I do my sewing on a Janome 6500; before that I used a Janome 7000. I love both these machines, and they have been wonderful to sew on,
but they do have a fault. They just eat the points of triangles, and I could never sew single triangles together accurately enough for my liking. When I bought the 6500 I noticed that it had a straight stitch footplate as an add-on, and earlier this year I lashed out and bought one. It has made a huge difference in performance; no more edges of material jammed down into the bobbin area, very few missed stitches on start-up. I leave it on my machine all the time, and put a piece of tape over the stitch width button to remind me not to use it while I have that footplate on. I also use the 1/2" piecing foot, and I'm really pleased with how well my blocks go together these days.
My favourite gadget just lately is this extendable magnet, that I use for picking up pins from the floor. I have back problems, so anything that can save me having to crawl around on the floor is good 
news. This is so strong it sticks to the nails in the floor, and sweeps up any loose pins like magic. I love hardware stores, which is where I got this.
Our weather is perfect for quilt washing, so I have been doing one or two quilts a day, getting our everyday quilts ready to pack away for the summer. I do love the smell of clean quilts that have been hanging on the line all day.
7 comments:
with the rigt attachments sewing seems to work so effortlessly, and without it doesn't matter what you do its a frustration!
I'll have to look for that extendable magnet - what a good idea! DH is always complaining about pins on the floor!
I love my Janome 6500 too. But I agree, it sometimes eat my points of triangles. Did not know about that extra footplate. I have to ask for this.
I've been using the 6500 for setting blocks instead of quilting just lately and I might end up piecing on it too, so the plate has gone on my Christmas list.
Despite having 5 machines my little Singer is still the best for piecing, but I don't mind 'horses for courses.'
I like my stable at the moment, I seem to have everything covered!
I have a basic Janome (Decor Excel 5018), and it chews stuff when I'm starting to sew too! Bits go down under the needle and the thread gets tangled up. Very frustrating. I'll have to see if there is something for mine.
Why don't you use a thread catcher at the start and end of your work? I think you'd have less trouble with the points being eaten. But I don't use a Janome, so I can't say for sure.
I have the same Janome... and often use either Bonnie's bonus squares or a threadcatcher to catch my ends. My problem is when I'm chaining a long string of things, I lose the threadcatchers. :)
I'll have to look for this plate too!
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