First Time Sewing with a Serger

First Time Sewing with a Serger is an instruction and tutorial guide aimed at sewists with little to no experience with sergers / overlock machines. More often today, people learn to sew in a relative vacuum, as adults, without a teacher sitting beside us. This can render what should be a fun and relaxing learning curve into a nearly insurmountable frustration. This book aims to help the beginner with a manageable learning curve, cutting out the frustration with guided step by step tutorials.

Released 26th March 2019 by Quarto on their Quarry imprint, it's 128 pages and available in paperback and ebook formats. The ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents including interactive page number references in the index.

As a beginner's guide, the authors have presupposed absolute no prior knowledge or experience with sergers. The first 20% of the book is used illustrating the generic parts of a serger, what it is, what it does, the feet available for different effects and uses, and some tips and maintenance ideas. The drawings and photos are applicable to all makes and brands of serger and are clear and easy to follow. I have been sewing with sergers for years and found the cutaway diagrams of the formation of the overlock stitch very interesting and new to me.

The second chapter (20% of the content) shows general threading order, stitching, troubleshooting, and general sewing information. There is a lot of information in this chapter and even non-beginners will find good tips and tricks here. The last section of the chapter on removing different stitches without getting zillions of small thread snips is amazing.

There's a good chapter on the different stitches with general photographs illustrating each one. The authors have sensibly made the examples with dark ground fabric and contrasting threads in different colors -simple but very sensible. I personally had never thought to try that with all different color threads (maybe I'm not as much of an expert as I always thought).

There's a short chapter on tools and notions which almost all home sewists will already have in their sewing kits. The measurements in the book are given in standard (metric) and English (American) measurements, which is helpful.

The last 37(ish)% of the book is filled with 9 tutorial projects for home decor (4), and fashion (5). They're appealingly classic and utilitarian as well as customizable. The tutorial photos are clear and plentiful and the written instructions are understandable.

There's a resource list, slanted toward readers in North America, though an internet search will provide alternatives for readers living in other parts of the world. The index in the eARC version is also interactive with linked page numbers to the text.

Well written, clear, precise instructions aimed at the beginner.  It's clear from the authors' writing styles that they're gifted teachers and generous with their tips and experience.

Five stars. Highly recommended.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.