Here’s the result of me getting to know my serger last weekend: two projects in four days, one of those in an AFTERNOON. Damn, that thing is fast.

First up, Hudson Pants from True Bias. That designer’s Emerson Pants were my pants breakthrough so I thought her other pattern would have a similar fit. It’s designed for knits (and I have plans to make some knit versions since I have a SERGER now) but she has a good tutorial on using wovens, too.

Fabric is a Kaufman Chambray Union, which has a nice sheen and a good weight. (Tip: you can get a lot of the Fabric.com inventory on Amazon, since they’re the same company, and then you can get it in time for a long weekend of sewing and not wait five days for the other side of Fabric.com to tell you something’s out of stock and ship the rest of your order.)

 

Next up was a Driftless Cardigan from Grainline Studio, since I really wanted to try out the SERGER with knits. This is a sweater knit from JoAnn (see Fabric.com order issues above) and it was a little more slippery than I wanted, but it worked to test out the pattern. 

This pattern’s been released for a while but I’ve ignored it, since it doesn’t really look like much on the hanger. But there are some great details–a high/low hem, inset pockets–and it’s got that good Grainline fit. It took me seeing it on a human to realize that it is an ideal male-gaze-eschewing layer.

I didn’t do a really great job constructing this, but I did get it done in about three hours, which blows my mind. My Bernina could handle knits but it sewed a stretch stitch at a snails pace and its “mock overlock” just didn’t look as nice inside. Even rushing through this and not stabilizing bands or cuffs (or even really pressing it), it looks a hundred times more professional inside than anything else I’ve made.

Verdict: How did I live without a SERGER and why did I wait so long to buy one?