Here I go again with my serger

Thank you for your comments on my fitting issues with NewLook 6968 (and where to get a cute tailor's ham--how cool is that, that I can get one custom made??  Very cool!!)

I decided to walk away from the dress.

Tonight I pinned out the the excess on my dressform to make the under bust dart into princess seams...I might redo the side panel so it doesn't have that side dart.   (I'm sorry BeckyMc but I'm really thinking I'm going to name her Becky HomeEcky)....
 

Speaking of walking away from things, last year Antoinette helped me get started with my serger. Then at the ASE I took the serger "learn and play" class.  And I tried to get my serger stitching properly, and walked away for a lot of months. Lately after sewing fraying wovens, I felt more motivated to learn the serger to have a more professional, no-fray finish on the inside of my woven garments.

Today I started the "Break your serger out of the box" class on patternreview.com by Jennifer Stern, which for me was really "Dust that secondhand puppy off and let's start over". Last time I talked about my serger, I didn't have cone holders and also the upper looper thread was waaaaay far away from the edge.
Well, after cramming by reading some lessons, participating in the class chat tonight, lookee here:

The top row is where I started tonight and the bottom is where I ended. Which I am documenting on my blog for my own knowledge.

The "thread twisting back on itself" problem I reported previously? It was still happening tonight. I asked Jennifer about it during the online chat and she said to try flipping the serger cone over. It totally worked! Thanks Jennifer!

And I found 3 out of 4 cone holders! Yes! They were tucked into a crevice in the back of the machine. It was like Santa left them there for me, some unexpected and very welcome gift from the sewing goddesses. And when I got out the MaxiLock thread that came with the kit fee for the serger learn and play class, it turns out I accidentally took home one cone holder with me. Woot!  Still, I used the thread Antoinette and I had purchased in NYC last year.  Maybe tmw I will be brave and rethread my machine from scratch using the color-coded MaxiLock thread. I don't need it so much for identifying the threads as now I have that down pat after the lessons tonight, but it would be cool to try what some say is the best serger thread out there.

I did a bunch of planting today and finally have my own black eyed susan plant!

I also planted some marigolds as my impatiens didn't do so well this year:

I have tmw off and am looking forward to it immensely!
Be well!