Tailoring: Serger or Sewing Machine
Whether designing and sewing your own garments or operating a home-based tailoring business, using the right machines for the job can make all the difference in the finished product. This isn’t a competition – most serious sewists own both types of machines and make great use of them. They each have their strengths and weaknesses, but both make stunning garments. Here’s a quick look at both.
The Sewing Machine
Unlike a serger, a sewing machine is pretty much a stand-alone tool. Its capabilities and versatility are far more extensive. Sewing machines have long been the main tool used by professional and amateur clothing designers and tailors. When it comes to constructing a garment, a sewing machine is the tool most tailors turn to. In addition to stitching beautiful seams, this machine is adept at creating any size or shape of buttonhole, inserting zippers into garments and attaching facings to fabric.
Modern sewing machines are typically designed to produce an impressive array of specialty and embroidery stitches which are often used to enhance custom-made clothes. The quality of these various top stitches puts a beautiful finish on lingerie, formal wear and tailored suits and dresses.
The Serger
There are reasons why sergers are used to create exquisitely-finished, tailored garments: they’re fast, accurate, and create clean, secure seams and hems. Most home-based professionals make room in their hearts and their sewing studios for a serger.
Here’s a quick look at why sergers are so beloved by seamstresses and tailors.
- A serger secures, trims and finishes seams and hems in one swift move. A 4-thread overlock stitch is typically used to produce sturdy, perfectly balanced, yet stretchable seams on all types of garments.
- No other type of machine can secure the raw edges on any type of fabric like a serger. A serger can prevent fabric from fraying while making it look good.
- Anyone who’s tried to create a perfectly tight and even rolled hem by hand or on a sewing machine understands the pain. Sergers can produce perfect wide or narrow rolled hems in minutes. Even the sheerest fabrics do what they’re told.
- Joining two pieces of fabric without a seam allowance is impossible on a sewing machine. A serger with a flatlock stitch option creates an even, perfectly spaced, reversible seam. This stitch is great when color blocking or even as a decorative focal point.
- The adjustable differential feed is another feature unique to sergers. By setting the front and rear feed dogs to move at different speeds, you can create smooth flat stitches on very stretchy fabrics or produce perfectly even ruffles, lettuce-edged sleeves, and gathers.
When all is said and done, a serger is an invaluable tool in anyone’s sewing room. If you happen to create your own tailored designs or do alterations on garments, you and your sewing machine need one of these machines in your lives.
Creating strong seams and making quality overlock stitches on fabrics become a whole lot easier with a serger in place. Sure, sewing machines are very useful but having a serger on-board helps take your sewing to the next level. The dynamics of a serger is far more complicated than that of a sewing machine. After all, sergers employ the use of up to eight spools of thread, therefore it goes without saying that the sewing conducted by a serger and that produced by a standard sewing machine is quite different.
The serger can sew, cut seam allowances, and enclose the edge of the fabric simultaneously. Be it crafters, hobbyists, amateurs or industry professionals, sergers help provide the decorative flair to one’s projects such as chain stitches and at the same time offer functional stitches and seams for the clothes like flatlocking. Sergers are also capable of sewing together multiple layers of fabrics and adding embellishments such as sequins, ribbons, elastics, etc. to the workpiece.
Whilst sergers provide the same basic experience irrespective of the models or makes, there will be minor or major fluctuations in terms of user experience, accessories, and product features. Gone are the days when you pick up machines based on their prices. Today, when hunting for a serger it is advisable to conduct a decent amount of research while taking the budget, brand reputation, specific requirements and preferences into consideration.