Uploaded March 2019 | Updated September 2026, 1 day ago
Listen to the full episode and get the complete show notes here:
sewhere.com/podcast/sewing-out-loud/clean-serger
Why Keep Your Serger Clean?
Sergers are super dirty- all they do is make lint. If you're new to serging, be prepared. The machine cuts as it sews, so you have scraps and fabric lint. Sergers use 3-4 cones of thread, and no matter how high quality your thread, it will produce some lint. You also produce "serger tails" as you make things on your serger.
Cleaning your serger is important for your machine's longevity, but also for the cleanliness of your sewing environment as a whole. The lint from a serger can get on your furniture surfaces, your other machines, or up inside your nasal cavities. Fabrics like velvet make an extra amount of lint that will come out when you blow your nose.
Start Cleaning
Unthread your serger and turn it off. Check your owner's manual for instructions on this, but normally, the best thing to do is to clip your threads close to where they enter the serger, and then sew them out or release the tensions and pull in the direction the threads are traveling while sewing. Don't pull them out "backwards" if possible. Then turn off your machine.
The first thing to do is brush and vacuum the lint off of and away from the machine. Use a large, soft brush and a shop vac or a mini vacuum attachment kit to clean lint from the outer housing before moving to the inside. The outer housing can be home to pre-tensioners and thread cutters that can be obstructed by thread trash, so it's just as important to clean the outside as the inside.
Take it Apart
What can you take apart on your serger?
Take out your needle, take off your presser foot, and take off your throat plate, if you're comfortable doing so. Clean your presser foot with a cloth that's been sprayed with glass cleaner or with an alcohol pad- it gets linty too!
After the Lint is Gone
Spray a soft cloth or paper towel with glass cleaner and wipe down the machine to clean off finer particles. If your machine has suction cups on the bottom, clean those regularly in the same fashion. This can help keep the machine from bouncing around while you're serging super fast.
Spool pins and thread holders need to be cleaned thoroughly as well. Take stickers off of threads, if possible and clean any residue off of your spool pins to avoid damaging threads that might come into contact with the residue.
Sergers Last a Long Time- Take Good Care of them
We love the latest and greatest technology out there, but sergers are actually pretty straightforward mechanical machines. This means they have pretty high longevity, so you should feel confident investing in a good serger. Self-threading, self-tensioning Baby Locks are on the higher end of the expense spectrum, but you could have the machines for decades (like we have).
Tools
Check Out Amazon.com/ZedesSewingStudio to see our Serger Cleaning y stay close to your machines!
If you can see screws on your machine's housing, you can try to take it apart. On many sergers, the bottom can come off and a ton of lint can be released. When removing the bottom of your serger, you'll need to "lean it back" and it's important to be careful not to break the thread stand, spool pins, or thread guides- they're quite fragile. You can roll up a towel to place underneath the back of your serger to support it.
The bottom tray might have oil or grease at the bottom. If oil has pooled in that bottom tray, you can remove it with a light solvent like rubbing alcohol, but do not wipe grease off of the mechanisms within the machine- don't mess with those!
Maintenance Should Be a Habit, Not An Event
The worst serger issues we've witnessed have been when people do not use their machine at all. A customer once brought a machine to one of our guide class after the machine had been sitting in a closet for years. The machine would not move, and when we took it apart, hundreds of ladybugs fell out, and we could see that the grease has all pooled to the bottom. It's sort of like a car that has been sitting in a garage for a while, the fuel lines are dry and the tires are square. Using the machine keeps the lubrication moving throughout the mechanisms and keeps the machine happy and working!
Are Baby Lock Self Threading Mechanisms "Finnicky"
No. Zede calls B.S. when someone claims that the threading ports on the Baby Lock are finicky or prone to issues. Zede has sewn on Baby Lock sergers for 25 years, and the only time she's ever experienced an issue is if someone (or she herself) has allowed a bunch of lint to build up around the area.
If you have an issue with your threading system feeding thread through, the Baby Lock machines come with a threading wire that you can use to ream out the looper area. Zede has had to do that once in her serging life, and Mallory once fixed a customer's machine on the bench by running the wire through the threading path.
