Sergers in quilting

[Margo]

Hi Folks
I have a new serger, well, when I say new, about a year old. However, I have only used it once as I do little or no garment construction. I would like to use it, does anyone use one in their quilting? Inspiration would be most welcome, just to stop me feeling guilty about an impulse purchase that I didn't really need! ops:

Lynn in frosty UK

[Lorchen]

Lynn, I'm sure somebody has written a book about constructing quilts with a serger. Whatever you do, have fun playing!

It's well below zero here too. Brrrhhhh......

[Margo]

A Google search of quilting with a serger yields lots of info!

[Margo]

Wasn't that in one of the early show's? there was a segment on charity quilts and they used sergers to quilt as you go. Sorry don't know when it was.

[Diane-53]

Check out sergers and reviews of them at patternreview.com

Diane/Wyoming

[Diane-53]

http://www.amazon.com/Serge-Merge-Qu...der_0896898105

this looks promising, I may order this one myself.

[Diane-53]

At least with a serger you can guarantee a 1/4" seam allowance :lol: :lol:

Although whether the patch is the right size could be up for debate ops:

Rosemary

[Diane-53]

http://www.amazon.com/Serge-Merge-Quilts-Sharon-Rotz/dp/0896898105/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1295717381& amp;sr=1-2#reader_0896898105

this looks promising, I may order this one myself.

ops: ops: ops: ops:
Just realised when I checked out your link that I bought this last year, but obviously put it in a safe place!!! or having a very senior moment! Thanks for the tips. :lol:

[Diane-53]

At least with a serger you can guarantee a 1/4" seam allowance :lol: :lol:

Although whether the patch is the right size could be up for debate ops:

Rosemary

How can you guarantee a 1/4 in seam Rosemary? I have a babylock imagine and the markings are for 5/8in for dressmaking! :?
Lynn

[Diane-53]

Lynn, happy to do my part, hopefully your "senior moment" won't last very long. Imagine not having to buy another book on the topic.
Btw, I did order it myself. I am looking forward to utilizing my equipment in a more efficient way.

[Diane-53]

I went to a Eleanor Burns Quilt in a day class it was for 3 days one of the classes we did was for sergers look for a book Ready Set Serge by George Melot it was a great class I got a new Serge out of it Happy

[Diane-53]

Provided your cutting blade is set 1/4"to the right of your left hand needle, you will always get a 1/4" seam :P
However depending on how much is cut off, your patches will not necesarily be the right size

Personally I don't use my 5/8" guide marker - too wasteful to my mind, because I either want the overlocking on the edge that I have cut or I am trimming to a seam that is already there, in which case I will do it by eye - the advantage of having a calibrated eyeball

Rosemary

[Lorchen]

"Calibrated eyeball"????........ Your eyeball looks quite normal to me when we met, Rosemary.... Giggle!

But I know what you mean. I was brought up with cm and metres, and I know exactly how much a cm is, but I always have problems to visualise inches and yards.

[Lorchen]

I used my serger to make three wool quilts. First I washed the wool fabric and clothing in the washing machine to felt it. And dried it in the clothes dryer. Then I cut eight inch squares from the newly shrunk fabric. Some of it was leftover yardage from garment sewing, some from wool skirts from the Good Will Store and some of it was from my dear dad's suit trousers and jackets. I serged these squares together --not using the cutter, just a simple three-thread overcast quarter inch seam. At this point I did a little needlepunch felting using wool roving and yarn scraps for embellishment. I used a wool batting, flannel backing and a double thickness bias cut "satin" binding (actually some beautiful suit lining yardage). I tied these three quilts, kept one for myself and gave two to my children shortly after their grandfather's passing. If I were to do it again I would try some simple machine quilting instead of tying. The quilts are machine washable and sturdy thanks to the serged seams. The quilt is quite lightweight compared to the heavy antique wool quilts I have and I keep it on my bed year round. I am planning to make a dupioni silk quilt using my serger next. PS--It was twenty degrees below zero F. here this morning. A wool quilt and an electric blanket are necessities!!

[kmouse]

I have made serger quilts before..baby sized but it is a lot of work to handle the layers for the quilt as you serge method. The sewing space to the right of the needle on sergers is much smaller than our regular sewing machines. :!: (Note to Bernina....next serger should have needle down button ..again..and more space to the right of the needle please!!!)

I do use my serger for the super scrappy tops. I will cut up scraps into 2 1/2" squares. I don't worry about color or grainline but I piece into blocks using my serger. I just use a 3 thread overlock with a stitch length of about 2.0 and used the edge of the serger foot (which for me is 1/4"...measure from your left needle to the cutting knife) for my seam allowance. As I put together the blocks (5 squares by 5 squares) I didn't worry about color, just lights and darks. I figured that the serger stabilized the grainline and if the color mixing was too horrid, I could overdye the blocks with a tea dye to tone down the colors. Having the serged edges would keep the blocks from raveling. There is a large quilt in my profile that I pieced in this method...a king size bedspread.

However, I quilted it traditionally on a mid-arm sitdown

kim