Serger Secrets: High-Fashion Techniques for Creating Great-Looking Clothes (Rodale Sewing Book) [Hardcover]

Mary Griffin (Author, Editor), Susan Huxley (Editor), Pam Hastings (Author), Agnes Mercik (Author), Linda Lee Vivian (Author), Barbara Weiland (Author)

Book Description

Series: Rodale Sewing Book | Publication Date: October 1, 1998

The secret to high-fashion, trend-setting looks is revealed in this new book for the skilled sewer. Serger Secrets provides instructions for adding more than fifty techniques to the sewer's arsenal. It also includes 500 photos-one for every step, troubleshooting tips, and dozens of inspiring photographs of completed garments guaranteed to bring out creativity in any designer.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Testing the stitch width:

1. Cut two pieces of fabric measuring 3X12 inches (7.5x30cm). Divide one piece of fabric into thirds, and place it on top of the other. Number each third to correspond with the numbers on the cutting dial. Set your machine for a 2.5mm stitch length, 1.5-2mm stitch width, and a balanced 4-thread stitch.

2. Adjust the cutting width to 1mm, and stitch through both layers of fabric until you reach the first line. Turn the cutting width dial to 2mm, and stitch to the next line. Turn the dial to 3mm, and stitch to the next line. Turn the dial to 3mm and serge off the fabric.

3. Look for the best section of stitching on the fabric. If the stitch needs more or less fabric to create a good seam, then fine-tune both looper tensions so that you end up with a well-balanced seam.

Testing the stitch length:

1. Cut two pices of fabric measuring 3X12 inches (7.5X30cm). Divide one piece of fabric into quarters, and place it on top of the other. Number each section. Set your machine for a 1mm stitch length, 1.5 to 2mm cutting width, and a balanced 4-thread stitch.

2. Serge to the first line. Change to a 2mm stitch length and stitch to the next line. Continue until you have serged off the fabric.

3. Examine your sample, and review the fabric and stitch adjustments required for your project. If the cutting width is adequate, then you need to fine-tune the looper tensions.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

MARY GRIFFIN lives in Dublin, Ohio, PAM HASTINGS lives in Wall, New Jersey, AGNES MERCIK lives in Enfield, Connecticut, LINDA LEE VIVIAN lives in Lennon, Michigan, and BARBARA WEILANDlives in Pownal, Vermont.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Rodale Pr (October 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0875967949
• ISBN-13: 978-0875967943
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,026,681 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

153 of 156 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Screaming serger techniques --- YES!!!, October 14, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Serger Secrets: High-Fashion Techniques for Creating Great-Looking Clothes (Rodale Sewing Book) (Hardcover)

Susan Huxley and crew have done it again. Like their earlier "almost a textbook" classic, "Sewing Secrets from the Fashion Industry," their new book covers introductory basics and proceeds through an alpha section on specific techniques. The introductory section includes pages and pages of charts on threads, stitches, needles and special use stitches. All include clear photographs, careful descriptions and appropriate uses. The photographs of current machines get right IN there better than you can right in front of your own machine. To whet your appetite for decorative serging there follows a photo gallery of dozens of gorgeous garments serged with techniques explained in the encyclopedic section. The encylopedic section covers just about every decorative serger technique conceivable plus some. There are twenty-one pages on heirloom sewing alone and seven different decorative uses for flatlocking. Each entry provides the details on machine settings, feet, fabric, threads and notions. The detail is summarized for each in a sidebar; the accompanying text goes into more detail and the photographs are actually helpful. The five authors of this book have produced some absolutely gorgeous wearable art - that is actually wearable. Agnes Mercik's bomber jackets will have you all running to the fabric stores to get your own jackets started. Linda Lee Vivian and Mary Griffin's heirloom sewing make make me give up Victoria's Secret - I'll do my own lingerie now thank you. Ok so there are some 'goofyisms' in the text -- probably the editorial team should have made sure the whole thing was reviewed by at least one of the five authors. For example, the caption under one photograph of the guts of a five thread machine (I happen to own the same model) states that all three loopers are never threaded at the same time. Oops. Of course they are -- you don't get a five thread stitch otherwise. Just as in "Sewing Secrets from the Fashion Industry" you chalk some stuff off as endearing oversights. ("Sewing Secrets" advocates trimming most seam allowances BEFORE sewing. And how, one asks, would one do any fitting adjustments then?) So what?! You wouldn't be referring to this book if you didn't even know how to thread your machine. Are you ready to really push the serger envelope past overlocking edges? Grab this book at this great price and get your serger screaming!

