Monday, October 31, 2011

Help Wanted! Flatlocking on BL Imagine.

(I posted this on PR but am going to link back to my blog because of errors when trying to link from Photobucket to PR.)

I just got my new Babylock Imagine and have playing with it the past two days. All the stitches were beautiful except for the 2-thread Flatlock, both seaming and decorative. I'm using white serger thread in the needle and Decorator 6 and Wooly Nylon thread in the looper.

Although I will try the flatlock again with serger thread in both the needle and looper. If it looks good, then I'm thinking some adjusting might need to be done with the screw. I thought I ask for tips and tricks first, however, before doing that from Imagine owners.

Here are pics of what it looks like. The top is the purple wooly nylon, the bottom green is Decorator 6. The ladder stitches on the needle side are beautiful, but the opposite side is not. The needle thread is being pulled too much to the other side.


Any tips for using decorative thread in the BL Imagine serger would be greatly appreciated!

***ETA*** I will hang my head low in shame. I found out in my how-to-use-your-new-machine BL class that I was forgetting to put my foot down, no pun intended. This is a no-brainer, of course, but on my BL I couldn't tell that the foot was up like a sewing machine. The foot appears so close either way. I usually don't raise the foot on a serger, but was doing so a lot because of the thickness of my fabrics, then I was forgetting to put it down lol. How dumb is that?!?! Anyway...this has solved my stitch problem.

Another issue the instructor noticed that my stitches were "off". They weren't like everyone else's in the class. She had the super tech at the store check it out before I left and it was off by a whole turn which is quite a lot according to the owner. Yes, it was a brand new machine right from the box, so someone wasn't paying attention at the factory.

Everything is good now :) .

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Imagine That!!!

Yes! "Imagine" that!!!

It happened. My baby came home with me last night. It took 18 mos of payments, but she is now here. (Put a napkin under your chin right now...) She sure is droolworthy:

Told ya so :) . Finish wiping the drool off your chin and I'll tell you my little issue. I started taking her out of the box today and there doesn't appear to be a cover! Maybe it is under the machine??? I don't know. But if there is no cover, shame on BL. For a top-of-the-line home serger, it should include at least a cheapo plastic cover, don't you think? I know, I know. With my new baby I can whip one up fast but... Even my Janome Embroidery machine which cost almost as much came with a sturdy plastic cover. Ditto with my Janome Coverstitch. Oh well. I ended up putting it back in the box because leaving it out without a cover is an invitation to my 2 highly curious cats. Play with me not. I really wanted to take it out for 10 minutes to stare at it, then put a cover on it for playtime later.



Darn, I had to put it back in the box. I'd really like to work tomorrow, but I really don't want to work tomorrow if you KWIM. No work means time for my Imagine!



More updates later. I'm still staring at the Imagine box sitting under my kitchen table. Proud to be its owner :) . Proud to have it home! My "family" is pretty much complete: Janome Memory Craft sewing machine, Janome CP1000 Coverstitch, Janome 300E Embroidery, Babylock Imagine serger, and a vintage Kenmore 185 series mechanical sewing machine as my backup. What more could a girl want? Well, a professional, heavy-duty dedicated buttonhole machine might be nice!

Pictures for Ginger

The nice thing about PR are the reviews and pics. The bad thing about PR is that lots of members (including myself) have broken links due to various things like changing service providers.

Note: Most of these tops are old. Now I wear my tees snug or close-fitting. It's simply a more flattering look. Each photo is a Pamela Tee or Pamela Tank. Some have undergone major design changes like the dress. I still wear those on hot summer days. The plain grey was a muslin I created in the former Shannon Gifford's Build a Better Tee class.




























The New Blogger Interface

Has anyone tried it yet? I hated it and switched back. 'Nuff said about it.