The Sewing Room (part 2)

Violetta_2

kittie wrote: »

Have you looked for any videos on youtube? Also make sure you read the instructions and practice on a scrap of similar type of fabric. It is easier than a zip. To slit the buttonhole, pop a pin in at one end and use a stitch ripper carefully, then trim loose bits away. I use a special cutter and a little block. You need a wider strip of tacking stitches to mark the overall length of the buttonhole. Have fun

Thank's kittie, finally finished the pinafore over the weekend & daughter was really pleased with it, I looked at loads of tutorials & practiced loads of buttonholes before I did the real thing.
1 tip I would give & I only picked up on 1 tutorial & that was after a few wonky practices , if you're machine does a 4 step buttonhole, make sure the needle is out of the fabric before you change the dial to the next step, I didn't (might be common sense to everyone but me though) and the material & stitching got dragged & made it wonky.

givememoney

givememoney wrote: »

Thought I'd bring this to the attention of anyone thinking of buying a new machine.

I watched the Sewing Bee and noted that they all used Janome machines. I had a Toyota which was a bit of a pain, the thread was always breaking and you had to tiddle around with tension all the time.

I decided I'd buy one of these Janomes. I did research and it was supposed to be good so I got one from John Lewis.

I had trouble with the zigzag stitch. As I tried to neaten the edge of the fabric it sort of cobbled it up in the middle of the stitch. I persevered with this thinking it was me. Also I didn't use it such a lot and forgot about this problem until I used it next time. After my last time I looked on the internet and discovered others having the same problem. It machines straight stitches fine and also the fancy embroidery stitches, but not the zigzag.

It has now gone back to JL and I went up the other day as the lady told me there was nothing wrong with it. However, she got it out and machined some stitches and to my relief it did exactly the same as I experienced and she agreed it was not good enough.

I now await the verdict from Janome on what, if anything can be done. If nothing can be done, I expect a refund. My old c****y Toyota could manage zigzag stitching no problem but not this expensive machine.

Further to my posting here I have returned to JL and this is the outcome.


Janome insist the machine is OK although it doesn't zigzag properly and the helpful staff at JL agree it isn't good enough. I must commend the staff as they spent hours with me on Monday trying to come to a solution. They let me try other machines and the newest Janome that replaces my model and low and behold they are all exactly the same. I tried along with other Janomes, a Brother and an Elna. I went to have a coffee to try to decide what to do as they had also said I could have cheaper machine and an overlocker but I haven't room for two machines. After some thought I decided I would keep my machine as I like the automatic tension, automatic buttonholer which you don't get on the cheaper machines.


The light bulb moment came when Penny the lady helping me suggested we try no. 11 on the dial. This is a stitch for elastic so she and I had never considered it before and amazing it did a zig (type) that didn't cause the fabric to ruck up in the middle. It is not ideal of course but a way round the problem, so I am now happy to retain the machine and use that stitch for neatening the edges.

Justamum

givememoney wrote: »

Further to my posting here I have returned to JL and this is the outcome.


Janome insist the machine is OK although it doesn't zigzag properly and the helpful staff at JL agree it isn't good enough. I must commend the staff as they spent hours with me on Monday trying to come to a solution. They let me try other machines and the newest Janome that replaces my model and low and behold they are all exactly the same. I tried along with other Janomes, a Brother and an Elna. I went to have a coffee to try to decide what to do as they had also said I could have cheaper machine and an overlocker but I haven't room for two machines. After some thought I decided I would keep my machine as I like the automatic tension, automatic buttonholer which you don't get on the cheaper machines.


The light bulb moment came when Penny the lady helping me suggested we try no. 11 on the dial. This is a stitch for elastic so she and I had never considered it before and amazing it did a zig (type) that didn't cause the fabric to ruck up in the middle. It is not ideal of course but a way round the problem, so I am now happy to retain the machine and use that stitch for neatening the edges.

I've always found zigzagging the edge of a fabric makes it ruck up, no matter which machine I use. Is setting 11 the one which has a three stitch zigzag (ie about 3 stitches per zig and 3 per zag - if you understand what I mean :rotfl:)

I did recently treat myself to an overlocker. I got it from British Sewing Centre, which is Cooper Sewing Machines by any other name but the machine arrived very quickly and I'm very happy with it.

oystercatcher

givememoney wrote: »

Further to my posting here I have returned to JL and this is the outcome.


Janome insist the machine is OK although it doesn't zigzag properly and the helpful staff at JL agree it isn't good enough. I must commend the staff as they spent hours with me on Monday trying to come to a solution. They let me try other machines and the newest Janome that replaces my model and low and behold they are all exactly the same. I tried along with other Janomes, a Brother and an Elna. I went to have a coffee to try to decide what to do as they had also said I could have cheaper machine and an overlocker but I haven't room for two machines. After some thought I decided I would keep my machine as I like the automatic tension, automatic buttonholer which you don't get on the cheaper machines.


The light bulb moment came when Penny the lady helping me suggested we try no. 11 on the dial. This is a stitch for elastic so she and I had never considered it before and amazing it did a zig (type) that didn't cause the fabric to ruck up in the middle. It is not ideal of course but a way round the problem, so I am now happy to retain the machine and use that stitch for neatening the edges.

This is interesting, I have a Janome and find that the zigzag stitch kind of puckers or rucks up between the points, I too thought this was me as I am not terribly experienced with sewing.

Could you please explain in more detail or put pictures of the no. 11 stitch as I am not sure what you mean by this. I have a Janome 7025 and the stitches all have letters not numbers.

Savvy_sewing

I must go through my machines tomorrow and double check what they are all like!
I use overlockers to nesten edges but have you tried stitching through tissue paper? It's handy for quite a few different uses when sewing.

babyblooz

Just in case people are interested, Prima have an offer on for twelve copies of their magazine for £15.00 with delivery and a free pattern thrown in. That makes it £1.25 a copy for a mag and a pattern. There is a code in this months magazine so just quote that when you ring the telephone number if you want to order.:j:j:j

It is on a direct debit so you would need to cancel it once the initial payment has gone from your account otherwise it continues after the first year but at a much higher price.

rosie51

babyblooz wrote: »

Just in case people are interested, Prima have an offer on for twelve copies of their magazine for £15.00 with delivery and a free pattern thrown in. That makes it £1.25 a copy for a mag and a pattern. There is a code in this months magazine so just quote that when you ring the telephone number if you want to order.:j:j:j

It is on a direct debit so you would need to cancel it once the initial payment has gone from your account otherwise it continues after the first year but at a much higher price.

Do you have the code by any chance as not in town this week because of a bad code. My one and only village shop don't stock it.

babyblooz

can send it you by private message

rosie51

babyblooz wrote: »

can send it you by private message

Please if you would, thanks.

givememoney

Justamum wrote: »

I've always found zigzagging the edge of a fabric makes it ruck up, no matter which machine I use. Is setting 11 the one which has a three stitch zigzag (ie about 3 stitches per zig and 3 per zag - if you understand what I mean :rotfl:)

I did recently treat myself to an overlocker. I got it from British Sewing Centre, which is Cooper Sewing Machines by any other name but the machine arrived very quickly and I'm very happy with it.

Yes that is the one

This is interesting, I have a Janome and find that the zigzag stitch kind of puckers or rucks up between the points, I too thought this was me as I am not terribly experienced with sewing.

Could you please explain in more detail or put pictures of the no. 11 stitch as I am not sure what you mean by this. I have a Janome 7025 and the stitches all have letters not numbers.

Sorry I cannot find any facility that allows a picture but like Justamum says it's a sort of broken zigzag instead of a continuous one and it does do a flat stitch.