Choosing the Best Serger Thread

One of the nicest things about a serger is that it will accept many more threads than what a typical sewing machine will take. Your thread farthest to the left of the machine, as you're sitting at it, facing, it is your needle thread. And depending on how many threads your machine is, if it's a three thread, this would be your needle thread. If it's a four thread, the, these are both needle threads. If it's five, you'll have three needle threads. And if you have eight, well, I think you get the picture. For your needle thread, you will use a regular sewing thread on it or you can use the classic serger thread, and you wanna use about a 50 weight. But for the looper threads and the loopers are right here, you can see that looper coming up. You have two loopers, there's one down here that goes underneath, into the machine, and then you have this one that comes over. Your loopers will actually take thicker threads, so I wanna show you a few that you might want to consider today. And as you can see here, this is a decorative stitch that was done on the serger. And these are the looper threads, using a very heavy thread. This is a pearl crown rayon, which is this one right here, and that will not go through a regular sewing machine needle, but it will go through the loopers on the serger. So let's take a look at our threads. The first one is your standard serger thread, and one of the best known brands is the Maxi-Lock brand, although there are many others that are just as good and that you will enjoy using. I want to show you with the wrapper off. You can see how the thread is wrapped. It's different than a standard spool of thread, where it just goes round and round and round. This one is diagonally wrapped, and the reason for that is that it will come off the spool nicer and it won't tangle or knot. That's very important with the speeds that you're using your serger at. It also is a 50 weight thread, it's much finer than a lot of our sewing threads, which are oftentimes a 40 weight. The higher the number, the finer the thread And so it will put off less lint. And the most practical reason for using the cone threads is that the serger will eat through threads faster than you can imagine, and by having the cones, you won't be changing threads as often. So, I highly recommend getting a good serger thread for all of your loopers and your needles. Now you can also get this in a variegated color, which also is good for decoration, but if you really want your work to stand out, I recommend getting the variegated Sulky, which is a 12 weight, which is a very thick thread, and it will stand out a lot more on your projects. This is the thickest thread that you can put through a sewing machine needle. If you wanted to, you could put it in the needles to compliment your work and it will make your rolled hems, it's wonderful for a rolled hem. It's also good for your overcast work. I think you'll really enjoy it. It also comes in plain, solid colors as well, and I use this quite a bit when I'm making napkins or doing other decorative work for the home. I told you before about the pearl crown rayon. You can see how this is very thick, it will not go through a needle. This is also wonderful for rolled hems and for overcast work or decorative work, like I showed you before. Another thread that's very popular is called wooly nylon. And wooly nylon, as you can see, when it comes off, it's a very stretchy thread, but it pops back into its original shape. And when you use this, it's a very soft thread for doing your seams. You can use it for rolled hems, although it's a lot thicker. So this is one that you would definitely want to use. It is only available for using in your loopers though. There's no way you will get that threaded through a needle. You can even use ribbon in your loopers if it's fine enough. And basically the rule of thumb is if you can get it through the looper, you can use it. If you want to use a wider ribbon, then I would definitely use it for couching. I would put it down and then couch over my threads, over with my threads. A couple of other ones that are very nice. If you want to have some very nice decorative work, this one may be a little iffy getting through the loopers, but it would definitely be beautiful with some couched work over it. And this one happens to be by Madeira, but there are many other brands and you will find these. And they're also in small packets, which is kind of nice that you don't have to spend a fortune that may only be on a one or two time use. This is another one, this will go through the loopers. It's a heavier type of metallic thread. And so I'm hoping that just by showing you a few of the options that are out there that I've inspired you to get creative and try some of these wonderful threads for your decorative serger work.