I love mine but I also like working with knits to make and repair underwear and tshirts. That’s where they really excel. I’m working on a skirt now and debating if I want to do a French seam to make the interior look clean or just run it through the serger. Ultimately the serger would be faster and just as sturdy. They are kind of a specialty sewing tool and changing out the thread can be a beast but for certain tasks they really shine.
That’s where I started. Every time I have extra money things get out of hand! I hate seeing a good pair of pants go to waste over a small hole.
I haven’t made any womens style underwear yet but I’ve made men’s style. Sew like a man is where I get my patterns. The owner also makes how to videos that go with his patterns.
I could use a Lemmy group for that! I could also use a sewing group but haven’t found one yet.
What style of hemming did you do? Did you create a brand new hem or keep the old hem and attach it further up? I’ve been afraid to tackle hems on jeans so far.
I just did this with some jeans a few days ago. I’m a weirdo and have a hand crank Singer 128 that does a great job on extra thick fabric. I’ve found that my new singer heavy duty machine can’t handle fabric that is very thick.
I find that walking feet can be hit or miss. Sometimes it’s a matter of adjusting the zig zag stitch a bit or making sure you have a ball point knit needle in your machine to get the stitches right. Adjusting the pressure of the foot can help sometimes too. Luckily walking feet aren’t too expensive and they are fun to play with.
I eventually broke down and got a serger to make my own tshirts.
It might. Sometimes with knits, especially if you have the wrong needle or are really close to the edge, it can catch in the feed dogs and cause that problem. You can have similar issues if you have too much tension as well. Make sure to get an old Tshirt with similar fabric that you are retiring and practice some different zig zag stitches first. I keep sacrificial clothing around for practice stitches. You can also try adjusting the foot pressure to get it to feed more consistently.