Figuring Out Flatlocking

I no longer wonder why sergers sit, unused, in closets all over the world. We are in the age of limitless information and yet it has taken me more than a month of reading and watching YouTube videos to get a handle on the flatlock stitch. And I don’t think it’s because I am stupid.

I should point out that I am one of those people who is most comfortable learning by following an example. Nothing makes me more anxious than being thrown into something without a detailed road map to follow and being told to figure it out. I’d like to think that is part of what makes me a good teacher, because when I develop class materials, I always make sure that what the student learns is framed within some kind of context and shows concrete examples—in other words, I teach the way I would like to learn. That doesn’t work for every student, but the ones who don’t need that information can ignore it.

The first place I went for information on the flatlock stitch was the manual for my Juki serger. I actually have two manuals: the basic setup manual and an additional manual that has more in-depth information as well as some projects. I think one of the projects might feature the flatlock stitch, but I can’t tell from either the instructions or the photo. That manual does, at least, have suggested stitch settings. It also mentioned something about a converter, and I found one in my box of accessories, but that was the extent of the guidance.

I pulled out a couple of my serger books. Several of them have very good photos, but again, what I was missing most was context. When would I use the flatlock stitch? And when would I use a two-thread flatlock versus a three-three flatlock? What is a reverse flatlock stitch?

I picked up snippets of information here and there. Flatlock mimics the seams on activewear, although most of those are done on industrial flatlock machines or on coverstitch machines. Flatlocking can be done with decorative threads. (Okay, which decorative threads?) Flatlocking can also be done on woven fabrics.

I searched for patterns and projects on the internet. I found a few, including some on the Bernina website. I have to say, Bernina does a good job of educating consumers, but that’s almost a requirement for them to do so because their products are so expensive. It’s hard to convince someone to spend $8000 (not a typo) on a top-of-the line serger/coverstitch machine unless that person knows how they are going to be able to use it. Still, the Bernina projects don’t always provide sufficient background material about stitches, thread, and fabric choices.

Gail Yellen is a Bernina educator and she’s really good. I want to take a class from her someday. She has a placemat project featuring pintucks and flatlocking on the serger. The accompanying YouTube video is an hour and a half long. I have watched it twice and plan to watch it at least one more time. When I finally thought I had a handle on flatlocking and its variations, I went back and watched other videos and read my serger books again. The information is finally starting to fall into place.

I had an hour yesterday afternoon before the husband got home, so I sat down at the serger yesterday to experiment. The first step was to unthread, clean, oil, and put in a new needle. Flatlocking is done with one needle, most commonly the left needle. I rethreaded the serger with three different colors of regular serger thread—so I could see what thread(s), if any, needed to be adjusted— got the serger to make a chain, then rethreaded the upper looper with a 12wt Aurifil cotton thread, as suggested by Gail Yellen.

The flatlock is an unbalanced stitch, meaning that some of the threads are deliberately looser or tighter than they would be if I were sewing a seam or finishing an edge. The red is the 12wt Aurifil. It is thicker than regular serger thread. I have white serger thread in the lower looper and green serger thread in the needle. This is how the edge looks when it comes off the serger:

The magic of a flatlock stitch—and what makes it so useful on thicker fabrics—is that after serging the seam, you gently pull the two fabrics apart so that they are lying next to each other. Whether you sew with the right or wrong side of the fabrics together determines which side of the stitch is on the public side of the piece. I was using Kona scraps, which don’t have a right or wrong side, but I pretended that I was sewing them wrong sides together. Thus, when I pulled them apart, the needle threads formed ladders on the wrong side of the work:

If you wanted the needle threads to be on the public side of the work—so you could weave decorative ribbon through them—this would be called a reverse flatlock stitch.

However, if you go to all the trouble of using that lovely 12wt Aurifil in the upper looper, you probably want that side of the stitch to be visible:

Gail Yellen uses both the flatlock and reverse flatlock stitches in her placemat project.

The Kona is thin enough that when I pulled the two pieces of fabric apart, they didn’t lie next to each other. Rather, one ended up on top of the other, but they are within the seam so it’s hard to see. Some sewists will go back and topstitch over one side of the flatlock stitching for additional strength, although I’m not convinced that’s necessary.

That was Kona, a thin woven fabric. How does flatlock work on a thicker knit, like fleece? I ran a few scraps of fleece through as an experiment and was pleased with how it turned out, but those results—and more about the two-thread flatlock—will have to wait for a future blog post.

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Everything that needs to be started in the greenhouse has been planted. We should have plenty for ourselves and plenty of stock for the plant sale.

The farm store did not have chicks on Monday. They had a sign saying they were expecting a shipment at the end of the week. I will check today and again tomorrow. I am a bit concerned that this is 2020 all over again and people are panicking and buying up the supply. I could hatch out my own eggs again, but that’s going to result in far more roosters than we need. They can go into the soup pot, yes, but I don’t look forward to that period at the end of the summer and before butchering when I have a posse of teenage roosters to manage. Also, Dave would be unhappy.

We’ll see. The husband reminded me that last April, the farm store put chicks on sale because they had so many left after the initial rush.

We might try to get potatoes planted this weekend. I also need to work on DD#2’s porch furniture cushions.