Threading the serger is one of the most commonly asked questions.
We're going to take you step-by-step and in which order you need to do it.
Today we have threads of yellow, red, green and blue.
That way you can see where all the threads come out once we get the serger going.
The first thing you want to do is start with the upper looper.
That is the green thread.
I always say thread from the inside out of this little stand, so we're going from the
center to the right and the center to the left.
These two are needles, this is an upper looper, and this is a lower looper.
The first thing you want to do is just take them up and over these little guides at the
top.
Make sure the go nice and smooth and don't get wrapped around.
Then what you're going to do is come underneath this back part, this little hook back there,
and then just come underneath the pre-tensioner.
I have not found that one side is better than the other, so just pick a side and go down.
You want to make sure that you have the presser foot up because that way the tension discs
are open.
Sometimes I'll lower the presser foot during my threading; maybe it will make it a little
easier to do the needles.
Just make sure that you always lift it back up when you go to start your next thread.
We're coming straight down, and sometimes what I'll do is hold this thread and make
sure it goes right down into the tension disc.
I have had people find somehow they get the thread kind of on the outside of the disc
in here.
If you ever have trouble and can't figure it out, honestly just re-thread the serger.
It usually fixes it.
Essentially it goes right down the channel.
Now we're following all the green dials.
Tweezers are going to be your friend.
Here's a little picture to remind us what order we're threading the serger in.
Start with one, two, three and four.
Then we're going to follow the guides that are marked with the green.
This one isn't really marked, but we are going to go ahead and go behind it right below where
the tension is.
Come over to the green one here.
One thing nice I like about these tensions is that they're all open, so if you miss one
you can always go back and slip it in.
Down here there's one, two, two green ones down here.
Then we're going to come up to this little curlicue here.
Sometimes you need a little extra help to kind of get that down in that bottom one.
Just go ahead and slip that right on in there and then up through this one.
That second one down here is labeled for both blue and green and, yes, they will share that
particular guide.
Then go right behind this one here.
This is the upper looper.
Both loopers have a very large eye, but here's what I do.
I put my thread in my hand and I want the tweezers to grip the tip, so it's almost like
the tip and the thread are all at the same direction.
It makes it very easy to poke it through and catch it on the other side.
Sometimes I need to catch it quicker and not let go.
There we go.
Push it through.
So those should be fairly easy to thread.
When I go to pull this extra loop out, just make sure it's not catching on any of the
other little guides here and it goes straight up to that upper looper.
So that's one thread.
Next I'm just going to go back; we're repeating this same thing up above for the tension.
My presser foot is still up.
I'm coming straight down.
Here we are.
Here's that guide right below.
This is the lower looper, so we're doing the lighter blue.
You're going to notice there's light blue and a dark blue.
The dark blue is for the cover stitch looper, which is the one way in front here.
We are not using that one.
We're using the one closest to the upper looper or closest to the two needles that we're doing,
but we will do videos on the cover stitch.
Another light blue is down here.
People always say why is there so many guides?
The engineers did not put these here to frustrate you.
There's a reason that this guide is right here and this one is right here.
It's how the serger works, so if you miss one sometimes things don't work out.
I always come back, double-check my path, make sure I'm not hooked around or looped
around kind of sideways or twice.
That really makes a difference.
What we're going to do is I'm going to zoom you in because this is where the thread is
going to disappear into the back of the lower looper.
Now that we're very zoomed in, we can see that there's one more guide right under here
that we need to get.
This is the lower looper.
This point here has an eye in it.
You can kind of see the two kind of crisscross themselves, so I've kind of lined them up
so they're almost even.
We're going to start by actually putting the thread through the eye of the lower looper.
This is why we thread the upper looper first, because it kind of just puts this thread over
the top.
Before we pull this all the way out or all the way through, there is one place we must
thread.
I'm going to pull just a little extra thread out and this lever right here; you life it
with your finger; has a little kind of V-shape.
What we want to do is put the thread in that V-shape and push it all the way to the back.
The way you know you did this right is see in this lower looper there's a groove?
The thread needs to lay in that groove before it goes out the eye of the lower looper.
That way you know it is fine.
The threads can kind of go anywhere.
They can come across the foot, they can go out the back, whatever you feel you'd like
to do; it really doesn't matter.
Once that first stitch gets taken, it's ready to go.
That was the hardest part of the serger.
