Marginally Adequate

About two months ago, I was bitten by an overwhelming desire to serge. I sew for pleasure and to make gifts for friends and family members. I'm very interested in heirloom sewing, own a basic embroidery machine, and enjoy the idea of making home decorations and gifts while employing both the serger and embroidery machines.

Selected the Brother 1034D purely for convenience sake. Wally Mart has a 90 day return policy and the 1034D was cheap so I figured, why not give the 1034D a try?

The 1034D comes with the following: 2 needle serger, detachable free arm, removable stitch finger, retractable cutting blade, the differential feed option, a user video, blind hem foot, vinyl cover, user manual, pack of needles, hex wrench, thread spool caps, crevice brush, tweezers, and a thread net. The 1034D performs four and three thread over lock. Additionally, the 1034D will make a narrow three thread over lock, flat lock, pin tucks, and a rolled hem. The warranty is 3 months labor, 1 year electrical, and 5 years mechanical.

The Good

Each thread path is clearly marked and color coded. After reading the users manual twice and watching the user video once, I threaded the 1034D machine for the first time in under five minutes, with my 3 year old son literally hanging off my left arm.

The 1034D makes good three and four thread over lock stitches. The only drawback is that the stitches have to be set at the high end of the cutting width and sewing length settings. Otherwise, too much thread hangs off the edges of the fabric.

The differential feed works great and I had absolutely no problems stitching jersey knits using the three and four thread over lock.

The sewing feet change out easily. I don't have the list before me; however, I'd like to point out that additional sewing feet are available from Brother for those looking to sew on pearls, sequins, and other specialty items like elastic and cording.

The Bad

The 1034D came without oil which seemed very odd to me since the machine stitches out at 1300spm. The last page of the 1034D users manual clearly states to oil the machine prior to usage.

Hard to explain but the built in rolled hem setting doesn't work at all with the rolled hem factory settings and I don't know if this is normal. Rolled hems will only work at a length setting of 2 which is rather long when the setting should be on the lower end of the 1-1.75 range. The cutting width also had to be set at the widest point making the rolled hem more obvious when using normal serger thread.

The rolled hem settings are used with the blind hem foot for joining lace and other heirloom and decorative work. The wide cutting width on the rolled hem setting may be acceptable when using wooly nylon on placemats; however, the rolled hem settings were not small enough for the detailed work that I was hoping to achieve.

The blind hem foot itself is made of metal and cheap plastic. The sewing seam allowances of 3/8", 1/2", 5/8", and 1" are not written on the 1034D.

The 1034D's generic presser foot does not mark any of the penetration parts of the needles which is inconvenient where precise sewing is important. Also, the two needles are installed and removed using one hex screw which can be very tricky.

After sewing with this serger for a month and about 6 hours into a serger class at the local Bernina dealer, I quickly realized that I'd never be satisfied with the overall quality of this machine or its rolled hem. Therefore, I returned the 1034D and purchased a Juki MO-654D. The differences between the 1034D and the Juki are night and day.

Honestly, if you are looking for a machine strictly for three and four thread over locks, this machine would probably work for you. For garment construction, this machine is acceptable; however, I would not recommend this machine to anyone, beginner or otherwise who can afford better. After speaking with a serger mechanic, any Juki, Janome, or Babylock serger would make far better options for a little extra money.