This Serger review is being brought to you by Aubrey of Mauby’s ~ Aubrey is a seamstress extraordinaire from clothing alterations to seamstress for interior decorators, quilt maker, and pattern designer! That is sufficient to say she knows her way around a sewing room

Here are a couple of patterns Mauby’s  just released and available in her Etsy Store.

Now for Aubrey’s review. This is rather a long post but it is stuffed full of fantastic advice and observations. Don’t have time to read it all now? I’ll be putting a sidebar button up so you can easily refer back to it when you want to

Why I needed a new serger:

Enter my sewing studio. You would see 2 beautiful sewing machines, wonderful fabrics on bolts that line the walls, great alterations supplies stacked nice and tidy on shelves, and a fabulous Steam & Press iron with a 32 gallon water tank. Yes, it is pretty nice. But then your eye notices the very low-end home serger sitting in the corner. AH! You shriek! It’s like a cockroach in the middle of a fancy restaurant. And to make matters worse, this serger worked about as well as it looked.

The time had come. I needed a new serger. A serger that did not need to be re-threaded after every 4-6 stitches. Something, which did not end in a cursing match between man and machine, where the machine usually won. Something, that could even do a cover stitch perhaps?

First, if you are considering buying a high-end machine there are five rules that I believe everyone should follow:

1. Set your price limit before you look.

2. Do as much online research as you can before you go anywhere.

3. Price shop over the phone first.

4. Sew on any machine in the store that you are considering buying, for as long as you want (or until they kick you out) before handing over any money.

5. Haggle. Haggle. Haggle. (Sewing machines are like cars and jewelry. The mark up is so high and the dealers have tons of wiggle room. Always try to get the best price you possibly can.)

And so my search began. Here is what I was looking for when I started:

1. Stitch quality.

i.e. I wanted my stitches to be professional and secure. The look, feel, and sturdiness of an industrial machine, in a portable, home machine.

2. Ease of use.

i.e. I wanted the new machine to be not only quick to thread, but easily re-threaded when I wanted to change stitches.

3. Reliable.

i.e. I did not want to have to stop in the middle of a seam to re-thread the machine. I wanted a machine that only needed to be re-threaded when I changed the stitch type or thread.

4. Coverstitch

i.e. The eyesore serger could only do 3 & 4 thread stitches. And in reality after the first month of owning it, it could only do a rolled hem without giving me problems. I had a dream of one day owning a serger that could do cover stitches and chain stitches.

5. Customer service/close maintenance

i.e. Knowing how much I use my machines, I wanted to buy from a local shop that fixes on the premises. I don’t have the time to wait for any of my machines to be shipped off and repaired. I want to drop it off when something goes wrong and know that, in most cases, I can pick it up in a few days.

6. Fun

i.e. Finally, I wanted to enjoy serging again. It can be such a fun and versatile experience. My serger had taken that away. At times it made me think I hated sewing! Definitely did not want that again. I like to enjoy my sewing and the machines I sew with.

Testing Begins!

At first, I was considering getting a used serger from a local dealer and then buying a separate cover-stitch machine. This way I could have both machines set up at all times and not have to change the settings on the serger unless the cover stitch machine was needing repairs. I especially thought I would do this when I saw that the older models, like the Huskylock 936 takes an experienced user at least 15 minutes to switch from serge stitches to cover stitching.

I will mention here that I am a HUGE Husqvarna Viking fan. I come from a long line of lumberjacks and sewers. And the idea that “husky’s” are always good machines has been burnt into my very being. However, when looking at handing over up to 2k for a new machine, I was going to look at everything first.

Initially, I had thought that I wanted a Janome XCP 1000 and a huskylock 936. The 936 have gotten great reviews for years. People love them. (Who doesn’t love a Viking?)

There are only 4 brands of cover-stitch machines out there. The Janome, the Babylock, a Brother, and a Bernina. Here is a great comparison if you are looking for just a coverlock machine: http://www.cedesign.com/familyphotos/sewing/info/cs_faq/chart.html You can see from that spectacular comparison chart that the Janome had the most to offer for the price. And it really was tons of fun to sew on!

So, I went to the Janome dealer, tested the CP 1000 (the xcp was not in stores yet) and got the price on the machine.

Next, I went to a Viking dealer and looked at the 936. Apparently, this was one of the only 936 models available in the United States. It was a floor model that had seen better days. The sales woman assured me that it was in great condition and she herself would buy it if she had the money. The impulsive part of me wanted to buy it on the spot, but my gut feeling didn’t go for it. Honest, she was trying to sell me ground chuck for the price of filet mignon. And, “my momma didn’t raise no fool.” So I went with my gut and said that I would not be purchasing today. I went home to mull it over and I did not really think that paying top dollar for a discontinued floor model was the best option. Not when I could pay less for a new machine.

Back to the drawing board. Viking was coming out with a new line of sergers the s series. This was part of the reason I went to look at the old models. I figured with a new line coming out, dealers would have a better price on the old lines. Well, Internet rumours had already been spreading about how awful the new line of Viking sergers were. People were telling everyone to, “rush out and buy any Huskylock 936 you can find!” Honestly, I could not imagine Viking producing a low quality line of any machine. Also, the machines had not even gotten to dealers yet when the rumours started…so who was sewing on this “awful” line? I decided I needed to be wary of the Viking’s just in case. This actually helped me keep a clear head while looking at all of the different machines.

