By Belinda Gibson, BERNINA Educator:

I love wearing long "float-y" skirts in the summer; they keep me cool and are fun to match up with flip flops. When I wear them it reminds me of walking on the beach with the wind blowing, and breathing in the smell of the ocean. But I have a problem with them, as they are always too long for me! So, if you happen to be on the short side, like me, you can use your BERNINA serger to create a cute ensemble in a "short" time.

Supplies

• Knit top
• Long skirt
• Rotary cutter, mat, and ruler
• Embroider scissors
• Marking pencil
• 2-3 cones of serger thread
• 2-thread adapter (optional)
• Dritz Home Curtain Grommets - pack of twelve 3/8" grommets in champagne

Instructions

Set your serger for a two- or three-thread rolled edge and thread accordingly.

Mark the amount of skirt to be cut off. Instead of cutting it off with scissors, let the serger do it for you as you roll hem the edge! How cool is that?! You're all finished with the skirt!

Roll hem both long edges and short ends of the strip you cut off the skirt. (You may need to adjust the width of the strip depending on how much you needed to cut off the skirt.) My strip was about 2" wide.

Roll hem the strip a second time - over the first rolled edge - to create a heavier look.

Find the center front and back of the t-shirt neck band; mark it with a fabric marking pen/pencil.

Measure the width of the neck band, divide in half, and mark it with the fabric marking pen/pencil.

Place the grommet template on top of the neck band.

Transfer the marks from the template to the neck band with the marking pen/pencil.

Using embroidery scissors, cut the circle out of the neck band.

The grommets have two parts: The piece with the prongs goes to the wrong side of the top; the smooth side goes on the right side of the top.

Place the pronged grommet piece into the cut hole, taking care to catch all of the raw edges under the grommet parts. Place the prong side of the grommet underneath the smooth part of the grommet.

Push together; you will feel it snap when the pieces join. Repeat for the rest of the grommets along the neck edge, spacing them evenly around the opening, about 2" apart.

Starting at the center back, weave the roll-hemmed strip in and out of the grommets. Tie ends in a bow. I chose to have the fabric strip bow at the right side front, you can place it in the center or on the left side as desired.

Wow! A while back I spent the weekend bonding with my BERNINA 1150MDA serger. I have always been the type of person who uses a serger to finish seams during construction and stitch the occasional rolled edge. I learned so much while bonding with my new "baby." You know what the coolest thing is? The MTC (Micro Thread Control) knob.

You know when you're trying to balance tension on the loopers of your serger and no matter how hard you try, you can never find tune the stitches? Well, MTC takes care of that for you! One you have the tension close to being balanced, you can use the Micro Thread Control knob to fine tune the seam. It's super easy to use and makes those tension headaches go away. I think I'll have to use my serger more for decorative things from now on!

Ed. Learn more about Paula's serging adventures in BERNINA of America's Through the Needle issue #33 - "Jacket x 3."

Have you started on your holiday sewing? Gift-giving season is only a couple months away! Here's a neat project submitted by Sandra Larson Swick. For instructions, click HERE. You can make several of these, assembly-line fashion, by choosing fabrics that all coordinate with the same color decorative threads. For instance, an assortment of batiks and/or prints that all work well with blue, like Sandra's sample. Other good "neutrals" are brown, black, red, gray. Set up your serger once, then make folders 'til your thread runs out!  

I love my serger :) I couldn't have stitched these two items so quickly using just a regular sewing machine, and the gauze top would have been a nightmare! The top is "Poetry in Motion" by hotpatterns.com; the skirt is the Gored Skirt from Bernina's My Label 3D Fashion Pattern Software. (Tip: If you make the top, use two rows of 1/4" elastic around the neck & sleeves instead of the 3/4" elastic called for in the directions.)

Gauze can be tricky to stitch, as it tends to stretch out of shape. This top is basically a "bishop" style, with sleeves, front, and back stitched together on the diagonal. By setting the differential feed at about 1.5, the fabric was fed under the presser foot faster than it was pulled out the back, which prevented the gauze from stretching. Bonus: all those ravelly edges were overcast, too!

It's hard to see in the photo, but there are two tiers of ruffles along the lower edge...so not only is the hem stretchy, hard-to-handle gauze, but cut partly on the bias and partly on grain. A serged rolled edge was simple; I don't even want to think how tedious a regular hem would have been!

The skirt was quick and simple. After printing the Gored Skirt pattern I drew points at the lower edge of each segment to create a shaped hem. I roll hemmed the points, then flatlocked all the sections together with the "squiggles" side showing on the outside. Then I stitched the waistband to the top with a 4-thread overlock stitch, inserted the elastic, and it was done!

Why the neatly labeled swatches? One of the classes I'm teaching at Bernina University is on sergers. Erika & I are both traveling to Kansas City tomorrow; we start teaching on Wednesday. I'm not sure we'll have time to blog while we're gone, but we'll have lots of things to share when we get back!

Do you remember your first sewing project? The first time I remember stitching pieces of fabric together with needle and thread was in Brownies, when we made a Santa Claus ornament out of felt and cotton balls. And I made a yellow gingham apron in 4-H - gingham because it's easy to fold and stitch straight lines ;) But this - which I came across while unpacking still more boxes - is the first real garment I made, from an actual pattern with pieces and instructions.

I was around 11 years old, still in 4-H, and still remember going fabric shopping for "kettle cloth." I'm still not sure where "kettle" comes from, but it's a woven cotton fabric that's easy to work with and presses well. I made this on the sewing my parents bought in 1965 - a Riccar that came free with the purchase of a $79 sewing cabinet. It went forward and backward - straight stitch only - no zigzag - and it's what I sewed on until I was 12 or 13. All of my seam allowances are straight stitched 1/4" from the raw edge, then hand-overcast - miles and miles of hand-sewing, that took forever! Now I zip right along on my BERNINA and Overlock Foot #2, or - better yet - use my serger to trim and overcast at the same time. But I did a good job, even with so much hand-sewing, and won a purple ribbon at the county fair :)

What was your first project? I've been asking some of my friends, and will be posting some of their stories over the next few weeks.