For my birthday this year my amazing husband decided to absolutely spoil me with my very own overlocker! For this that don’t know, and overlocker, or serger, is an amazing machine that sews, trims, and finishes seams in one go. I’ve wanted one for years! Being the little researcher that I am, he knew he had to let me choose it. But with all the options out there, how did I pick the one I ended up with? These are the areas I considered:
Budget
As much as I’d like to have the best equipment in the world, I had to be realistic and choose something within a reasonable budget. After reading up it seems that the average price for a home overlocker is around R5000-R6000. There are fancier machines up to around R20 000 but they were a bit out of my price range!
Purpose
It’s important to determine what you want to use the overlocker for. For me, it’s mainly for making clothes for Kingsley and I, mostly dresses, T-shirts, sweatshirts, etc. I got great advice from Andrea at Create.Hobby who said that if you want to get into sewing active wear you should consider a machine with a cover seam function, which requires a 5 thread overlocker like the Singer 14T968DC. Alternatively, if you actually just want to learn ho wot sew, maybe it’s better to consider a normal sewing machine instead of an overlocker to start!
Features
If you decide to go down the rabbit hole of researching overlockers, you will find a minefield of features and options to choose from. And many of them have different names from different manufacturers! From my reading there is one thing that makes a world of difference in an entry level machine- the differential feed. This is the two part feeing system that keeps your fabric from getting eaten alive and rippling or bunching up. It’s one of the best things about having an overlocker! So make sure you buy one that has this feature. You also want to make sure you can adjust the tension on all four threads, the width of the stitch, the length of the stitch, and the differential feed. It’s all these things that allow you to manipulate the type of stitch you are sewing.
Parts
Make sure there are registered technicians for the machine you purchase in your area. It’s also important that you can purchase needles for your overlocker easily. Some, like mine, can even use regular sewing machine needles, which is a huge bonus.
After considering all the options I eventually landed on the Singer 14HD854 overlocker. This one was the strongest and fitted with what I wanted the best. And, best of all, I was able to get it delivered locally, already threaded, in time for my birthday! Close second for me was the Brother 2504D.
If you want to purchase an overlocker for yourself, I’d highly recommend speaking to Andrea from Create.Hobby who went out her way to help me decide and order my overlocker. I’m so excited to have it, and can’t wait to create a whole new wardrobe with it!
Comments