craftgrrl | i can't feel my thumbs

ever tried to make a rolled hem without a serger? it's a huge pain in the ass. my right thumb is seriously going to be one giant lump of scar tissue.

on that note, i'm buying a damn serger. enough is enough. so, i'm looking for suggestions and warnings. have a serger that you absolutely love? got a horror story about one that you had that was complete crap? please share. i've never owned one before, so i'm looking for something relatively inexpensive just in case it proves to be too complicated for me to master.

and, so my post is more than just a plea for help, here's something beady.

it's an anklet i made the other day from a few broken bits. the seed beads came off of a truly hideous ornament that was so old the string literally dissolved. they were part of an angel's dress, for the curious. the larger beads came from a huge clip on earring that my mother lost the mate to many years ago. looking at it now, i really need to run another line to fill in the gaps at the top and bottom of the larger beads with extra seed beads. it looked nice and tight yesterday, but i guess there's a little more give in this string than what i'm used to, and it makes a big difference. there were only two of the really large kind of clear and wavy beads, so i used both of them and two beads that were about the same shape, but smaller and frosted, for some size variation. i put four little round beads in between each bigger bead. it doesn't show up well in the picture, but the beads are a mix of clear blue and frosted blue. the clear ones are closest to the large frosted beads and vice versa. here's a detail shot that shows the beads a bit better (and also makes my fingers look... very odd) it looks much nicer on, i promise ^_^