Yes, I did. I really didn’t plan on it. But I’ve found that sewing machines, longarms, embroidery machines, and now sergers somehow find a way to jump in my car and come home with me. I swear, stopping by the local quilt shop can sometimes be a dangerous thing for me. I mean, all I did was stop in to drop off more of my patterns and when I got home, there was a serger in my passenger seat. Has anything like this ever happened to you?? 🙂

Actually, I’ve wanted a serger for a while. I’m not sure why, because I don’t really understand the advantage to having one in addition to my regular sewing machine. But there are some things I would like to try to make — like some casual shirts — that I think will be easier with a serger. When I went into the shop, this model had just recently been traded in (the owner barely used it and wanted to upgrade). The price was right and the machine had just the right amount of features – not too many, not too little – and I just couldn’t leave it there. It’s like it was meant to be.

Of course the first thing I wanted to do when I got home was make something. But what? I didn’t even understand what all those threads were for. And loopers? What the heck are loopers? Not to mention all the horror stories I’ve heard about threading one!

Even though the shop offers new owner classes on all the machines they sell, I was too impatient to wait for my class. Fortunately, Babylock has a really nice education website full of different classes for all their machines as well as many project classes. So I watched the video on understanding the Babylock Eclipse DX and I was off and running!

Just look at that beautifully serged and finished seam! I think I’m the tiniest bit impressed. LOL I decided I would make a pillowcase. It would be a quick project, and a useful one at that. I love sleeping with pillowcases I’ve made. Makes me feel all kinds of crafty, and I love that no one else has a pillowcase like mine. Weird, right?

Anyway, I loosely followed the tutorial for the ‘15 Minute Pillowcase” from The Cottage Mama. I’ve used this tutorial several times in the past. The girls in my sewing group laugh at me because I *never* have a pillowcase finished in 15 minutes. What can I say? I’m just slow. But I got a whole lot faster when I made one using my new serger. Because I didn’t have to do the french seams. I just serged the seam, turned the pillowcase right side out, gave it a press and bam! it was done. Took me longer to pick out the fabric than to make the case.

Isn’t that so fun? When I sent a pic to my Sister she was drooling over the print. I love it too. I can’t wait to sleep on it!

So now I know I can make a pretty quick pillowcase with this serger, but what else can I do? I would love for you to share projects or any tips/advice you have on how your serger makes sewing easier for you. I’m excited to explore more and see what else I can do with this fun but tiniest bit intimidating machine!