Listen to the full episode and get the complete show notes here:
sewhere.com/podcast/sewing-out-loud/clean-serger
Why Keep Your Serger Clean?
Sergers are super dirty- all they do is make lint. If you're new to serging, be prepared. The machine cuts as it sews, so you have scraps and fabric lint. Sergers use 3-4 cones of thread, and no matter how high quality your thread, it will produce some lint. You also produce "serger tails" as you make things on your serger.
Cleaning your serger is important for your machine's longevity, but also for the cleanliness of your sewing environment as a whole. The lint from a serger can get on your furniture surfaces, your other machines, or up inside your nasal cavities. Fabrics like velvet make an extra amount of lint that will come out when you blow your nose.
Start Cleaning
Unthread your serger and turn it off. Check your owner's manual for instructions on this, but normally, the best thing to do is to clip your threads close to where they enter the serger, and then sew them out or release the tensions and pull in the direction the threads are traveling while sewing. Don't pull them out "backwards" if possible. Then turn off your machine.
The first thing to do is brush and vacuum the lint off of and away from the machine. Use a large, soft brush and a shop vac or a mini vacuum attachment kit to clean lint from the outer housing before moving to the inside. The outer housing can be home to pre-tensioners and thread cutters that can be obstructed by thread trash, so it's just as important to clean the outside as the inside.
Take it Apart
What can you take apart on your serger?
Take out your needle, take off your presser foot, and take off your throat plate, if you're comfortable doing so. Clean your presser foot with a cloth that's been sprayed with glass cleaner or with an alcohol pad- it gets linty too!
After the Lint is Gone
Spray a soft cloth or paper towel with glass cleaner and wipe down the machine to clean off finer particles. If your machine has suction cups on the bottom, clean those regularly in the same fashion. This can help keep the machine from bouncing around while you're serging super fast.
Spool pins and thread holders need to be cleaned thoroughly as well. Take stickers off of threads, if possible and clean any residue off of your spool pins to avoid damaging threads that might come into contact with the residue.
Sergers Last a Long Time- Take Good Care of them
We love the latest and greatest technology out there, but sergers are actually pretty straightforward mechanical machines. This means they have pretty high longevity, so you should feel confident investing in a good serger. Self-threading, self-tensioning Baby Locks are on the higher end of the expense spectrum, but you could have the machines for decades (like we have).
Tools
Check Out Amazon.com/ZedesSewingStudio to see our Serger Cleaning y stay close to your machines!
If you can see screws on your machine's housing, you can try to take it apart. On many sergers, the bottom can come off and a ton of lint can be released. When removing the bottom of your serger, you'll need to "lean it back" and it's important to be careful not to break the thread stand, spool pins, or thread guides- they're quite fragile. You can roll up a towel to place underneath the back of your serger to support it.
The bottom tray might have oil or grease at the bottom. If oil has pooled in that bottom tray, you can remove it with a light solvent like rubbing alcohol, but do not wipe grease off of the mechanisms within the machine- don't mess with those!
Maintenance Should Be a Habit, Not An Event
The worst serger issues we've witnessed have been when people do not use their machine at all. A customer once brought a machine to one of our guide class after the machine had been sitting in a closet for years. The machine would not move, and when we took it apart, hundreds of ladybugs fell out, and we could see that the grease has all pooled to the bottom. It's sort of like a car that has been sitting in a garage for a while, the fuel lines are dry and the tires are square. Using the machine keeps the lubrication moving throughout the mechanisms and keeps the machine happy and working!
Are Baby Lock Self Threading Mechanisms "Finnicky"
No. Zede calls B.S. when someone claims that the threading ports on the Baby Lock are finicky or prone to issues. Zede has sewn on Baby Lock sergers for 25 years, and the only time she's ever experienced an issue is if someone (or she herself) has allowed a bunch of lint to build up around the area.
If you have an issue with your threading system feeding thread through, the Baby Lock machines come with a threading wire that you can use to ream out the looper area. Zede has had to do that once in her serging life, and Mallory once fixed a customer's machine on the bench by running the wire through the threading path.
