# My Serger....Arrrrrgg!!!



## Country Lady

I'm about ready to throw my serger out the window. I've had this serger more than 15 years, but I haven't used it enough to remember how to use it. I'm only wanting to finish off some seams. It was serging along well and looking so pretty, then just stops feeding the fabric through and he thread knots up. I raise the presser foot, press the foot control to serge enough to get my fabric off. As long as the fabric is not under the presser foot, the serging chain looks good and the feed dogs seem to be working properly. Once again, I try feeding the fabric through and it won't feed through. Ok, Serger Experts, what am I doing wrong?

ETA: I might add that I'm sewing Ponte knit. At least, that's what I think it is. I've only used this serger a couple of times since it was last serviced.


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## Molly Mckee

What kind of serger is it?


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## Garnet

Sorry about the hiccup with your serger.

It may be a mechanical problem needing the attention of a tech. But first, see if it's a problem with the thread and thread path. 

Is the thread coming freely off the spools? (It might be caught on something.)

Is the thread moving through the tension discs? A sewing friend once had a "knot" of thread fuzz trapped in a disc, keeping the disc open so that there was no tension on the thread and she was getting thread vomit at the fabric edge. She pulled some bias tape through and it cleared the knot and solved the problem.

Is a thread too tight in a tension disc? This could keep the fabric from feeding. Something for the tech to solve.

Does the feed dog mechanism move when you turn the hand wheel? If not, you may need the tech to diagnose. 

Does the machine need cleaning and oiling?

One thing that happened to me when I just wanted to do a quick serge job on one of my sergers - the old brand new one I inherited from my aunt. The hand wheel turned "in reverse." I was trying to hand turn to test the threading. Took me a while to remember it had to be turned in the opposite direction. I might have even had to resort to reading the manual. Anyway, that solved the problem.

Don't know if any of this will help, but my husband always nags me about isolating the problem and ruling out the easiest fix first. If it's just lint in a tension disc, that's easy to clear out. 

Let us know what the solution turns out to be.


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## Country Lady

Molly McKee, my serger is a Babylock SE300. I bought it at a good price (so I thought) at a fabric store in Seattle. At the time, the only thing I knew about sergers was that I wanted one and this one was within my budget.

Garnet, I plan to go down your list this afternoon. Maybe my nerves will have calmed down to play with it. LOL Thanks!


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## Molly Mckee

Go through Garnets list. I have a BabylocK about the same age. I'll have to check the number. I have tried everything to get it sewing right--it simply won't. It does fine and then stops, I can fight with it for hours and get nothing done.

I replaced it with a Janome Friday, and it's a good candidate for a boat anchor!


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## Country Lady

This afternoon, I used canned air on it. I don't like to use that on my machines, but I wanted to get it running to finish the pants I was working on. I also adjusted the differential feed a little. Ta-da!!! It started working! However, it's sounding a little rough. Tomorrow, I'll do more cleaning and maybe some oiling. As much as I'd like a new serger, I don't really feel that I sew enough anymore for it to pay for itself. I'd like to keep this one working whenever I do need one.


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## Molly Mckee

Glad you got it fixed, I have had problems with mine since I got it, I should have returned it but I thought it was operator error. I am finally convinced it wasn't.


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