in-SERGE-ncy

I bought an overlocker (serger for those Norte Americanos who might be reading!) in (mumble mumble does a quick count back on fingers) 2004. And have hardly used it all. Not least because I kept meaning to go in for classes, and then the dealer closed…

Then the other week we happened on this book for ONE DOLLAR. I can’t pass up just about ANY book for that price (it’s a sickness, and it’s hereditary - I come from a long line of bibliophiles) and this one - well, I think I might have even paid *gasp* full retail price for! (ooh, grammar. Never mind…)

Okay, it’s from 1992; but the basic info is all good, even if the illustrations look terribly dated now (Aww. come on - you KNOW we all wanted to look so glamorous with those big bows on our butts! I can remember coveting exactly that dress on my best friend’s sister…)

Anyway, with the help of the clear and well labelled diagrams, today I managed to:

• Clean and oil the beastie (hmm the only one of my machines not to have a name, I think, which tells you how very slight our relationship has been ’til now)
• Work out the hieroglyphics on the program card: squiggle glob glob 1/1 triangle triangle square actually means: rolled-hem-stitch-width-adjuster-thingummy DOWN! Ahhh!!!
• Re-learned how to change threads without having the re-thread the beastie (cool!)
• Have a go at actually doing a rolled hem (with view to using it on the skirt that I posted as “almost finished” this week - just need the hem, and a hook and eye at the waist- arrrgh!) AND refined it to get a better look AND  now I know which thread to change so I get the right colour on top.
• Have dug out the extra feet that were a bonus with the machine and actually worked out what they are - next step, using them!

Mr Beloved reminds me that we went to a Stitches and Craft show in 2005 where the rather enthusiastic speaker was extolling the virutes of the serger - and made an unfortunate series of hand gestures which triggered this cartoon:

So now I know - it has a name - Die (Der? Das? Just what gender IS a serger, anyway?) Uberlocker.

I’m off to play with some more samples.