Brother 1034DX Serger

And now for something completely different....

I shop at my local Walmart a lot. Like five out of seven days I have to pick up something I need, and since it is just down the street from me,  it is mostly out of convenience. However, when I buy something that isn't right, or I changed my mind, or for any reason at all, I know I can return it and get a refund with my receipt, which of course I always keep.

Recently in their miniscule fabric department, I notice the Brother sewing machines they have for sale on the shelf, give a smirk, and walk right by. But I have wondered if their serger is any good. Or, how can it be, at that price? 

 I was visiting my sister yesterday and we were trying to get her Babylock serger that she found on Ebay,  to run nicely, with no success.  Now I am not a mechanic, but I have had a bit of serger experience and can usually rethread and adjust the tension and get good results. So when I couldn't, I brought up the idea of maybe getting her the Walmart serger, and if it didn't work, then I would just return it, and mystery solved. 

This is where I would post pictures, but the website won't let me, so the link to everything is here:

I bought the serger and brought it home and carefully unpacked it, and did a test run. It came pre-threaded with four different colored threads.  I admit I was pretty excited and didn't look first at the threads that had been jostled in shipping and two had slipped into one slot, so when I sewed a sample the thread broke and I immediately assumed LEMON! But then I saw my mistake, rethreaded the machine correctly and ran another test sample. Perfection! I kid you not. My heart was pounding! This is amazing. 

The price I paid was only $252.00, and now as you look at the link you will see that since yesterday, it went down to $235.00. Wha??? 

Hrumph. 

Anyway. I packed it up and brought it over to my sister's house and set it up there, changing out the four little spools of colored threads for big spools of white serger thread and rethreaded the thing from scratch to see how difficult it would be if everything came undone. Not bad at all. Seriously. That is always the stumbling block with sergers, but the pictures on the interior show exactly where and how everything goes, and it works just fine. Not noisy, plenty of accessories and even a thread catcher tray which my $$$$ serger doesn't have. 

Lots of folks have sewing machines and want to sew clothes, (or home decor items) but have to finish the seam edges so the fabric doesn't ravel, and that is off-putting. With a serger, sewing the seam and finishing the edges is a one step deal. But sergers have been so expensive for so long or difficult to operate, that sewers convince themselves that they don't really need or want one. Now that is no longer the case. 

I am telling you all this, because it solves a lot of problems and makes sewing a truly enjoyable experience. 80% of my wardrobe was made using my serger, and it was a pleasure to construct the shirts, pants and dresses that I wash and wear with confidence. 

  

 

Just thought I would let you know.