New to overlocker, can't see where I'm sewing

[pip]

As it has the guard thing, I can't watch where the needle and cutter is going and it's easy to accidentally cut where you don't want to . With a normal machine you could just unpick and redo the seam. It's a Janome 8002DX. I got it because a reviewer said a 10 yr old should be able to use it .  I guess I just need to practise more. I don't feel like I have the control over it as with the normal machine, but I love it apart from that.

[jintie]

Get some scrap fabric and just randomly sew it til you get rhe hang of it. Usually a machine will go slower with a light touch on the pedal.

[Ploshkin]

As you have discovered, sewing with an overlocker is completely different from using a sewing machine.  As said you need to practise on some scraps but don't 'think' sewing machine.  Figure out a way of using markings or points on the machine bed to guide you.  Mine has a couple of useful notches on the front of the foot that I can use to gauge a 5/8" seam and if I line up with the edge of the bed I get a good 3/8" seam.  You have to remember that you can't achieve the same accuracy that you get with a sewing machine.

[Acorn]

I'm fairly new to overlocking, too, and I was surprised that there were no obvious markings to use as guidelines, and no help in the manual.  I have done as Ploshkin suggests, and found things to line the fabric up with.  I might put some marks of my own on the foot with a permanent marker at some stage.

I'm sure the 10 year old would need a lot of assistance!

[Flobear]

@pip I bought a second hand overlocker a few months ago and ended up joining the forum to see if I could get any help with it. Poor Ploshkin, who is my sister but lives over 150 miles away, gave me lots of email help trying to work out what I was doing wrong when it wouldn't work! I got the hang of it but what helped me tremendously was to go on a day workshop that I found out about.

[Greybird]

Mine is an older Janome and it has a guide to the right of where it is stitching/cutting to show the 5/8 position etc, but also, as Ploshkins, 2 little notches on the foot that show the needle positions.

[BrendaP]

My Bernina has two teeny bumps on the front of the foot, in line with the needles.  As soon as I bought it I applied two teeny blobs of red nail varnish over those bumps; it helps a lot.  Also it has seam allowance markings embossed on the casing just behind/right of the needles.  A couple of lines drawn with a sharpie pen would do the same.

Like learning to thread it, you need to practice using it.  Gather up an assortment of fabrics and set aside some time to play.  Once you've mastered it a tee shirt or leggings using stretchy fabric can be put together very quickly. 

[Helen M]

Mine (an ancient Brother, but very similar to the 1034D) has a mark on the front of the foot that corresponds to where the needle enters the fabric (left needle if you have a 4 thread one). It's a 3 thread machine so the needle thread is what I need to watch as I've already sewn the seam and you want it parallel to that. It also has markings to the right but I don't use them often.

Maybe you could practise with just three threads (use the left needle) until you get the hang of it?

[pip]

Thanks, those are some helpful ideas. It's interesting to hear that you don't get the same accuracy as with the normal sewing machine. And I have to get the hang of going slow on the pedal.  On the sewing machine I have a setting for adjusting the speed, which makes such a difference.

[WildAtlanticWay]

I bought this book and it’s really helped me a lot.

[wrenkins]

I found this which includes a section on  threading.
There is a little colour coded map inside your machine, same as mine (Janome 9300DX). I was a bit nervous threading mine at first but it was much easier than I thought. I'd been worried by reading about it but I purloined  some long veh veh pointy surgical forceps and it's a piece of cake.   

[Helen M]

Thanks, those are some helpful ideas. It's interesting to hear that you don't get the same accuracy as with the normal sewing machine. And I have to get the hang of going slow on the pedal.  On the sewing machine I have a setting for adjusting the speed, which makes such a difference.

Not sure which way you use the foot pedal @pip , but I think I use mine the 'wrong' way, not like the clutch on a car. I find by using it 'my' way I have my heel on the floor and can control it much better even in stocking feet at times. I do it on both my regular machine, overlocker and coverstitch.

[Iminei]

Well @wrenkins  THAT was very very Mr Chumnley-Warner wasnt it ... Also I believe the work of the devil!

What crazy conflabulation of threading was that all about ... the stuff of nightmares me thinks!

Good Luck Pip!

[BrendaP]

Not sure which way you use the foot pedal @pip , but I think I use mine the 'wrong' way, not like the clutch on a car. I find by using it 'my' way I have my heel on the floor and can control it much better even in stocking feet at times. I do it on both my regular machine, overlocker and coverstitch.

I use the floor pedal in much the same way as the accelorator pedal in the car with my heel on the floor and the further down I press the faster it goes, and being right footed I use the right foot for both.  Indeed the modern 'clamshell' pedals are hinged so that the foot rests on the pedal with the toes pointing away from that hinge.

[Helen M]

I use the floor pedal in much the same way as the accelorator pedal in the car with my heel on the floor and the further down I press the faster it goes, and being right footed I use the right foot for both.  Indeed the modern 'clamshell' pedals are hinged so that the foot rests on the pedal with the toes pointing away from that hinge.

That's the opposite way to what I do but I've done it like that since my first sewing machine, 40 years or so ago! I accept it's the wrong way but I can control the speed much better that way.