Brother Coverstitch Serger

Let me start out by saying that I was so excited for this purchase. I'm an avid sewer, who has taken on quite a bit of piece sewing for a company that I used to work for. I already have a fantastic Bernina sewing/ embroidery machine, as well as a Bernina overlock (from 1985, but is made from cast steel and sews like a dream.) I wanted to invest in a coverstitch machine, so I could do more work with sportswear style finishes, and professional looking hems. The machine looked amazing out of the box; brand spanking new and gleaming white. That was the last time I had a smile on my face. Once I plugged in the machine and threaded it, the problems started immediately. First off, this thing is a bugger to thread. I'm not saying that as someone who doesn't have experience threading machines: I've worked on dozens of home and industrial style machines. This machine, well, it's a temperamental son of a gun. Even after reading the manual twice, as well as watching an online tutorial on how to thread the machine, the stitches were still uneven, and there were many skipped stitches. Yuck. Now the big issue with this machine: there is no easy way to release the fabric from the machine. There was a secondary printed flier included with the machine which instructed that you have to use a small screwdriver (who's purpose is to install/ remove needles from the machine), to manually crease ease in the thread by pulling on the threads. RIDICULOUS! And guess what? It doesn't work. You just end up with a threaded messy piece of fabric that ends up stuck and shredded. I tried to find other ways to release the fabric, but nothing worked well. I googled every resource possible, machine reviews, youtube videos, nothing worked. It was a waste of time: just working with a double needle option on my traditional sewing machine makes a nicer looking seam than this coverstitch machine. Seriously folks, don't buy this machine. It's obvious that when it was engineered, the ability to remove fabric from the machine after it was sewn was never truly figured out. I tell you as a professional, as someone who loves the art of sewing and garment construction... stay away. Invest in a quality Bernina or Baby Lock instead.