Tribe

Hi Does anyone on this board own the 5 thread Elna Serger? a friend of mine moved away out of state and left me her old serger ( a 5 thread Elna 945 ) as a gift because she brought a new overlock machine, its a nice serger with all of the accessories that came with the machine along with the instruction book, the problem i'am having is with threading the machine correctly and after numerous attempts at trying to thread this machine to no avail and becoming very frustrated and anxious, my question is how can I go about finding out how to thread this machine. I've tried looking it up on you tube with no success, any suggestions would be appreciated.

barny

I have one. Do you have the 2 cards that are stuck in the front. Pull that lid at the bottom open and look. It will show you how. They are a pain to thread. Decide which amount of threads you are going to use, then start with #1,#2 and #3. You have to do them in order or it won't work. Go by the color thread to match the color on the tensioners. You have to study, study, study that manual. Like I said it is a pain to thread.

mermaid

barny is so right! You absolutely have to thread in sequence. I had a 5 thread--never used the chain stitch which was brown. I now have an Elna 4 thread with cover hem...it is the meanest thing I've ever played with. But love it when I get it threaded right. Patience and perseverance--try to stay calm!

jhoward

My sis in law just bought the Baby Lock Air threader......OMG! What a treat! I've had a Bernina for years and still have problems. Thread # 1, tape it way behind the needle, then do the same to the others, in order....good Luck!

marymm

I have a friend who says that every time her serger needs threading she takes it to shop for a cleaning and gets it threaded at the same time!

charsuewilson

Never thread it. When you need to change threads, cut the existing thread and tie the new thread onto the existing thread and run the machine. That makes it thread itself.

Bneighbor

This only works if you are changing colors....if a thread breaks, you still have to start from the beginning. When I got my first serger, they had me thread it several times before I took it out of the shop. I too, pulled the threads to re-thread, but once I had to re thread and was glad I had at least knew how to do it. I would always recommend you thread you machine, any machine, from the beginning once in a while to remind yourself that you can do it.

Mitch's mom

People get tied up in knots over threading a serger ( pun intended) when all you have to do is break it down to the simplest form, think of it as threading 4 different sewing machines. Do one at a time and move on to the next. Thinking of it like that might take the terror out of threading it.

bearisgray

On mine - I have learned to poke a stiff thread from 'the terminal end' and tie it on to the thread from 'the beginning end' - I had a terrible time trying to get those threads through those holes in the 'arms'

ann31039

i just got my babylock out of storage. haven't tried to thread it yet, tho i did find my book. I had a worse problem, the top thread guide broke. Called babylock, just that part will cost me 55$ but, i did come across my sons old erector set. i have "built" a thread guide. i am hoping it works, the thread guide was "L" shaped so I made that shape and am waiting till morning to see if the glue i put around a long screw and inserted into the telescoping thing sets enough to hold it. Also am using large gym clips to dangle for the thread. I'm gonna try to thread it in the morning and see if my "redneck" ingenuity works or not. And then see if I remember how to thread the thing.