Quilter7x

I heard somewhere that machines with a top loading bobbin don't do as good of a job on FMQ as those with a front or side loading bobbin. I wouldn't have believed this until I saw it with my own eyes. I have a Janome Memory Craft 9000 that I bought brand new some 14 years ago. Every time I tried to FMQ, I got "whiskers" (loops) on the backside. I had the opportunity to use a friend's Bernina 155 to do FMQ and there were absolutely no whiskers anywhere. I think most Bernina's are front loading bobbin machines.

So I bought a used Bernina to do FMQ and it's one of the best sewing investments I've ever made. I still use my Janome for everything else (love that machine!), but won't use it for FMQ.

Go to a LQS and try a Bernina, you'll see it for yourself.

annesthreads

Interesting. I did try 2 Berninas recently, and also a Brother, and yes, you're right, absolutely no problems with FMQ. The dilemma there is that the only Berninas I could possibly afford are only standard-size machines - the 440 would be the top of my price range - and I was wondering about getting one of the longer machines to make dealing with big quilts easier.

janell2009

It is interesting, I was inquiring to my LQS who is my dealer for the Janome. ( I have a Janome 6500 memory Craft) about getting a different machine for doing quilting on a frame. They were telling me they did not sell any frame, I then inquired about getting a Janome machine for a frame I was thinking about. She was quick to ask why I would want that machine ,what would I gain, she said I would just end up with lots of tension problems... Hummm must be something with that machine because she said that to me right away. I have the Janome that I do the piecing on and love the machine. I have a Juki that I do the FMQ on and it was doing the loopy stuff to me, but seemed like it was a direction problem because it would not do it all the time while going down the run. I too put the feed dogs up and use the sil pad over the feet and that seemed to fix the loopy's. but it was a Juki not the janome.
So in conclusion I think it must be the machine.. I don't think I am of much help except that I have heard that said about the Janome. Good Luck, it is very frustrating.

annesthreads

[quote=janell2009] She was quick to ask why I would want that machine ,what would I gain, she said I would just end up with lots of tension problems... Hummm must be something with that machine because she said that to me right away. I have the Janome that I do the piecing on and love the machine. I have a Juki that I do the FMQ on and it was doing the loopy stuff to me, but seemed like it was a direction problem because it would not do it all the time while going down the run. I too put the feed dogs up and use the sil pad over the feet and that seemed to fix the loopy's. but it was a Juki not the janome.
So in conclusion I think it must be the machine..[quote]

Fascinating. But at least you have an honest dealer - mine swore blind that the tension problems must be me, not the machine! It's really heartening to have my impressions confirmed.

teri295

I feel so fortunate that I found this thread! I just took my 6600 in to the dealer about this exact problem! Loops on the back and I had followed my manual. The guy said the upper tension needs to be set much higher than what it says in the book! He set it to 9. Now WHY wouldn't the manual say that?!!! I had cleaned out my bobbin case, so it was clean, but he used air to squirt into the area where the top thread runs thru the tension disk above the needle. He said there was thread fuzz in there (I had just gotten it cleaned a few months ago actually) but was using "old random thread spools" for my fmq practice the Leah Day way. After he did these two things it worked well for him. I got it home and started only using a better quality thread, with new needle and it worked fine for awhile, but even now, at random times, my 6600 Janome gets finicky and threads up in massive knots underneath my fabric (drives me NUTS!). So I rethread and start over again. I am about to start back fmq on my old $99.00 Wal-Mart Brother sewing machine! Janome needs to address this issue I think.

nantucketsue

Interesting thread. I recently straight stitch quilted a baby quilt using my walking foot on the 4900QC but noticed many of the stitches were very uneven going from normal size to tiny. I thought maybe it was because I used a cotton flannel backing although the walking foot is supposed to eliminate this problem. There were no puckers on the back which I had hand basted,. I was considering whether to purchase the blue bobbin for FMQ, but I don't think I will bother. I also think Janome Customer Service in UK is very unhelpful. I love my machine for general sewing and piecing, but as a quilting machine it does not seem to live up to its name.

k3n

I deleted my earlier post but I just have to say that while I'm sorry some of you have issues, I have a 6600 on which I FMQ both with the supplied red dot case and hopping FMQ foot and the blue dot case and adjustable foot with NEVER a problem!!! I use my machine up to 8 hours a day and it has never let me down. So I am guessing that you few are unfortunate enough to have been supplied with faulty machines OR it is operator error or you are using sub standard supplies. I am a bit fed up with reading that this is an inherent Janome fault, I and many others use their machines with no problems at all.

teri295

Well k3n - I am so glad that you haven't had any problems, and that there are quite a few that haven't had a problem. However, I think this is a good forum to find out that perhaps there are people out there having issues. The relief that I have found is that it perhaps is NOT my fmq practicing, that it could possibly be the machine OR "sub standard supplies" that is causing it. Eliminating these factors, along with finding out it could POSSIBLY be the sewing machine has been a learning experience for me. This forum shows me what has been tried. I welcome other people's advice with working with the Janome and am relieved to see it might be a machine issue instead of a user problem.

Eagle Hawk

Send questions to jpechlin. He is a Janome service tech and can probably answer your quetions. Just pm him here on the quilting forum.

katyquilter

I agree with k3n. I also have a Janome 6600 for over 3 years now, and while I have an occasional birdnest, it's usually because of my thread, and when I change threads and rethread, it's fine. I have a blue bobbin and sometimes use it and sometimes don't. I love my machine.