Friday 27th February, 2026
... FAMILY GIFT SEWING ...
I thought I’d start today with a little recap of what was ‘under my needle’ at the end of last year. Here’s a little background to what I made. Christmas sewing is always a busy activity here in the Studio, and each year as well as sewing something special for each Grandchild, I like to give a ‘family gift’ to the Rombouts (Ben, Sally, Ambah and Leo), the Hills’ (David, Bec and Lucas – Graham and Sophie), and the Beierers (Jack, Gemma, Bobby and Summer). Here we are all gathered on Boxing Day.
Quite a few years ago, the theme was ICECREAM – a large bowl filled with a packet of sugar cones, fancy icecream scoop and long handled spoons, little bowls, paper napkins, small bottles of sprinkles etc and a Supermarket Gift Card for the icecream.
The year I was travelling around Australia, I made Christmas napkins, a matching tablerunner and bought lovely marble cheese trays and fancy knives from local craft markets, and last minute picked up gourmet Cheeses and smoked meats.
I got busy with my embroidery unit in 2022 and stitched out CITRUS WRAPS for glass jars full of dried oranges, lemons and limes I had made – great for adding to a cool glass of Soda Water … or a G&T!
In 2023 the ‘family gift’ was 2 sets of Christmas Napkins for all the families to use when we gather together each year to celebrate Christmas. The Twelve Days of Christmas and Santa’s Reindeers (including Olive – ‘the other reindeer’ in the Rudolph song) were embroidered into the corners. The grandchildren love to choose a favourite each year now.
Christmas 2024 was NUTS … 3 different jars of spiced and baked blends of savoury nuts – Bacon, Maple, Smoked Paprika, Garlic, Chilli and Chive Pecans, Thai Style Green Curry Peanuts, and Pineapple & Lime Chipotle Almonds. No ‘family gift sewing’ that year – just baking! Mind you, there was a LOT of other sewing done for the Grandchildren!
Every year it gets more challenging to work out something they can all share in. Christmas 2025 … it was POPCORN!! Yes, a great snack whilst watching a family movie, or just chilling after a swim. It is so quick and easy to make with simple ingredients. So … what was under the needle? Microwave Popcorn Bags! … and Santa Gift Bags to conceal all the contents. I included a little folder with how-to’s in it as well as the recipes for the flavourings.
For those of you who are interested, ½ cup of popcorn kernels only take 2 ½ mins or so to pop in the all cotton bag. Here are a few recipes for the flavourings … just multiply the quantities, and store in a little recycled spice jar.
Cinnamon Sugar – 2 tabs Icing Sugar, 1 teas Cinnamon and ¼ teas Salt
Mexican Chocolate – 1 tabs Unsweetened Cocoa, 1 tabs Icing Sugar, 1 teas Cinnamon, ¼ teas Salt and pinch of Cayenne Pepper
Ranch – ½ teas Dried Dill, ½ teas Dried Chives, ½ teas Garlic Powder, ½ teas Onion Powder, ¼ teas Salt and ¼ teas Pepper
Who knows what this year’s theme will be, but I do have plenty of time to think about it!
... Did You Know? ...
Overlockers – a Little Bit of History
Time now to get down to the ‘overlocking stuff’ … and … it’s interesting to see how such a fabulous machine has changed the way we sew. Here’s a little bit of ‘gathered history’ for you.
The overlocker (or serger) was invented in 1881 by Merrow Machine Company to automate fabric edge finishing. The first practical overlock machine was patented in 1889, designed for high-speed industrial seaming and edging. For more than 80 years, it remained a professional-only tool. Merrow continues to produce overlock machines and is the oldest U.S. sewing machine manufacturer still in operation.
By the early 1900s, industrial models advanced to include 2-, 3-, and 4-thread capabilities.
In 1968, Juki Corporation introduced the first portable domestic overlocker in Japan—the Baby Lock—bringing overlocking into the home. During the 1970s and 1980s, home overlockers gained popularity, especially for creating professional, stretchy seams on knit fabrics. By the 1980s, Japanese and Chinese manufacturers dominated the industry.
The term “overlocker” is commonly used in the UK and Australia, while “serger” is the preferred term in America.
Today’s overlockers feature automatic threading, touchscreen controls, multiple stitch options, and attachments that sew, cut, and finish in one step.
Bernina has been passionately dedicated to the development and manufacturing of high quality sewing machines since 1893. The innovative L890 Overlock/Coverstitch Combo machine that I own, is manufactured by Bernina, 100% designed and engineered in Switzerland.
My Overlocker History
I’d been happily finishing seams with a zigzag stitch when I started casual work at a fabric and sewing machine store at 23. The overlockers lined the top shelf — impressive and slightly intimidating.
On my very first Saturday, a customer asked for a demonstration. I’d never used one. I took down a Bernette 203, opened the manual, and we learned to thread it together – only three cones, but no air-threading in those days! Next was a test stitchout and to her delight — and my enormous relief — it sewed beautifully. She bought it on the spot.
Soon after, the store owner let me take one home to practise. I tried every setting in the instruction book – fell completely in love with it, and never gave it back — I bought it instead. It transformed my early knit-sewing projects and began my love for overlockers.
Working in a sewing machine store — where we stocked nine different brands, along with fabric and even office equipment — had its perks! I suddenly had access to all sorts of extra feet and accessories for my sewing machine, and once I became an overlocker user, in due time I added specialty presser feet for that as well. Even better, I was perfectly positioned to hear about new model releases and exactly what made them an improvement … which, unsurprisingly, led to quite a few upgrades over the years.
My Bernette 203 was passed on to my Mum, and last year as she went into Aged Care, I delivered it to my sister-in-law Robyn, where it now lives in her sewing room as her very first overlocker.
