Serger-Made Pullover Hoodie Project

Create this hooded raglan sleeve shirt with your Baby Lock 8-thread serger using a 4-thread Overlock Stitch, Chain Stitch, Cover Stitch and some fun serger accessories that make each task so smooth! You’ll get lots of great tips along the way in this tutorial to ensure success! The sample project used the hood, hem band, and wrist bands, but there are options in the pattern to just use a neck band and/or plain hem the sleeve and shirt hems (with the last option excluding the pocket).

The instructions written with the purchased pattern are excellent! You will follow the order of the pattern instructions when constructing. This tutorial will give you tips and tricks to stitch most everything with your Baby Lock 8-thread serger, using both overlock and chain/cover stitch stitches! Use your Thread Guide to assist in setting up for the different stitches. This is an wonderful project to practice switching between some of the stitch options on your serger!

1.     If stitching the pocket onto the shirt, set the serger up for a 3-Thread Wide Overlock Stitch with a 2.5mm stitch length and the stitch width at M. Without cutting anything off, serge the single layer of each slanted edge on the right and left of the pocket simply to finish the two edges.

2.     After pressing the slanted edges of pocket in per the pattern, switch your machine to the Cover Stitch Wide with the stitch length at 2.5-3mm (test out prior to see what you like best). Hem the pocket sides (the two slanted edges) using this stitch – you can stitch with the two needle straight stitches on top OR mix it up and stitch with the wrong side on top so that you get the “braided” side of the cover stitch on top (see pictures). This is called the Reverse Cover Stitch.

4.     If you are wanting to do a Reverse Cover Stitch on the Raglan Sleeve seams, consider a couple of things. You will likely want to press the seams open so that you have a nice flat surface to run under the serger foot to ensure even feeding and straight stitching. So, you may not want to serge the seam allowances together. The seam allowances are 3/8” wide. Before stitching the seams, you may want to finish each seam allowance by itself with a 3-Thread Overlock Narrow or Wide (if so, change the machine over now and finish the single layer edges of each raglan seam edge). Because knit does not fray, you might just omit finishing the edges and trim them down after Cover Stitching. It is highly recommended to test stitch before working on the actual garment.

5.     For the sample project, the edges were not finished and the Chain Stitch was used to sew all four Raglan Sleeve seams together. Alternatively, you could use the lightning Stretch Stitch on your sewing machine. If you use the Chain Stitch, use a seam gauge to measure and find where to align the raw edge of the fabric to get a 3/8” seam allowance from which ever Chain Needle is utilized (C1, C2, or C3).

6.     Once the seams are stitched, they need to be pressed open; use a wooden pressing block if necessary to get the seams nice and flat.

7.     Then, to complete the Reverse Cover Stitch, set up the machine for a Cover Stitch Wide with a 2.5-3.0mm stitch length. Stitch with the pressed-open seam allowances on top. The seam line should be aligned with the C2 needle position (where there is no needle). You may want to use the Clear Foot so you can keep alignment through the entire stitchout. Consider working from the lower edge of the seam towards the neckline. Use a small leader piece of fabric to stitch onto to form the stitch just before stitching onto the garment (you can cut it off later).

Tip: The Standard Foot works excellently, but you might test out the Teflon Serger foot when serging certain types of knits to see which you like better.

9.     When serging the wrist bands onto the sleeves, consider using the Curve Foot! Why? Because it is quite a bit shorter than the Standard Foot and allows a little more maneuverability in tight areas like wristbands.

Tip: Sometimes, when you serge over a bulky seam, you might notice that it can get stuck at the toe of the foot for a second. This can cause stretching or warping at that spot. When you get to a seam, simply serge right up to the bulk and gently lift the toe of the foot to allow for some of the bulk to go under, put the toe back down, take another stitch or two, lift the toe again and continue until the bulky seam is on its way under the pressure of the foot. Consider using a stiletto tool, as well, to help push the bulk under the foot (just watch out for the blade obviously). You can also try out the Compensating Serger Foot BLES8-COMF to address this issue also!

10.     If you do not use the hem band (and thus no pocket also) and decide to use the Cover Stitch Narrow or Wide for the hem, the fusible hem tape in the supply list (make sure it says sewable) is highly recommended. This iron-on tape makes the hem look so good! It holds your hem in place while stitching (no pins or clips necessary) and it provides added stability to the hem to prevent tunneling between the needles. It also leaves stretchability in the hem, as well!

Press the hem up first without the tape. Then, press the “glue” side down to the wrong side of the fabric along the raw edge of the hem (shown in the image below). Then, peel off the paper backing. Fold up the hem and press it in place.

11.     Set up your serger for a Cover Stitch Wide or Narrow, depending on preference. Use a 2.5-3.0mm stitch length.

12.      Next, find your placement line. To create a standard cover hem, where the parallel straight stitch lines appear on top of the garment, you’ll need to place the raw edge of the hem underneath while stitching. This means it cannot be seen while stitching. If you prefer, you can stitch it with the Reverse Cover Stitch with the raw edge facing up and get the “braided” look of the cover hem on the top of the garment. Just remember it will stitch two straight stitch lines on the underside raw edge of the hem. Since knits do not fray, this may not bother you but if you’d like the raw edge covered with the “braiding” of the cover hem, you’ll want to do the standard cover hem with the parallel stitch lines on top (or use an Overlock Stitch on the raw edge alone to finish the edge prior to hemming with the Reverse Cover Stitch).

13.      Once you have something to line the fold of the hem up with. Place the right side of the garment hem facing up and underneath the foot. Align the fold of the hem up with your marking or fabric guide. Start cover stitching. Check the backside as you go, as well.

14.     When you get to the beginning, trim the thread tails from the top and bottom of the beginning stitch. Then, use the markings on the toe of the foot to line up the stitch lines with the needles (the optional Clear Foot helps a lot with this task also if you find that you are struggling to line up the beginning to the end). Stitch and overlap about an inch of stitching over the beginning.

15.     A great way to lock the stitches is to raise the foot, grab the Allen Wrench and place it under the foot and behind the needle threads. Pull some ease in the thread by gently pulling excess in the threads right in front of the needles. Then, slide the Allen Wrench forward, creating slack in the needle threads in front of the foot.

16.     Cut those needle threads in the front and jerk the fabric quickly forward and towards you, tugging on the hem. This will pull all of the threads to the back. Some will trim the threads off completely right there. I like to put a knot in these 3 threads to ensure it’s locked.