The Sewing Place
Machine Talk => Overlockers & Coverstitchers => Topic started by: rubywishes on February 09, 2018, 08:07:37 AM
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I hope someone can help me here...I'm going cross eyed and losing the will to persevere!
I have bought this old overlocker from a Thrift shop for $5.00 AUS and want to get it working again to gift to someone who can't afford an overlocker and makes a lot of her own clothes. Now I've cleaned the little toad up...dug out a heap of " goodness knows what" from behind the looper cover including earwigs and bits of twig and am now attempting to thread it. (I have a babylock air threader so I am waaaaay out of my comfort zone here I may add!) . I have started with the left looper as per the instruction book but I'll be blowed if I can work out how you get the thread from one end of the long arm thingy through to the other end of the long arm thingy. Can anyone help me here as the picture in the manual leaves me scratching my head. I would be soooooo appreciative if anyone knows of this machine and can help me.
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I'm sure someone will know something about this machine, I'm afraid I don't but in the meantime, are there any bits that you can move to gain access to the bit you want.
Threading the lower looper of my Elna, after putting the thread through one point you push that bit downwards (if clicks) and that movement causes the next threading point to appear from its otherwise hidden position. After threading it you click the moveable piece back up and it disappears back into hiding.
Sorry that's a bit of a clunky description.
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Can you post some pics Rubes? I have a really old Riccar O/L, and the looper threading is awkward, and involves tweezers.
I have a manual with threading instructions if your machine is similar.
Jessie
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My overlocker came with a pair of tweezers to use when threading the loopers. There's an old comment on Sewing Pattern Review saying this model is difficult to thread and that an overlocker threader tool was useful.
(Here is the link she posted - it is to Amazon USA but it will give you an idea of what to look for https://www.amazon.com/Dritz-Serger-Needle-Threader-Tool/dp/B000A86FGK)
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My Bernina has a long length of looped wire that you feed from the left behind the looper to pick up the thread and then pull to the right before threading through the looper eye.
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Well it's taken me 3 hours and a lot of terribly blue language but I have finally got it threaded.
Yep, Ploshkin, I needed to flip a side panel down to find "my next hole"! Lordy, why didn't they mention THAT in the manual!
Oh Jessie, "awkward" looper thread threading is an understatement with this old toad of a machine! I'm going to take photos of all the threading points and make notes as well for my friend.....she's going to have kittens when she sees what has to be done!
Thanks Stitchintime I'll check that out....glad it's not just me being a numpty with this machine. Gosh the manual is just woeful!
Ahhhh interesting you should say that Efemera...in amongst all the debris I cleaned out of the guts of this machine there was a weird looking bit of wire someone had fashioned into a loop of sorts. I must retrieve it from the bin and see if that would help me and my friend next time.....gasp.....does there have to be a next time...maybe my friend won't want it and I can with much relief ceremoniously drop it back to the Thrift Shop!!!!!!
So it's threaded with 3 different colored threads and it is stitching a nice looking overlock on the front but a bit wierd on the back but it's after midnight and I am truly done in......I'll tackle the tension tomorrow. Thanks again everyone.
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Alrighty, I'm doing stitches with the old girl but they don't look right to me for a 3 thread overlock.
The first picture is of the right side of the fabric, the second picture is the back of it. The green thread is my needle, the white is the upper looper and the black is the lower looper.
Is there something wrong with this? I thought the lower looper should be stitching "lower" in the stitch formation?
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I think the green needle thread should be much tighter - you should see standard straight stitches on one side, as in first picture, and just little dots of it on the reverse, not loops as in the second picture. The tighter green thread would then pull the black lower looper thread into the required zig zag formation.
The black and white looper threads seem to be meeting in the right spot on the edge of the fabric at the moment but that could change if you tighten up the needle thread.
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Thankyou Ploshkin..... I took your advice and I think I'm pretty much "there" now. Phew...what an ordeal but I'm pleased with what I have managed and feel a bit more confident handling the machine now. I think the machine is at a stage where my friend can practise with it and then decide if she wants to keep it and pay to have it serviced professionally.
Thanks again everyone.
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Well done you :)
That's a lovely thing to do for your friend.
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That looks more like it, well done for persevering. It definitely helps to see what's going on using different coloured threads.
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I know it's too late for you Rubes, but I found a video from Sourdough Girl (she does excellent videos), giving in-depth information about the Hobbylock 788. I know this is a 4 thread, but there will be useful stuff for other models I'm sure.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5FxufebIS8
Jessie