make sure they get them
in nice and tight.
What I'm going to do is I'm going to zoom in so you can really see what's going on and
how we're going to follow each of the green paths.
The upper looper is going to continue straight down.
You're going to notice you have a little picture of where the green thread is going.
We're getting this guide.
We're coming underneath this guide here.
Then this is just going to lay over this because we're coming right up to the guide that's
at the top of this little post here.
You're going to wrap it around from the left side, and it will just hook right on in.
You always want everything to go straight through.
You never want them to wrap around or double back themselves.
This is the upper looper.
It's the part that, as you turn it, comes above your presser foot right in front of
your needles.
Just bring that up so that it's not in anybody's way.
If you want, you can lower down the presser foot.
Just make sure that you lift that presser foot back up when we start threading the next
thread, so those tensions are open.
What I usually do is take my tweezers, I'll lay my thread in my hand, and I want to get
close - maybe a quarter to half an inch.
Notice that my tweezers are gripping this thread so it continues the point.
When I go to push it in, it's straight.
I'm not trying to come in sideways.
I kind of have a little extra help there.
This point here is going to go through the upper looper.
This eye on the upper looper is actually quite large.
All your decorative threads will go through that upper looper.
It doesn't matter where this thread goes.
It can go off to the side, out to the back, it can come underneath the foot - you just
have to work it around the knife.
Just leave it off to the side; doesn't really matter.
What we're going to do next is we're going to zoom back out here and follow back up to
the top.
Now we do the lower looper.
Remember, we're going from the inside out.
The lower looper is our blue.
We're going to go up and over, so we always have a thread coming straight up to the cone,
hook it into the guide right at the back of the serger, straight down.
Oh, we got to lift up the presser foot.
Straight down that lower looper and then the little groove, and now back inside.
This is the one that people will say, "Oh, it's so hard to thread."
I want you to see that it's not hard to thread.
People just don't understand how a serger works so they think it's complex.
Here we go.
We're going to follow the little guides.
Here's your first one.
There's one right here with the blue, and we're going to follow.
You take this lever right here, this little button, push down.
This is your secret door to where we're going.
We have one more guide right here; you can see this part.
Then we're going to turn the hand wheel towards us, bring the needles all the way down.
That's going to expose the back guide.
This is the one where sometimes people say it's really hard for them to get.
Not on this serger, because the door's completely open.
Turn the handle all the way back so the needles are up.
I actually like to position the two loopers like crossed swords so that lower one, which
is coming back and forth this way, is at the same eye level because the hole's right there
at the tip.
When I thread the lower looper thread, I'm going to just take my thread and my tweezers,
put it nice and level.
Watch it as I push it right on through.
I can catch it on the backside.
Usually since it's headed to the back, I'm going to make sure it gets back there.
Just make sure it doesn't catch on anything down below that doesn't need to be caught
on, like right here.
Notice the thread for the lower looper lays right into this groove.
There's a groove that runs right along the lower looper arms there.
Then by sitting in there, you can tell that it's correctly threaded.
To thread the needles, you're going to find it's very similar to a sewing machine.
Once again, I'm going to zoom back out so you can see and get a little better angle
for where we're going.
I'm going to do the right needle first.
Doesn't matter which ones you do.
Honestly, you're just working your way across anyway.
Presser foot is up, so I'm going to drop that down and make sure that gets a nice, tight
catch here.
All you're going to do is you're going to come under this first bar, over the little
- there's two of them, two little arms - and on this one just right behind the right side,
since this is the right needle.
I'm going to bring those needles up a little bit higher and I'll once again use the tweezers
to thread the needle.
I told you these would be your best friend.
Nice and close, maybe a little closer because an eye needle is a little bit smaller than
loopers.
Once again, you can pull that out to the side or to the back.
I'm going to just get that, make sure it doesn't hook around anything.
Those are really easy and we're going to repeat the exact same thing for the left needle.
We are threading up for a 4 thread stitch.
Presser foot back up, make sure I lay that down all the way.
Catch the guide right underneath where it says left needle.
Follow the same path right here underneath the first arm and then over the two little
arms sticking up.
Then we're going on the left side this time.
How easy is that?
Look, we're already threaded.
This serger, this is one of the easiest.
You're not going to normally just go, "Ooh, I'm going to thread my serger."
Actually, I do because it's kind of fun; I know, I'm weird.
I'm going to also show you how you can tie your threads on when you change from say your
lights to your darks.
Let me show you how we're going to get started.
You're going to go ahead and close this up, give it a nice push, and you'll hear it all
click back together.
This part here is going to go back up and close, so everything should be tucked in nice
and tight.
What I'm going to do is take my fabric.
You don't have to do this but sometimes I actually have my students - it kind of makes
me feel good.
What you're going to do, first off take your fabric - every time we sew we're going to
fold it in half - and you fold it in half.
We're also going to serge the fold.
Guess what, because then we can open it up and peek inside.
Our serge off to the side here, you got to open this up or clip it open - it's not the
same.
You're going to watch me, always going to serge off the folded side.
If you want, since we don't have that little chain going, you can go ahead and slide the
fabric all the way underneath so the first stitch of the needles go down in the fabric.
It just helps everybody get where they need to go.
I'm going to show you how I do it.
Again, you can just put this right up to the edge and go, but for any reason you don't
have something threaded right, then it kind of just gets all messed up.
Lowering down the presser foot, that means all the tension is closed on the thread.
If I've done this correctly, everything will link together as we start off.
It's looking good.
Let me go ahead and do one full length here.
I've kind of got little extra threads going everywhere; I can just slide those to the
back.
They'll all come out once I get the first one done.
What you want to do is to make a little length of thread.
There's more than one way to cut.
Sometimes what I'll do is bring that thread around and underneath my knife and let it
cut the thread.
We are going to walk you through what is the perfect stitch, and I have it right here.