Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

UPDATE: I upgraded from the Singer Pro 5 to a Babylock Evolution (which is about 8x the price of the Singer) and wanted to share the pros and cons of each machine now that I've had experience with both of them. The Singer is the hands-down winner in the value-for-price category, and it has several features that the Babylock doesn't have. If you're considering buying this serger and want all the capabilities of a high-end machine, I would not hesitate; buy the Singer. I mostly sew garments, so I primarily use the 3- and 4-thread overlock stitches, and the coverstitch to finish hems. During the course of a project I'll generally switch from the overlock to the coverstitch multiple times. I sew knits, fleece, lightweight wovens like rayon and silk, heavyweight wovens like denim, and technical fabrics like DWR nylon. The stitch quality on both machines is superb. I haven't had any problems with tension or loopy stitches, assuming the machine was threaded correctly. PROS of the Singer: Large work area: The Singer's sewing arm is longer. That means there's more space to the right of the needle to hold fabric, allowing you to sew decorative stitches down the center of the fabric without it all bunching up. Better presser feet: It comes with a clear presser foot by default. The Babylock comes with an opaque steel foot so you can't see your fabric as it's passing under the needle. The Singer also comes with an accessory pack of six additional presser feet (I haven't tried them yet). Babylock charges around $50 per additional foot, including a clear presser foot. Wide flatlock: on fleece, the wide flatlock creates a seam that lies flat and is still stretchy. The Babylock doesn't have this stitch, only a narrow flatlock. The Singer does this one beautifully. Trim bin: the Singer comes with a plastic bin that attaches to the front of the machine and catches the seams and threads as the knife trims them during sewing. The Babylock doesn't come with this bin; you can purchase one for extra cost, but it has to hang off the front of your workspace (which doesn't work for me). Seam guide with 1/8" markings: the Babylock doesn't have a way to measure a precise 5/8" seam allowance, just a sticker printed on the plate with tick marks. It's up to you to use a ruler to figure out which tick mark lines up with the desired seam allowance width. The Singer has this printed on the cover plate. CONS of the Singer: Jumpy motor: when you step on the pedal, the motor hums until you press down hard enough, and then it jumps forward suddenly. There's no "slow start" as with the Babylock; it feels like it's all or nothing. Threading takes longer: threading is actually quite easy with both machines. With practice, you can probably thread them both in the same amount of time, though the Babylock's Jet-Air threading system eliminates errors. I've had to rethread the Singer after making a mistake, which increases the average amount of time needed to rethread the machine (especially including the time to sew up a test swatch just to make sure you threaded it correctly). However Singer has done a great job at diagramming the thread paths and color-coding them. With frequent use, you should get the hang of it and make fewer mistakes. More dials to set: when switching from one stitch to another, there is a long checklist of dials and settings to adjust in order to set up the machine properly for the new stitch. In comparison, the Babylock has fewer; it's more automated. I still need to consult the instruction manual when setting up the Singer; with the Babylock I can pretty much figure it out without the reference guide. OVERALL, I still highly recommend the Singer. It's just as capable as the highly-priced machine at the cost of spending a little more time threading it when changing stitches. This is a fantastic value for a 5-thread machine that does both overlock and coverstitch. Singer's obviously put a lot of thought into the design of their sewing machines and sergers. If they ever figure out how to do automatic threading (which I'm fairly sure they will, eventually), then Babylock will lose its edge. -------------------------------- ORIGINAL REVIEW FOLLOWS: I love my Singer Quantum Stylist sewing machine, so I decided to take a chance on this as my first serger. Even with a technical background, I admit I was intimidated at first by the complexity of threading the loopers. However after printing the workbook and following the instructions carefully I figured out how it works. Threading is pretty straightforward, but definitely takes a bit of practice to become confident. Look for the colored dots on the metal loopers and follow the diagram printed on the faceplate. The foot pedal control is similar to a low end (non electronic) sewing machine. When you first start pushing the pedal, the machine hums for a while until it suddenly starts going full speed. Once it's going you can slow it down, but that initial burst of speed is very disconcerting. I thought the machine was broken at first. This is my first serger so I don't know if it's normal but I suspect it's common to all low end machines. So far I've tried the three thread overlock, the cover stitch, and the rolled hem. All came out great on the fabrics I've tried. I even serged a knit tunic in the first week of owning the machine. I love that the machine does both overlock and cover stitch, so I won't have to buy a separate machine. Pro tip: use your label maker to label the five different knobs on the sides so you know which one's which. Then you can just reference the chart at the beginning of each workbook chapter and set each dial to the correct setting. Note for beginners (I had to look this up): to remove fabric after you are finished sewing, rotate the handwheel until the needle is in the up position. Lift the presser foot. Use the little screwdriver to sweep under the presser foot, catching the looper threads, and pulling them forward away from the machine by a few inches. Snip these threads. You should then be able to pull the fabric towards the back of the machine until it comes clear, at which point you can snip the remaining thread to get it free. That was not at all obvious from reading the manual. Funny story: after showing my boyfriend the stitch samples I made, he started hunting for serged seams on all of his RTW and comparing them to my stitch samples. I think he might start using the machine too!