Thursday 7 August 2008

First Impressions

Well, here she is! She arrived yesterday but I was on my way out so this is the first chance I've had to have a play.

I had never used one of these things before so I was glad that it came with a DVD. I loaded it up on my laptop and followed all the examples.


The differential feed means that you can tackle a range of fabrics and achieve a good finish. I have always struggled with stretch fabrics, and the Janome (she doesn't have a name yet) seems to be just the job.
I made lots of samples and noted the settings on them for comparison.


I'm looking forward to using this rolled hem to finish off garmets.


And by adjusting the tension it is easy to create a ruffle.

After playing with 3 and 4 threads, I rethreaded the machine with coloured thread (corresponding to the threading guides) to get a better idea of what each thread does.

Although I tied these on the existing threads, I get myself in a muddle changing from 3 to 4 needles so I did actually get a bit of practice threading from scratch. This Janome has an easy feed mechanism which is ... erm ... easy to feed.

By using different threads, I could play with the tensions and understand how each one affected the finish.
And achieved some nice decorative finishes.

And this is the proper rolled hem.

Tomorrow, I plan to make some more lounge pants using just a 4 thread overlock stitch on the seams. I'll post the results.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

How blooming marvellous that machine looks and the finishes are fabulous keep on sewing.x

Joanne said...

Oh it looks good. I'm struggling with the envy now :)

Marmadaisy said...

Well, I've just used it to seam my Anna Tunic and it has worked beautifully! I'm halfway done already.

Anonymous said...

I've always been afraid of overlockers but I've enjoyed reading your posts. I have hope! Your samples look great!

. said...

My mind is officually boggling thinking about what thread does what when I look at that machine.

The samples look great though. You'll be all fancy schmancy with your edges now :)

Can't wait to see the first overlocked project.

xMx

JuliaB said...

ooooooooh! it's sooo exciting. I think I might be overstimulated now!!

Anonymous said...

i'm patiently waiting to see the resulting lounge pants! it's been 5 days!