I cannot imagine my Studio without an overlocker (or two!).
... The All Rounder on the Team ...
#C11 Overlock/Combostitch Foot
Every brand and model of overlocker comes with a standard foot — the one you’ll use for most techniques. So let’s begin there … the standard foot, known as #C11 on my Bernina L890.
This foot is intended for use with most applications, including overlock, flatlock, rolled hems and combination stitches. Its flat sole keeps the fabric layers evenly supported and in continuous contact with the feed dogs for smooth, consistent feeding.
The markings on the foot act as handy guides when stitching. The raised lines at the front of the toe indicate the needle positions, while the indented mark shows where the cutting blade sits when set to the default 6 mm cutting width. These guides are especially useful when following fabric markings, stitching over existing seams, or matching seams precisely — such as when sewing circular or tubular pieces.
Guide for Markings on Foot #C11
Foot #C11 was used to stitch out 17 different Overlock Stitches and 5 different Combination Stitches on a variety of types and weights of fabrics. As I said, it’s a great all rounder.
Additional Notes for other Models
Bernina L850 and L860 – foot is coded #L10 – includes an additional feature, the Adjustable Tape Guide. This guide accommodates tapes, ribbon and elastic up to a width of 12mm. The guide can be adjusted with the use of a small screwdriver.
Bernina L450 and L460 – foot is called the Standard Foot – includes an additional feature, the Adjustable Tape Guide. This guide accommodates tapes, ribbon and elastic up to a width of 4mm. The guide can be adjusted with the use of a small screwdriver.
Bernette Funlock 40 Series (b42, b44, b48) and Airlock 60 Series (b62, b64 and b68) – foot is called the Standard Foot.
... This Week’s Foot Highlights or Challenges ...
A great start to understanding the capabilities of your machine is to create samples for a Stitch Directory by actually threading up in colours relating to the references on your machine, and stitching them out. This week could start you on exactly that task, as the #C11 Foot, or Standard Foot for your overlocker, can be used for the majority of the stitches. My machine has 29 stitches inbuilt, and 22 of them can be stitched with this foot. Let’s get stitching!
For the samples on my L890, I used the following overlocker thread colours – Yellow, Green, Blue, Red and Purple. The colours were positioned depending on which stitch I used. My Touchscreen actually tells me where to put each thread – you may find this information in your Instruction Book if you do not have either an L860 or L890.
On the first Friday of every month, I’ll feature a different stitch category organized by thread count—2-Thread, 3-Thread, 4-Thread, Cover/Chain, and 5-Thread stitches.
I’ll cover where and why you would use each stitch. The first sample I stitched using #C11 Foot was a Balanced 4-Thread Stitch, possibly the most used overlocking stitch for many of us.
I then continued with the in-built 3-Thread Stitches
Stitch #2 is Super Stretch Stitch – The lower looper thread (Red) actually covers the front and back of the stitch, building in lots of stretch.
Stitches #3 and #4 are Overlock Wide and Narrow – a much used stitch also for most overlocker users
Stitches #5 and #6 are Flatlock Wide and Narrow – I’ll cover more about this type of stitch later in the blog
Stitch #7 is a Narrow Seam
Stitch #8 is a Rolled Hem – stitched on a single layer of fabric
Stitch #30 is Picotstitch – stitched on a single layer of fabric
Next category are the in-built 2-Thread Stitches
Stitches #9 and #10 are Wrapped Overlock Wide and Narrow
Stitches #11 and #12 are Flatlock Wide and Narrow
Stitch #13 is a Rolled Hem
Stitches #14 and #15 are Overlock Wide and Narrow
Stitches #28 and #29 are Blanketstitch Wide and Narrow – this is a speciality stitch which requires the addition of a water soluble stabiliser to create the stitch – more about it later on. I also used Wonderfil Spagetti in both the looper and the needle – A Topstitch Needle Size 90
Last category is the in-built 5-Thread Combination Stitches. I had quite the challenge here as my machine was skipping stitches on the chain component. I tried changing to new needles for both the overlock and chain stitch, however changing the needle position from Right Cover to Centre Cover eliminated all my issues! Created an extra wide seam too. In the right hand photo the top sample was stitched with the Right Cover Needle and the bottom sample was stitched with the Centre Cover Needle.
(Machine is due for a service, and I have a great tech who’ll be able to sort out this problem for me, I’m sure)
Stitches #17 and #18 are Combo 3-Thread Overlock and Chain – Wide and Narrow (Sample #17 did have missed stitches in the chain seam – I then switched to Centre Cover Needle for #18 and the rest of the samples … with NO MISSED STITCHES!)
Stitches #19 and #20 are Combo 2-Thread Overlock and Chain – Wide and Narrow
... A Little Something Extra ...
Foot User Manuals
On the Bernina Website, you can download a User Manual for each of the feet and accessories. (Source of the foot markings photo and details)
They are a great resource and reference tool to have nearby your machine, whether in digital or printed format. Here is the link to Foot #C11.
For other Bernina models, search the Bernina Website under Accessories for Overlockers – select the foot you want a Manual for – select your machine model – select Support Tab – PDF document will open from the link on this page.
For Bernette models, search the Bernette Website under Accessories – Overlocker Accessories – select your machine model (if indicated) – there will be an Overview Tab and an Instruction Tab – click on the Instruction Tab and you can print or save a PDF file from there.
... A Little Reminder ...
Bernina’s Foot of the Month February 2026 *
is # 55 Leather Roller Foot – 20% off – contact your preferred Bernina Dealer for this fabulous offer. … Makes sewing precise curves, and sticky fabrics so very easy! I covered this foot in the Big Book of Feet Challenge Blog.
*Australia and New Zealand Promotion Only – ends … 28th February, 2026 …
Chat again next Friday,