We're going to zoom back out and then we're going to do the needles.
Needles are just about as easy as a sewing machine.
Do the same part at the top.
We still have our presser foot up.
We're coming behind this little guide at the top and straight down, but this time what
we're going to do is we're going come across under this silver bar.
There are three little grooves.
It really doesn't matter which one, we'll just pick one.
Then have it go up and in this little mouth.
Once you're here just pick a groove to come down in, and then there's two guides at the
top of the needle.
We're just going to slip them behind.
They also have little grooves, so just pick one to go in and then right back over here.
You do have a needle threader in the accessory box.
Let me show you how this works.
It actually is a great time saver.
First off, I am going to lower that presser foot, but remember bring it back up prior
to threading that second needle.
On the needle threader there's a little notch.
You do have to have the notch on the top side.
There's one on both edges, so either side.
You're going to take this and lay it sideways in the mouth, so just lay it in there.
Then go ahead and put the needle threader on the needle.
There's a little plunger, and as you push in it's going to go into the groove, and as
you slide down it will push it all the way in and produce a little loop on the back side.
There we go.
Sometimes I'll use my tweezers just to pull that one right on through.
Again, threads can go anywhere you want.
We're putting our pressure foot back up and we're repeating that exact same process as
we work from the right needle and now the left needle.
We're just going to pick a different groove here.
Again, it doesn't really matter, but it does go in the same mouth area here; little groove,
little groove, behind; super easy.
So many times you'll say I cannot figure out my serger and I'm like just rethread it.
It really will solve you so many issues that will kind of just be fixed by having the threads
kind of reset by you.
Do this a couple times.
It's never any trouble once you have just some of the basics.
I would prefer to actually unthread a serger than try to fix a serger.
Some people bring it in and they're like I can't get my serger working.
We do want to close up the door.
If you don't keep the door closed it actually doesn't sew.
Here, I'll step on the foot control.
See, nothing.
It has that safety little catch.
A little trick for serging and starting to serge, always fold your fabric in half.
If you actually get in the habit of always serging off the fold, you'll always be able
to open it and test it, so I'm always reaching for the fold.
You can go ahead and just put the fabric right up to the foot.
It will take it in.
But on occasion during my classes; this is only for classes and sometimes this might
help for you; lift up the presser foot, slide your fabric in just like you would a sewing
machine, lower the presser foot down; those needles will come into the fabric first.
Like I said, you don't have to, but sometimes I like to just do that because I know instantly
that everything is going to get together correctly.
We're going to explain why we threaded those needles last.
It's one of the most important things about knowing things about your serger and it will
solve so many problems.
We're just going to go ahead and serge right along here.
Now that the chain is connected, we can go ahead and bring it around and use the thread
cutter as we work.
I do see that I didn't get one of my threads in the ... I'm thinking my blue thread is
really loose.
I'm going to check here and make sure that it got in all the way, and I don't think it
did.
We'll fix that and then we'll show you what a perfect seam actually looks like.
After a quick tip, I notice that my stitch selection knob was not on A. It was actually
kind of beyond it.
It was like in between, so I actually had no tension on some of my pieces here, so I'm
going to make sure that that is actually at A, right on that dot, and then we're going
to test it one more time.
If you keep cutting off the piece that you just serged, you can get the most use out
of your fabric and really make a nice sample here.
Just pull the thread as you come out the back side, turn it and cut with the knife.
Here's what it's going to look like.
This is what you want.
First off we have yellow and red, or hot pink today, as our needle.
They look like regular sewing stitches.
Our lime green or green one is actually going back and forth.
That's our upper looper.
Then on the back side our blue is our lower looper and he's going back and forth here.
Here is what you want to look at.
See this blue line that goes nice and straight?
If that line is straight, your serger is set up correct.
I always turn the fabric over.
The proof is on the back side.
With that straight line I'm also looking for two other things.
I'm noticing that I have a little tiny dot or tick mark of the yellow and the red, and
that also is perfect tension for my needles and my two loopers meet right along the edge.
Isn't that a pretty stitch?
That is your four thread construction seam ready to go.
It will stretch if you use fabric that has give like fleece or knit, and yet it is stable
for the fabrics that are woven.
This is what your stitch is going to be used for most of the time.
It's mostly what my serger is set up for, but we're going to go through all the stitches
that you can do from A all the way around and into cover stitch.