Overlock stitches on the PFAFF admire air 7000 | Why you need them

Now that the PFAFF admire air 7000 serger is all set up and threaded, I want to try some stitches. I love that the 4-thread overlock, my first stitch, worked straight out of the box with perfect tension on my stitch out. To start with, I’ll look at the basic Overlock stitches that the majority of sergers have.

The PFAFF admire air 7000 serger is all set up and threaded!

I see from the stitch chart that it has overlock stitches, flatlock stitches, narrow edge stitches and rolled edge stitches. The confusing thing is that there are wide and narrow versions of these stitches. I figured out that a wide stitch uses the left needle, and a narrow stitch uses the right needle, easy!

But what about the 4-thread, 3-thread, and yes, even 2-thread versions of those same stitches? Well, that I had to think about. First off, the more thread, the stronger it is, the less thread, the less strong. But also, the more thread, the bulkier the stitch is, versus the less thread, the more delicate the stitch is.

Who knew a serger had so many versions? I remember a 4-thread overlock is used for sewing seams, a 3-thread overlock is a seam edge finish, and a rolled hem is a delicate edge finish, period. We have SO many choices now. And that can be confusing as the descriptions look almost identical. But we get to decide when we need extra strength and when we don’t need the bulk that comes with it. An extreme example is sewing clothes for Dad and then for baby. Dress clothes versus working or even workout clothes. Different fabrics and different uses; thus, we have a variety of stitches. So now it’s personal preference for the most part, but some basics still apply.

I’m a quilter for the most part, but a new grandbaby is arriving soon, so Gramma needs to step up!

Let’s talk about the 4-thread overlock, which is the most used stitch. I’ve made T-shirts for myself, from basic to dressy, that have sleeves long enough for my long arms and thus fit me perfectly! Currently, I’m working on a quick quilt for the baby – a serger jelly roll quilt. It’s so fast to do. However, I reduce the speed on the serger for accuracy as I tend to floor it. Once it’s all pieced together, it tends to twist, so I threw it over the balcony to roll it up into a neat ball.

A jelly roll quilt serged together for speed using a 4-thread overlock stitch

Before washing, I use a 3-thread overlock to finish the edges of fabric. I think we’ve all learned the result of not doing this as we speed the evening cutting off the frayed threads and untying the knots of fabric that never seem to iron out. I also use 3-thread overlock on my finished quilt top edges to prevent them from coming apart with handling, such as when packing in my suitcase or left in a pile to be quilted. And sometimes, depending on where I am at the time, I use a 3-thread overlock on my trimmed quilt sandwich after it’s been quilted, in preparation for binding.

Lately, I’ve also made quilt-as-you-go Christmas placemats by serger. The serger will serge through everything I put under the presser foot, allowing us to adjust the presser foot pressure from skinny to thick fabrics. This is one way of making charity quilts and serger strip quilts as you go, but with larger strips.

I also experimented with adding the binding on a quilt by serger and using a heat-activated thread in the lower looper to tack the binding down later. I used this technique as a basting technique when my friend was just ironing it in place!

Christmas placemat created by serger in a quilt-as-you-go method.

A flatlock stitch is something unique. You stitch it together, and then when you open it,

the seam allowances go flat against the fabric. One side has ‘ladder stitches’ suitable for weaving ribbon through for decoration; the other side has the loopers holding the seam allowances flat. In garment sewing, it’s used with stretch fabric in areas of extreme use. An example is seams in bike shorts, or as decoration in men’s raglan sleeve t-shirts.

In the quilting world, we can use a flatlock stitch with batiks. Batiks are good on both sides of the fabric. I took a class to make a log cabin square table topper (pictured below), which included a batik kit, decorative purple embroidery threads, and a narrow turquoise ribbon. Which side do you like best? I love it, and it taught me a lot about serging it together with an unfamiliar stitch.

Square log cabin block table topper, serged together with a flatlock stitch, showing both good sides

Lastly, I want to talk about the good old rolled hem or rolled edge stitch. We were taught originally (ok, way back) that you used fussy nylon thread, 3-thread rolled hem and lowered your feed dogs. Now, I totally do it differently, and sometimes I don’t use it at all; instead, I use a narrow edge.

If I choose to do a rolled edge, I’ll use the appropriate stitch for the appropriate weight of fabric. For example, for chiffon, I’ll use a 2-thread rolled edge, and for voile, a 3-thread. I save fussy nylon for tablecloths or napkins, which are heavier-use items. I also leave my knife UP. When we rip scarf fabrics to get that nice square or rectangular shape, we get a straight edge, but often it has spare threads from the tearing like cats’ whiskers. When I do a rolled edge, I trim with the knife just those extra whiskers, and I get a cleaner rolled edge. A lot of the time, I’ll skip fussy nylon and get GÜTERMANN sew all thread, or even embroidery thread for a nice match to the fabric.

Pink tiered gathered skirt with each tier edge finished with a rolled edge

Lastly, I want to talk about the narrow edge stitches that can be used instead of a rolled edge. Why, you ask? Well, they’re faster to do, they’re easier to start and finish at corners. There are no dog ears or stretched corners trying to start and stitch over the rolled lump of the rolled edge. You’ll see this out on scarves in the shops. It’s a matter of choice – what do you like better? I do a sample of both, and then I decide. The thicker the corners in a rolled edge (3 versus 2 threads) and or the addition of fussy nylon in the looper, or sometimes even the tightness of the stitch, make the corners more and more difficult to start and keep square.

To prove the point, I made 2 rectangular scarves; one using a 2-thread rolled edge and the other using a 2-thread narrow edge finish, both from a white chiffon. Here is a picture showing them side by side. And yes, I labeled them because the edge finish is delicate on both and they, to me, are equally nicely finished. The point is, YOU get to choose how you do it.

2 white rectangular chiffon scarves labeled showing the edge finishes in white thread

On Monday, I posted about my excitement while unboxing the PFAFF admire air 7000 serger. Yesterday, I set it up and explored all the awesome features, including the extension table, computer help screens and computer presets, as well as using the air threading feature, truly my favorite of ALL features. Today, I played with and walked through all the stitches on the Overlock side of the serger. Tomorrow I’ll switch over to the Coverstitch side and show how easy it is to use! Join me.

This is part 3 of 5 in this series

Go back to part 2: PFAFF admire air 7000 Serger | Setup and Air Threading Guide

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