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What is the best heavy duty serger that is less than $500?
I just learned how to sew about 4 months ago and I now love making clothes for my little ones. I have a 1948 Kenmore and a cheap featherweight Singer. I am thinking about buying a serger because I am so tired of how messy the clothes look on the inside (especially after washing). I can't seem to find helpful reviews regarding heavy duty sergers. Am looking to spend less than $500 but don't know if that is possible. Hope someone out there can help.
Find yourself a Juki dealer and try out some machines would be my first suggestion. They're not well advertised in the US; their home sergers show their industrial roots in terms of sturdiness (but they're much. much easier to thread), and Juki also builds Bernina's sergers.
Some of the available models: http://www.allbrands.com/products/abc2511.html
Minimal serger for your purposes, imo, is a 3/4 thread machine. That allows you to do the basic construction stitching and some decorative stitching. Don't buy a machine without differential feed... it's just too useful. (Virtually all sergers have differential today, but older ones may not.)
Coverstitch is handy when you're sewing knits, but the folks I know who have a combination coverstitch/regular serger just never seem to convert back and forth and use the machines to their fullest. Those of us with a regular serger and a coverstitch machine get a lot of use out of both.
You might also want to join the yahoo group "sergers" and read some of the archives and ask questions.
Mike Mentzer - Heavy Duty