At this point, I narrowed down my new search to 4 high-end brands:

• Babylock
• Husqvarna/Viking
• Pfaff
• Bernina

I broke down the lines in each brand and picked 1-2 models from each line to go look at and try out. After seeing how they fit the original checklist, I further refined the checklist to these more detailed points, and kept these in mind while testing the machines:

Checklist	Bablock Evolution	Husky s25 and s21	Pfaff 4.0 & 3.0	Bernina 1300MDC
Time to switch to coverstitch	5 minutes	2-3 minutes	2-3 minutes	Too much.
Threading time	Instant	3-5 minutes 1st time	3-5 minutes 1st time	Oy.
Lighting	3 lights!	2 lights on the s25.  1 light on the s21.	2 lights on the 4.0.  1 light on the 3.0.	1 light.
Serging Space	Not that much.	Nice open area.	Nice open area	Umm…what is that?
# of Threads	8	5 on s25, 4 on s21	5 on both	5
# of Stitches	100 or so with the exclusive wave stitch (pretty neat)	25 on the s25  & 21 on the s21	4.0 has 25 & the 3.0 has 23	24
Control	Not Enough	Just Right	Just Right	Too much
Price	$$$$	$$	$$	$$$

For even more detailed comparison charts on the Husqvarna and the Pfaff check out these links:

Pfaff: http://www.pfaffusa.com/media/coverlock/comparision_chart.pdf

Husq: http://www.husqvarnaviking.com/us/media/brochures_online/Huskylock__comparison_chart.pdf

As you can see from the chart, the Bernina was just too much! The dealer talked about all the bells and whistles, but they were added in such a way that just weighed down the machine. There was just way too much manual work and clutter. Very little space on the machine to serge and it just felt clunky.

Next, my thoughts on the Babylock. Babylocks are just really super neat machines. They are practically self-threading, you just line up the threads, select your stitch, push a button and literally, poof, it is threaded. The wave stitch on the evolution was also wonderful! You could do so much with it! This is the only one of the 4 brands I compared that had 3 lights! Yes, 3 lights! Babylocks are made to be easy to use. I really liked the Babylock in a lot of ways. Alas, there are 3 reasons that I did not go with the Evolution.

1. My biggest concern was what happens when the jet-air threading breaks? There is no manual override. The closest dealer was almost an hour from me. You are pretty much dependent on the threading system NOT breaking.

2. Tension is also set automatically with very little control. The loss of control on

this machine was too much for me. I like a machine that will sew easily but I also want to be able to tell it what to do based on my own preferences.

3. Finally, price. This was by far the most expensive. And honestly, for the price of this serger, I could’ve gotten a really nice industrial serger. While an industrial would not have the neat threading, or wave stitch, it would’ve done me well for many years.

So, now you know it was between the Pfaff and the Husky. I already told you, I’m a husky girl, it is in my blood. But I was giving this a very fair review. I wanted to get the BEST machine for myself. As it turns out there was pretty much no difference between the two Husky’s and the two Pfaff’s, they seemed almost identical. Honestly, the Pfaff’s were extremely nice. If you are a Pfaff fan then you will really like both the 3.0 and the 4.0 machines. It was a tough decision to make.

For me, in the end, it came down to the Husky s25 and the s21. Viking’s and I go way back and with virtually no difference between the two lines that I had narrowed it down to, I went with the Husky.

The Husky s25 was beautiful and wonderful. The touch screen was great. There were a lot of auto-options with the touch screen, while still allowing you to keep manual control. If the touch screen/computer went all hay wire, the machine would still run until you could get it fixed. The 2 LED lights were fabulous and the 5-thread safety stitch was really nice too. But…

I went with the Husky s21, because it has almost everything the s25 has for 2/3rds the price. I was amazed and impressed by how quickly it switched from over-lock to cover-stitch. The room for serging was spacious. It is fairly quiet for a serger, my commercial zig-zag Singer is actually louder than this serger.

Why I went with the s21 and not the s25:

So why, you ask did I go with the s21? Price. Purely price. I did not need the extra thread or the touch screen right now. I had been prepared to finance my purchase for whatever machine I chose. But, since I had the entire amount to pay for the s21 then and there, it seemed like the most fiscally responsible business choice.

The part of me that likes to have stuff RIGHT now was crying inside. But the business part of me knew that this was the best choice. Plus, Husqvarna has a special “trade-up” option with all their machines. After purchasing a Husqvarna/Viking, you have one year from the purchase date to trade in your machine and get a more expensive one, even after it is used. You only pay the difference between your machine and the one you are trading up to. So, in a few months I can always go in and trade up to the s25.

**If you aren’t looking to have your serger do a coverstitch as well then you should look at the Husky s15, Pfaff 2.0, and the Babylock Imagine. These are all very nice machines, with great options and beautiful over-lock stitches. They pretty much come down to the same points of the ones I reviewed without the issue of cover-stitch options.

One Month Later Update: Really loving this machine! Beautiful job on over-locks, flat-locks, and cover-stitches. I haven’t had to re-thread in the middle of serging at all. The tension is very easy to set. The cover-stitch piece did break, but is still useable. And I just have to drop off the broken bit and they will give me a brand new replacement piece. Not really a big deal. It was purely my fault for tugging too hard. Looking forward to upgrading to the touch screen model and having that 5-thread safety stitch! I’m not sure I will ever need the s25. But I still want it! J

The End

Oh My Goodness, Aubrey! You did a fantastic job!! Well folks there you have it! One expert’s struggle through the maze of machinery available to find what’s best for her.

Would you like to be a guest poster on Tooltime? Let me know what your ideas are? You can email me anytime at Fabric.Shopper ~at~ gmail ~dot~com.

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2. Tool Time