Fickle Serger

My Babylock Evolvé, beloved serger of all sergers, is behaving poorly. I'll be serging along all fine and happy and then suddenly it wants to serge a lot faster...and then slower...and then faster. My serger is surging. So I took it in to the dealer, who was quite surprised when he saw me there with my machine. This is a reaction similar to when I brought my Honda to the mechanic. They (Hondas and Babylocks) don't break. I agree. They are both well-made and reliable machines. And just like sometimes your car no longer makes that "clanking noise" in front of the mechanic and you have to resort to trying to imitate the sound, so too was the situation with the serger. It behaved like an angel. It hummed and serged just fine while I stood there saying "it goes "rrrrrRRRRRrrrrrRRRRRrrrrr." He said it could be the foot pedal control and offered to swap it out. And knowing that this 3-year old serger has not been cleaned in...oh, 3 years...I asked for a cleaning and oiling. I do sometimes give it blasts of canned air between projects or I drag out the vacuum and mini tools, but it's never had a good cleaning and oiling and perhaps that is causing the problem (it's not like a sewing machine - Babylock only wants authorized repair people to oil it, so they don't tell you where or how to apply oil). Or it's the footpedal. At any rate I'll be serger-less for about a week. Fortunately I'm starting a new project so it'll be a while until I need to serge. And I always need to serge. If you don' t own a serger and you sew clothes, then you must get one. Why? Knits. Hems. Seam finishes. Even finishing the edge of fabric before you wash it so it doesn't unravel in the wash. That's why.