Coverstitching on White Speedylock serger

Your machine cannot do a cover stitch. Check the Brother website, they make a cover stitch only machine, it works much better than any of the serger/cover stitch combination machines, and it is a lot less money.

I read a great article on coverstiching yesterday in the Australian Stitches magazine - very interesting as the writer Martin said to use ELX (extra long) needles or SUX (ball point extra long) needles whenever doing coverstitch and don't use bargain thread cones - skipped stitches is a frequent complaint otherwise. He also recommended leaving a bit of hem turnup fabric exposed past the underside of the coverstitch as most knits will roll and you don't want it to roll where you are seaming. He said just trim it off afterwards with blunt nosed scissors.

I had been told previously by my sewing machine technician to leave all domestic coverstitch machines alone, they can all be pretty twitchy at times. He recommended an industrial coverstitch as changing a domestic between the coverstitch to hem then back to normal marrow seam is a fiddle. I find changing between rolled hem and normal seaming takes time too - would be nice to have two sergers.

FYI, a mock or faux coverhem stitch can be done, in conjunction with your sewing machine and the serger. Takes a bit longer than using an expensive coverhem machine but looks almost the same.

1. Make sure your hem is even and serge the edge using a 3-thread overlock stitch.
2. Iron a 1-inch hem. (Fold 1-inch to the back, wrong sides together) -- Measure to keep it even.
3. Using your sewing machine, you can get a double needle that will fit inside the zig zag hole of the needle plate -- if too large it will break -- and then thread both needles using two spools of thread and stitch on the right (top) side over the ridge that you can see that is from the overcast stitch -- it will be thicker to the touch. Slowly stitch all the way around. I start on the side seam and stitch over a couple of stitches to lock it. If you have ironed a neat hem, it will come out very nice.

If you have to use a single needle, then use a quilting guide bar attachment to follow the first row of stitching to get an even second row.

This can be done on sleeves and bottom hem. Stretch the material slightly to help avoid pulled and broken stitching when wearing.

You can't. it 3/4 sergers don't do the coverstitch.

I don't believe that the White speedylock 1600 does a coverstitch, however 3/4 thread sergers CAN do cover stitch. It's a misconception that you need five threads to do a coverstitch, for example, there are elna and janome machines on the market that coverstitch with only four threads.