Replies

1. 
   Betakin | Dec 06, 2006 06:37am | #1

   I have owned several sergers and used to sell them. I like my 744 better than any I have owned and it is heavy duty. I love the automatic tension and tilt needle bar of the Elna's plus the easy change over to Cover Hem and stitch off of coverhem. You can probably still find a 744 around but I believe the 745 is it's replacement. The 744 is only a 4 thread but has a large stitch program plus the chain stitch and 3 coverhems. I think that the 745 is much the same machine but it is a 5 thread model and not a 4 thread like the 744. The 744 can do a 4 thread safety stitch as one of the 17 stitches but the 745 can do a 5 thread safety stitch because of the extra thread. I read on the Elna website that the 745 has a built in converter for 2 thread serging and it also has a blanket stitch on the dial a stitch program. The 744 has a converter but it is not built into the serger. The 745 looks like a nice serger. I know that the model up from these is the 945 and is a computerized 5 thread model that takes pro cards for extra stitch programs and I believe the 945 has a speed control. I don't think the 745 has this control, I really don't remember.

   Janome is now the parent company for Elna USA and has made Elna sewing machines for some time but unsure if they ever made their sergers.  I am also unsure if there are any changes in the new model sergers because of Janome now heading Elna because in the past most Janome made models came out of Taiwan to my knowledge.  The 744 and 945 are made in Japan and I was told in the same factory as the Pfaff coverhem models and I don't know where the 745 is made.

   Elna and Pfaff coverlocks can take many of the same feet but some of the guides and attachments might be different because of different placement of the little attachment and guide holes in the design on the looper cover door and possibly there is also a difference in hole placement for attachments on the bed or near the feed but the 2 brands are designed almost identically in some respects. Pfaff's don't have the tilt needle bar for easy threading and some of the Pfaff Coverlocks only offer a narrow and wide double seam coverhem and don's have the 3 different coverhems like the Elna's have but some Pfaff models do offer the 3 seam coverhem like the Elna models. Both brands being so similar also thread easily and have some of the best stitches a serger can do. Good luck on what you decide. I hope you find a serger to love.

   Edited 12/5/2006 10:47 pm ET by Betakin

1. 
   jola | Dec 06, 2006 07:41pm | #2

   Betakin, thank you for a whole lot of information. I guess my next step is to go to the dealer and try it. It does sound like a good machine. I hope to be serging soon!