It's Here! It's Here! It'sHereIt'sHereIt'sHere!

The post title is pretty much what I shouted when I opened the door and found this sitting outside:

My new serger!!!!

Yep, it is official, I have a serger.  This is my big fancy super exciting ultimate sewing purchase I have been waiting for the past week or so.  I have wanted one pretty much ever since I started sewing, because I have been making skating costumes and sewing stretchy stuff pretty much since I started sewing.  Playing with my new toy is probably going to delay my progress on trench coat sewing this week, but oh well.  I still want to get serger thread (polyester and wooly nylon) before I start using it on real projects, but I will probably be doing some stitch experiments on scraps this week.

Anyway, after it got here I pretty much ran around screaming "It's here!" even though nobody else was around.  It was very much like the scene in Little Miss Sunshine where the girl runs around screaming "I won!"  Yeah, actually, it was very much like that.  Then I settled and got around to actually unpacking the thing:

Info on the box

More info on the box

Opening the box

Packed in the box

Important information and stuff

My new baby!

Fancy dials

Oooo, complicated threading

I haven't really had time to do any test stitching yet (other than, yes, it turns on, and yes, it stitches), but I did have time to read through the instruction manual.  Read through the bit about threading it (since this seems to be one of the main problems people have with sergers?), but it doesn't seem too complicated.  Haven't actually done it yet, but I at least think I understand what I should do.  Something I will be trying out in the next few days, I am sure.

Actually, the most complicated part so far was untangling the thread that came with the machine - it had fallen off the spool holders in the box, rolled around, and made a tangly mess.  Spent more time dealing with that than figuring out where the rest of the important parts are located.  Not that I am going to be using that thread for much, but since it is color coded I figured it would be good for figuring out what is going on with all the different threads and testing different stitches when I have time to play with it.

Thus far I am impressed with the weight and feel of it.  Unlike my sewing machine (which is a bit of a lightweight that got knocked over by the coat I was sewing), the serger feels nice and heavy.  When the cover for the looper threading is lowered, you can see all the moving parts by turning the fly wheel.  Very interesting; lots of stuff going on down there.  I did a very small amount of stitching on the scrap fabric that came with the machine.  The knife cut the fabric like butter, and the stitching was smooth and fast.  Granted, this isn't much to go on, but still, I am impressed.  First impressions:  I like this machine.  A lot.

I plan to write a full review later, after I have had enough time to test out the machine with various stitches and dealing with the threading and all the other fun stuff that goes along with serging.  Until then, I am super happy with my purchase and I can't wait to start using it on my future projects.