Check the manual. Here is why. I borrowed a serger from my school to use on a project and met with great frustration. I finally discovered that the manual (it is a Singer Serger) was wrong! The colors of two of the dials were mislabeled in the book...so I was actually adjusting them contrary to the direction they should have been going. I discovered this only by going to other sources to understand how a serger works. I spent hours. Once I discovered this, I crossed out the colors listed in the manual and changed them to the correct ones, and now the directions work perfectly. By the way, at the beginning of the manual, the colors were correct, it was only on the pages that described how to make certain stitches and in the troubleshooting pages where they were transposed.
I have found that after hours of frustration with this problem, sometimes my needle is the wrong size/kind for the material/thread, or I need to just change the weight of my thread. Call your local Singer store and get this stuff right first before you spend anymore time on tension knobs.
Increase the tension the for the bottom (underside) looper a little at a time until it is the correct tension (this decreases the slack on the bottom looper), and then lastly increase the top looper tension a little at at time until its perfect.
You can practice this by re-threading your machine with a different color thread for each looper to make it easy to see where you need to increase or decrease the tension until you get the hang of it. Kimsukie
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Request: Adjusting the Tension on a Serger Sewing Machine (10/30/2009)
I received a serging sewing machine for Mother's Day and I finally took it out to use. The tension is all goofed up and the instruction book's tips are not helping.
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Request: Adjusting the Tension on a Serger Sewing Machine
Archived on 10/30/2009
I received a serging sewing machine for Mother's Day and I finally took it out to use. The tension is all goofed up and the instruction book's tips are not helping. The stitches are all loopy like is was crocheted instead of serged. Has anyone else found a solution to adjusting tension on a serger?
Judy from Winfield, IL
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RE: Adjusting the Tension on a Serger Sewing Machine
I suggest that you first go to the place you purchased it from and have them help you. My store gave free classes with the purchase of any new machine. If you have no luck you can always contact the Better Business Bureau.
Also there are other books on sergers, however your book that came with the machine should be all you need. Are you changing all the tensions or one at a time? The side that's loopy needs to be tightened. I hope this has helped some. Judy (09/12/2006)
RE: Adjusting the Tension on a Serger Sewing Machine
My serger is set on 4 all the way across. I hope that helps. (09/13/2006)
By June
RE: Adjusting the Tension on a Serger Sewing Machine
Look at all your threads, one by one. Check to see if each is totally in the disk at the top. Be sure all threads are threaded in their proper places. Is the needle new? Are all threads of the same weight? These are things you can try. I have 4 sergers and they all give me trouble from time to time. With lots of patience I am able to get them working.
Loopy stitches mean it's too loose. But the stitches will be loopy by themselves (no fabric). Is your machine new? Have you checked the FAQ in the book? On the website of the make of machine? There are lots of things you can try, but I understand your frustration. (09/13/2006)
By Cathy
RE: Adjusting the Tension on a Serger Sewing Machine
I've had to check the website of the serger's manufacturer for their online instruction manual. They are usually more complete than the manual that comes with the serger. I recently bought a 5 thread Singer serger and I was having a very difficult time threading it. The online manual was a life saver. (09/28/2008)
