My Turn at Tenacity
Thanksgiving Day when Kersten and Kevin arrived, Kersten brought my sewing studio an addition. Her mom, Nancy, and I had visited and Nancy was ready to hand off a Singer Ultralock Serger, that was not being used at her home or her mother’s home.
Yesterday I took it out of the box and Dennis was right there with small brushes, soft cloths, etc. to give the machine a once over on the outside and taking a look under the hood. A can of air was also requested. I got busy and downloaded an owner’s manual for it. It is a 1987 Singer Ultralock #14U34. I read the while Dennis cleaned. I was then ready to see what I could do. Four spools of thread at one time with two needles seemed daunting. One step at a time. One try at a time in the threading. It truly was a challenge using every bit of my tenacity. When I shut off the lights last night in the sewing studio, it was threaded and I left it at that.
There is the little beast complete with a sample that is not correct. The machine is perfect for sewing seams of knits, putting rolled hems on light weight fabric and best of all Kevin . . . putting new knit cuffs on favorite jackets . . . when it is threaded correctly.
This morning, I plugged it in and putting my hand on the electric foot pedal, I took it for a spin. Ironically it spit out a sample. It stitched and cut off the far right edge of the fabric. There are two knives within the workings of the machine. The sample did not look 100%. Today I have surfed YouTube on various types of similar units. Late this afternoon I happened upon “A Man and His Singer Serger.” The twenty four minute video was with the exact same machine as I had sitting in my sewing studio. Hells bells. I do not have it threaded correctly. All four threads are coming off of the spools going into the top of the machine incorrectly. Of the four threads going into the belly of the machine, only three are correct. It is amazing that I could even have a sample to take the photo with. Tomorrow I will pull all the threads out and begin anew. You know I will have this same video on the Dell computer in the sewing studio and pause and play, pause and play until we are one.
This fellow that made the video has been sewing for just a year. He found his little Singer in a trash bin and began working with it complete with purchasing a few parts. His main love is making his own caps. All the pie shaped pieces that take the cap from the brim to the top are using his serger. He claims it will be one item that will serve anyone well once they take the time to get it threaded correctly. Ya, you bettcha! I even found a second video that he has put out labeled as “an update.” Sweet.
I think I did match Megan with tenacity today, but unlike her, I have yet to score success. Tomorrow is another day.