You may remember that I have a very old serger . . soon to be 28 years old. I hadn’t used it in many, many years and when I bought the Coverstitch machine and I retrieved the serger from the upstairs storage room, it was full of deer corn (mice!). It worked but despite messing with the tension and every setting I could change, I wasn’t getting a great result. As I was finishing up the clothes for Nicole and Addie before meeting them in Louisiana in April, something went crazy with the serger. I managed to finish what I was making and then walked away for a while. I’ve gone back to it several times, thinking I’ll see something I haven’t noticed before but I’m just not able to get it working right.
Yesterday morning I completely unthreaded it, cleaned and oiled it, re-threaded it and still couldn’t get a good stitch. Then, as luck would have it, a friend who bought a Coverstitch about the same time I did and I think has been using a borrowed serger, wrote me on Facebook last night about a serger she was looking at buying. We spent well over an hour chatting on FB and looking at different sergers and comparing and went from fixing to order the Brother DZ1234 to maybe ordering the Brother 1034D. As Leslie and I went back and forth, the price at Walmart for the 1034 went from $190 to $207. At Amazon, it was $216. Not a huge difference but it adds up. They all have free shipping so for me, it was going to be wherever I got the lowest price.
I decided to wait til this morning and see what I thought. I kept reading reviews. The Bernina lover in me says “nothing but a Bernina will do” but the fact that my favorite sewing machine is the old Singer 301 and I love the Brother Coverstitch machine, and the reviews are outstanding for the Brother 1034D serger, I was comfortable going with that one. I figure for less than $200, I’ll use it to make enough clothes for myself, Addie and Nicole then if, in a year or so, I decide to get a Bernina or something different, it will still be less than $200 well spent.
I ordered it from Home Depot and I’m very anxious for it to get here!
Sibyl says
Judy
I have that serger and have used it for years. I make almost all my clothes with woven fabric and love that I have nice clean seams. The hardest thing was threading it, and I found a good video on how to thread it, and now I usually just cut the thread at the cone, and tie the new cone to the old thread, and let it go through that way. It’s the easiest way I found to thread it. Use mine a few times a week.
JudyL says
I’ve had my old Bernina serger for close to 30 years and that’s how I learned to do it too – attach the old thread to the new thread and bring it on through.
Thanks for writing. It’s so hard to switch from a Bernina to a Brother but I think it’s a good choice for what I’ll be doing. Glad to know you like yours.
Sibyl says
I guess I am one of those that are not brand loyal. I do have my vintage Singers, 401, 301, 66, and a few others. I also have my Brother embroidery machine, a Brother straight stitcher for quilting, a Janome Memory Craft 6600, and a BabyLock Sashiko machine. I purchase what ever machine will get the job done and do it well. Most of my machines I have purchased second hand so getting a good deal on a good machine is what I like. I know you will enjoy the serger.
JudyL says
I used to be terribly brand loyal. Bernina 930, 1230 and 430 sewing machines, Bernina serger, Bernina embroidery machine. I never questioned whether Bernina was the best machine because I’ve always believed it was/is but for the amount of sewing I do now, I’m happy with whatever will get the job done. Every time I sew on a Bernina sewing machine, I remember why I love them so much but with the old Singers, Vince can fix anything that goes wrong and they NEVER need to go to the repair shop. I’ll always have machines that make me happy and when they no longer make me happy, they will be replaced but I no longer feel the need to buy the most expensive things out there.
Sherrill says
Home Depot has sergers?!!!
Rebecca in SoCal says
Yes, that was a surprise ending, wasn’t it?
Donna says
I’ve had the 1034D for eons. That thing is a workhorse. I hope you enjoy yours as much as I have enjoyed mine.
Bon says
Home Depot….always your first stop for a serger. ???
Nann says
I got Ole, my Husqvarna serger, in 1991. Back then I sewed most of my clothes and I wanted an easy way to finish the seam allowances. It has to be threaded manually (and, boy, those lower loopers are tricky). I took a couple of classes but the “fun” serging never caught on with me. By the late 1990’s I was a confirmed quiltmaker. Nowadays: less than 1% of the sewing I do in a year needs serging. I wonder if I’d use an easier-to-thread machine more? Then I find another interesting patchwork idea and it’s back to 1/4″ seams.
Sibyl says
Nan I still sew loads of clothes. I looked into getting one of those “air” threading type of sergers, but for the price of one, I decided I could manually thread mine for a real long timei. I don’t do anything fancy or such with it. I asked about other sergers besides the Babylock ones, but they all have to be manually threaded only that company has the goods on it, and I just can not justify it for only 10-15 minutes of use per garment. So I just use my Brother 1034. Don’t need more than 4 cones of thread, I think some of it is a bit overkill.
cassews says
I bought my serger when Cloth World was bought out by Jo-Ann’s many years ago, a Serger Mate Companion 5040… I use it sparingly until I can find another one that I like to serge with.
My first machine was a Kenmore with a forward and backstitch- it may of had a button holer bought it at Sears for 99.00 on sale. Then I traded that in for a portable necchi and loved it. The Necchi is still out in the sewing room along with my 3 brother machines -one they don’t make anymore and that is a dream machine -it has the cartridge. My Pffaff embroidery sewing machine -all computerized is now 4 years old and everyone who sees it says I should buy a Janome 9000 as I would be very happy with it and trade in all the sewing machines I have. But alas those sewing machines sewed an awful lot of clothes for my daughters and their friends. Along with all the clothes for my granddaughters before they decided they had to have things store bought.
So I guess I am sentimentally attached to my sewing/serger machines… No doubt about it