Meet My New Sewing Machine! And Tips for Shopping
I’m very excited to introduce you to my new sewing machine! Read (or watch) on to find out why I decided to buy a new sewing machine, how I landed on the Janome I ended up with, and some new tips for your own sewing machine shopping.
If you’re in the market for a new sewing machine, now or in the future, or even if you just like to see what other machines can do, I hope you’ll find the information here both entertaining and valuable!
Let’s get to it!
Here’s the video I made if you prefer watching over reading:
Why I Got a New Sewing Machine
I’ve been sewing on secondhand older machines for many, many years and have been content with that. Those machines are much nicer than anything I could afford new for those many years and I’m so grateful for them. One is a semi industrial Pfaff from the 70,s the other is a computerized Pfaff from the 90s that my mom handed down to me a few years ago when she upgraded. It was top of the line in its day, but it had been giving her some issues and those issues didn’t cease when she gave it to me, but I still loved it and could look past its quirks for the most part.
The third machine I’d been using was actually an inexpensive Brother and was one of six of the same machine I bought when I was teaching kids sewing classes, which I did for about three years (loved it, but that’s a story for a different video). It’s a great little machine and it’s what I always recommend to a beginner for a good price.
That machine I had to keep because it was a great backup and because it’s the only machine that could do buttonholes of the three. So basically I had three machines because they all had limitations and there were functions that only one of them could perform. Not ideal, but I made it work for a long time!
HOWEVER, this is my business, this sewing thing. As you know, I write patterns, I earn an income from this sewing blog my YouTube channel and my pattern shop. The income has been enough to make a significant difference for our family and I was able to save up enough money to start looking for a new, modern machine. One on the higher end of price points with the updated modern features that would serve me for the next 20 years. So began the research!
So let me reveal what machine I opted for and then I’ll tell you some features about it that I love, and why I picked it. Then I’ll give you some tips for shopping for a sewing machine if you’re in the market or thinking about a new machine, or even your first machine.
Without further ado, I went with, drumroll please…. The Janome Memory Craft 6650 sewing and quilting machine!
I chose this machine for its amazing features, but the best part is that it this one machine now does what I was using three machines to do! It has the semi industrial aspects, having metal parts and being able to sew through multiple thick layers, and at high speeds. But it can also sew delicate fabrics. A few very nice things are the needle threader, things like winding a bobbin at the push of a button. AND, after I’ve sewn a seam, I push the thread cutter button and it cuts the thread for me, cuts it right off at the source! No thread tails for me to trim.
It has a start and stop button if I choose not to use the foot pedal, which I think will be useful for things like straight line quilting, but if I’m being honest, driving a sewing machine with a foot pedal is as natural to me at this point as driving a car, so I’m not sure the button would be any easier for me.
Speaking of quilting, this incredible 10” space between the needle and the machine is incredible! I can’t wait to quilt with it, but first I need to purchase the walking foot for it, which is pricey, so that’s a minor down side. That said, other than the walking foot, ALL of the feet I had for my prior machines fit this one. The generic snap on feet fit, and the high shank feet I’d bought for my Pfaff also fit. That was a nice surprise!
Another couple of accessories I’m planning to purchase are the extension table for quilting and the knee lift lever. Basically, the knee lift lever lets you life the presser foot with your knee instead of having to take your hands off your project to lift and turn. So when you’re quilting or making a project with a tons of turns or pivots, the knee life would make it so easy and save time.
There are a ton more features I haven’t even explored yet! So far I’ve made a tote bag and a dress with this machine, so I haven’t dug into every feature or the button holes or the decorative stitches. I just noticed some of the cute little stitches yesterday! So I’m excited to dig into the manual over some coffee and just learn what all it can do. My verdict so far, though, is that I’m in love, it’s a beautiful beast of a machine. It’s also very quiet and doesn’t shake my table, even at high speeds, which is kinda nice.
If you want to see more about this machine, here are two places to look and read reviews and get more information: You can find it on Amazon, or on Sewingmachinesplus.com and get all your questions answered! I can say honestly that you will love this machine and I’m very, very happy with my decision! I am not a Janome ambassador currently, so this review is 100% my unbiased opinion about my new machine that I bought with my own money.
Why I Chose Janome
So, let’s get into why I switched over from Pfaff to Janome. Pfaff also makes really great machines and I did always love the IDT, which is Pfaff’s built in walking foot. However, I’m not into embroidery at all, and most Pfaff machines seem geared toward embroiderers. I sew pretty much everything except that, so I wanted a machine that could sew more industrial projects, to fine fabrics, and also be a great quilting machine, so to get a machine with embroidery capabilities would be wasted on me. Janome fit the bill for me. They have a great reputation, a great selection of feet, and they had such great options in my price point. My price point with also the reason I didn’t even bother looking at Bernina. Bernina feet alone are costly and I knew Bernina makes amazing machines, but they just weren’t in my budget. In the end, only Janome had the machine that took all the features of the three machines I was using and combined them into one, AND added a ton of the desired modern features. I wanted a workhorse with all the bells and whistles and that’s what I got in the Memory Craft 6650.
Also as a side note, Janome seems to really care about and value online content creators, and since I am an online content creator, I appreciate that about the company. That’s not a factor for everyone, but it played a teeny tiny part in my decision, I guess. I also just feel like they had sewists like me in mind when they made this machine and that they realize that there’s a younger generation of sewists and quilters out there too. I mean, I’m 40, so not super young, but you know what I mean, haha.
Tips for Shopping for a New Sewing Machine
Ok, so here are my tips for shopping for a new sewing machine! I’ve written other articles about this very thing but this is the first time I’ve spent this kind of money on a machine, so I feel like I have different things to add to the conversation now.
Decide on your budget FIRST. And then stick to it. There are machines out there that are much more expensive than the one I bought, but I knew what I wanted to spend and didn’t even look at machines that were more than that. As far as buying used, I’m not sure I would do that for this expensive of a machine, though I’m a huge proponent of buying used older machines.
Decide on the important features. What kind of sewing do you do and what kind would you like to do in the future? What do you feel are the limitations of your current machine? Do you need speed control because you teach kids, do you have poor eye sight and need a needle threader? Do you need beautiful button holes more than you need extra space for quilting? Also think about the feet and accessories you will want to add in the future.
Read and watch reviews. You can find reviews on Amazon of course, but you can also go to patternreview.com and also of course YouTube. Sewing machine shops post videos of almost every machine imaginable, so I was able to see each machine I was considering being used and the features explained.
I bought my machine online this time for a few different reasons, but if you have a sewing machine shop nearby, you can go take several machines for a test drive and have that personalized shopping experience. They will also often offer trade ins. The shop in my area doesn’t sell Janome, so I didn’t go that route. I ordered mine online, but I made sure returns were free! If I got and it didn’t like it, I was not about to risk having to pay to return it, which would have been well over $100, so I chose an option that allowed me to try it out in a more risk free way.
I hope you’ve found this review and my tips helpful if you’re looking for a new sewing machine! I’m off to sew some more on my new Janome :)
Cheers!
Nikki