94 of 97 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent decorative serger manual., February 16, 2002

By 

Diane Yaghoobian (Stowe, PA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Serger Secrets: High-Fashion Techniques for Creating Great-Looking Clothes (Paperback)

Subtitled "High fashion techniqus for creating great-looking clothes" the illustrations and instructions are thorough. There are two drawbacks: a substantial amount of decorative stitching described is not available on the average serger. In fact, one of the more attractive decorative stitches in the book was for a Bernina serger that wasn't yet on the market at the time of publication. There are a lot of creative suggestions anyone can use, but you may feel "left-out" because much is geared to coverlockers that also do chainstitching and a lot of the decorative work is chainstitch-based. After reading it, I felt like I needed a new serger and the one I have is less than a year old! Second, the "Garment Gallery" is too long, my opinion. The seamstresses are rightly proud of their work, but it was more than I wanted to see. That said, if you are well acquainted with your serger's basic stitching, and want to explore its creative potential, this is a great book full of tips and ideas.

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Super book to go with a new 2010 serger!, February 8, 2010

By 

Lotta on Troublemaker Str (Norway) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Serger Secrets: High-Fashion Techniques for Creating Great-Looking Clothes (Paperback)

I got my first serger a few months back, a high end Husqvarna Viking Serger, the Huskylock 936, which has 5 thread serging as well as cover stitch (incl chain stitch) capabilities. I must admit, I felt quite intimidated, since there is a huge step from understanding and mastering an ordinary sewing machine to understanding and mastering such a 5 thread wonder, with all it's parts, threading etc. The Huskylock 936 is wonderful in that it is computerized and when you pick which seam you want to use and the type of fabric, it tells you which tension etc. to use. But, no matter how much automatic stuff, if you sew quite a bit, the time comes where you have to adjust settings to get the result you want, especially if you want to sew on challenging fabrics using challenging threads, ribbon, yarn etc. for special effects. No matter which year model of serger you have, whether it is computerized or not, sergers are pretty much the same. When I look into mine, I see the same basic parts as on other brands and models and also have no problems understanding the explanations in Serger Secrets, even if they show it on different/older sergers. For that reason I strongly disagree with the reviewer who gave a super low score saying that "Sergers has come a long way in 10 years", indicating that the sergers in this books were obsolete and that this book won't be of help if you have a new serger. I could not disagree more! I must say, after getting the book, I read it quite quickly, as it was so easy to read and understand, everything felt really useful and for that reason it was even fun and excited reading. I could not put it down and got read eager to start trying out all the techniques etc. that the book shows you, amongst others because I started feeling like I really understood how this machine works. That help is really good to get, it really gives you a lift. I must add though, that when I looked at serger books here on Amazon, I found it difficult to choose, I felt like getting a few, as several seemed really nice. I had to decide on getting one basic book to learn me how to work the machine and how to be able to get everything out of it that it can do. I have not regretted at all that I chose this book for that! I chose to add one other book though: The Ultimate Serger Answer Guide: Troubleshooting for Any Overlock Brand or Model (Creative Machine Arts Series). I felt that it would be useful to have that one as a reference book in handling problems that could arise. The latter one is IMO not the type of book you just read through, but when I find myself having to handle a challenge, I look the problem up in that guide and easily (every time) finds the solution. The book list several possible answers, but most of the time the first option has solved it for me! It simply lets me solve things without any frustrations, which is worth a lot. When I start a project and I'm unsure about something, I quickly look it up in Serger Secrets to remind me of what I already read - just love this book for that. It really gives me all the answers I need. The intimidation I felt at first, was gone after reading a bit of this book, since it quickly gave me the confidence to start experimenting, and when I was done reading it, I felt real confident that I would be able to learn the ropes necessary to have a ball with my new serger, creating clothes and other things for myself/others. For any person new to serging, or those that never got started with the serger they got quite a while ago, I can't recommend this book enough and the same goes for the other one I mentioned. They are a perfect pair and no doubt a must have, as I see it! Since I mostly sew with knits and would like to learn all the techniques used for such fabrics, I ended up adding a third book after a while, Singer Sewing with Knits (Singer Sewing Reference Library), also a super easy to read book which has so many useful techniques for creating clothing from knit fabrics. Couldn't put that one down either when I got it and use it to look up things when needed. That book is also an older book, only available used (from only $0.97-2.71, I got mine at $0.99 and to my surprise it was new even if it was sold as used), but it really does not matter that it is 18 years old! What it shows you, are techniques as usual and useful today as they were when the book was new in 1992 (it really doesn't matter that the photo's show outdated clothing!). These three books really has been great, they're giving me the results I want! Getting that professional finish without going through the frustration of having to figure things out by trial and error (or not being able to do certain things) or having to go to a course to learn, is really great! Can't ask for more!

And, real important to me, nothing has been too complicated for me to utilize, including language wise (with English not being my native language). I really appreciate it when books are as easy to read and understand as this one (and the other two I referred to)!

Can not recommend this book enough, IMHO it is even a steal at only $15 (or down to $8 new/used from Amazon affiliates)! :)