Hey Everyone!
This is Sarah with Sewing Parts Online.com and today we're going to be doing another
serger tutorial.
We're going to be talking about flatlock stitches.
We're going to be going over a 3 thread and a 2 thread flatlock stitch.
And I'm going to show you how to insert and use the spreader converter for that 2 thread
flatlock.
Now you see this all the time in athletic wear, and that's because it creates a less
bulky seam and it kind of looks really cool.
So, I'm going to show you how to start, what settings you need, and we're going to get
ready to serge.
So, first we're going to do a basic flatlock stitch.
This is a 3 thread.
In our needle we have white, our upper looper is a multicolored thread, and our lower looper
is going to be a black thread.
Important thing you need to know, our blade is disengaged, we're not using it.
But our stitch finger is engaged.
Right now I have the left needle in use and my tension is at a zero.
The trick to flatlock is to have zero in your needle.
And my upper and lower looper are both 8.
So, here we go.
And when you're guiding this, you just want to pay attention to the stitch finger and
make sure you have about 1/8th of an inch hanging over the edge.
And you'll see in the close up how that looks.
I'm just going to guide it.
And you can see here I have wrong sides together.
This is really common in sportswear, but it's also a great decorative element to have.
So here we go.
Let's take a look.
So this is the upper looper thread.
This multicolored.
White is the needle thread and black is the lower looper.
Now what I'm going to do here, and this is very important, to make the flatlock work,
I'm just going to open it up like this, which is why having the loose needle tension is
so important because that's what allows you to open this up.
So, I'll open it up like this and then on the front it's flat.
That's a flatlock stitch.
Very basic, very easy.
So, with some sergers you have the option to convert it into a 2 thread flatlock and
that's where this little spreader, sometimes called a converter comes in.
And you just pop it in, and just push it a little bit back, and then bring the little
bar in through the upper looper hole.
SO what you're using is, you're going to use your lower looper thread and you're going
to use your left needle thread to create a flatlock that is less bulky and uses up less
thread.
So, now that we have that all squared away, we can start sewing.
So, just as before, you want to let the thread hang over the edge.
And with this, this isn't really ideal for seams, it's more of like a decorative element
if you want that cool flatlock look.
Here, all the thread is kind of hanging over.
On the back you have a latter stitch.
Latter stitch.
And on the front, once it lays flat, you have to pull it, you have the flatlock 2 thread.
So, here's an example where it's a little easier to see.
You can see that the thread is really hanging over the edge.
The other one had a lot of print, I didn't know if that one was a little too confusing.
So, here, when you stretch it all out, you can see that it lays flat.
So it's like the flat lock you see on sportswear.
So, that's how you do a flatlock stitch on your serger.
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