Quilting with a Serger

by Louise Dowling
(Edina, MN)

Gloria,

First let me thank you for this wonderful website. I have never quilted before but have always wanted to learn. I am just in the elementary investigative stages with a lot of questions. I had a basic sewing machine that was 35 years old and the last time I used it the motor burned out. I was told it wasn't worth fixing.

I own a serger and I am wondering if this can be used in place of a regular sewing machine? You indicated in the information that you should not lock the stitches so this has me wondering. I look forward to hearing from you. Louise

ANSWER

Yes, you can make a quilt with a serger. But there are different schools of thought on this. Some quilters enjoy serging their quilts, while others find it difficult and unpredictable. Here are some of the pros and cons of using a serger:

Pros:

Quick and easy to do
Sews, finishes and trims away excess fabric at the same time.
Works best on simple shapes like squares and rectangles because they have straight seams.

Cons:

Seams are bulkier because of the extra thread. The bulkiness makes it harder to sew your quilt layers together, both by hand and machine.
Sergers don't always trim seams accurately. You seams could be wider or narrower than 1/4".
Ripping out stitches is difficult and time consuming.
Sewing complicated shapes adds even more bulk. Accuracy is unpredictable.

To answer your question about locking seams, you only do this if the seam WON'T be crossed with another seam. Since the serger sews overlock stitches, your seams are automatically locked. But this won't hurt anything. You just continue to sew your blocks in the usual way.