Fixing Defective Serger Stitches

Stitch quality is of paramount importance. Like stitches on a ordinary sewing machine, the proper formation of stitches produces either a beautiful and functional finish, or a mess. Unlike the stitches on a ordinary sewing machine, serger stitches may have up to eight threads.

Seaming, overedging, and trimming with a bunch of threads at high speeds is what serging is all about.

Sergers are well known for their professional edge finishes. There are many serger applications, but sergers cannot replace a ordinary sewing machine.

What makes a stitch of good quality or poor quality? A good quality stitch has threads that lie in their proper place with balanced tension. There is an absence of loops, puckers, skips, irregularities, and broken threads. Stitches should look like their intended design.

A little common sense and serger care are helpful in overcoming stitch flaws in your serger.

To fix tension problems, first fix thread issues. Rethread. Make sure the individual tensions are working on each thread. Use distinctive colors of thread and adjust each thread for balance one at a time.

Hiccups happen. Sometimes stitches just mess up. When they do, check threading, tensions, needles, and snags.

Rethreading is often helpful. Properly balance the tensions and make sure the needles are fresh and appropriate to the fabric. If the edge is inconsistent, try pre-trimming the edge and carefully guide the fabric consistently as you serge. Try adjusting the stitch length to see if that helps. Change threads especially if you are using older thread, highly linty thread, or otherwise lower quality threads. Closely inspect the loopers, needle plate, thread guides, and presser foot for possible burrs or rough spots. Smooth off and try again.

Often when you change the stitch set up, you will get faulty stitch formation. Go back and make sure you to properly complete the set up including associated tension balancing.

Sometimes thread breaks. This can happen the second you start serging, or it can happen at the most in opportune moment in the middle of a seam. The root causes are commonly needles, threads, tensions, burrs, and presser feet. Try the following to seek a solution. Check to make sure the needles are properly seated and positioned. Replace the needles and make sure they match the fabric. Change to a larger needle will sometimes reduce breakage. Inspect the thread to make sure it is good quality and has consistent integrity.

Bad thread is bad and needs to be replaced. Old thread and especially natural fiber threads tend to rot and decay. When you try to serge with rotten threads, they break. Before using a thread make sure it is in good dependable condition.

Generally, when the stitch quality is less than acceptable there are some basic things to check every time. These include needles, thread and threading, tensions, loopers, snag causes, settings, and balance. Replacing needles properly, rethreading properly, and adjusting tension balance are the three basic approaches to solve stitch problems.