Use with an overcasting stitch to allow thread to wrap around the edge of the fabric to prevent unrav-elling. The foot guides the fabric and keeps your edges flat by compensating for the lack of friction when the needle makes the right-most stitch. Particularly good for finishing off medium to heavy-weight, easily frayed woven fabrics such as tweed, gabardine, and linen.
This Accessory of the Month has a bonus project for you to make.
When it comes to buttonholes, the perfect fit is key. Long gone are the days when you need to manually mark out the size of each buttonhole, making it a guessing game as to whether you’ll actually have a reliable closure on your garments.
Many of Janome’s modern sewing machines today come equipped with a one-step buttonhole foot and a stabilizer plate for effortless buttonhole creation. You can sew buttonholes of the appropriate size by simply placing your button into the button holder of the foot and pushing the clamp right up against the button. The foot will measure the size of your button and ensure the buttonhole is made to the correct size.
Button placed into the foot – this does the sizing of the buttonhole automatically for you.
When the buttonhole foot is attached to the buttonhole stabilizer plate, the machine will feed various kinds of fabric and uneven layers more smoothly instead of eating the fabric or causing the needle to get stuck in position.
If you have an older model, you might have a one-step buttonhole foot which looks similar to the one pictured below, except that it may not have the more advanced feature of lengthening or shortening the buttonhole.
This upgraded one-step buttonhole foot comes standard with all 9mm Janome sewing machine models. Basically, it allows you to tweak the length of your buttonhole slightly to accommodate knit/stretch fabrics or domed buttons.
By adjusting the screw to the left or right, the marker will move to L – for long, or S – for short, thereby increasing or decreasing the buttonhole length.
When working with knit fabrics, such as a stretchy T-shirt which may be more prone to tugs and pulls or get stretched during a machine wash cycle, a slightly shorter buttonhole will ensure the button remains securely in place once buttoned.
A shorter buttonhole on knit fabric can prevent the button from slipping out.
On the other hand, if you’re dealing with heavy fabric or using domed, thicker, or handmade buttons, you may require a larger button hole.
Have you ever measured your button, sewn your buttonhole, only to find that it still isn’t big enough?
This is often the case when the thickness of the button hasn’t been taken into consideration. For example, a dome shaped button might be 1/2″ wide from end to end, but if you measure across the dome you will notice that it is slightly longer.
To take the thickness of the button into account just add a little length to your buttonhole to accommodate the button. You can adjust your one-step buttonhole foot slightly by adjusting the marker to the L position.
The upgraded one-step buttonhole foot and stabilizer plate are great tools to have for making all the difference when sewing buttonholes.
If your machine does not come with them or is not of a compatible model, you are most welcome to discuss your options with an authorised Janome stockist, who might suggest upgrading to a machine which offers these fantastic features.
Janome Australia was incorporated in NSW on November, 1969 and soon after set up the first State and Head Office in Sydney at 10 Martin Place under the guidance of our first Managing Director Mr Charlie Yamamoto and his Sales Manager Mr Graham Hodgeson. In 1971, the head office was moved to Melbourne at 42 Levanswell Road, Moorabbin.
In the early years while Janome was establishing itself in Victoria the other States were very well looked after by our agents being:
New South Wales – Cameo Machining Co
Queensland – Walters Import
South Australia – W D Taylor
Western Australia – Max Shaw
During the 1960’s and 1970’s particularly in Melbourne, Myer had a huge influence both as a shop window as well as a sales outlet. Graham Hodgeson did a good job in obtaining a presence for Janome in Myer, both under our own brand as well as supplying Myer Victor models. As a company this ensured we were on our way.
At this stage the sewing machine market in Australia was dominated by the European brands particularly Elna and Bernina. There were several importers of Japanese machines in the market but they were mainly interested in importing product to sell through mass merchandisers. Janome was the only company to look how the European brands were doing things and follow suit but trying to do better.
In the early years Janome employed two sales representatives, Mr Brian de Vaus and Mr Colin Brooks who really did a good job gaining extra exposure in specialist retailer stores as a support to the European brands.
To assist Janome gain attention with retailers we took on the agency for Passap Knitting Machines which was a precision top end Swiss made knitting machine which sold very well at the time. Having that extra product to sell proved an excellent introduction to gaining acceptance in dealer stores.
Our founding fathers worked hard to identify what was required to be successful with specialty retailers and that was a ready supply of stock plus a ready supply of spare parts and accessories at affordable prices. This formula worked really well and gave Janome a real presence in the market place as well as providing the profit for the company to move to the next phase of an expansion program.
During 1974 Janome opened their own office in New South Wales with Colin Brooks as State Manager. Colin spent a lot of time visiting all the specialist retailers to ascertain who the best were before approaching them to become Janome retailers. This format worked well and 2 years later Colin moved to Brisbane to do the same job, once again very successfully.
In 1978 Colin returned to Head Office in Melbourne as National Sales Manager and later Sales Director and took over the expansion of Janome in the market place. Perhaps the introduction of the model XLII was the time when everybody realized that Janome “quality” was as good as or better than the European brands.
Also under Colin’s guidance we took our product to the people with extensive television promotions. Janome also featured as prizes on top rating game shows on television. We were also innovative being the first company to provide a free instructional video tape with our sewing machines which was revolutionary at the time.
Over the years we have had many Managing Directors with Akira Suzuki, Sam Aiko, Roy Kambe, Nobby Koseki, Kenji Wada, Yasu Kozu, Masashi Kawashima, Minoru Tokunaga, Toshi Takayasu, Shinichi Ohashi & presently JoJo Yamada. All of these gentlemen have had some input into the success of Janome Australia.
Today, Janome Australia has a unique position in our industry with support from all the best specialist retailers and selling more product than all of our competitors put together. Also for a company with relatively small staff numbers we have a lot of staff members that have worked with the company for many years which must be an asset.
Edge stitching could not get any easier with the Sliding Guide Foot! You can adjust the flange to sit from 3/8’’ up to 1 ¼’’ away from the edge of the foot in seconds and create perfectly straight hems every time. The Janome Sliding Guide Foot manually adjusts to perfectly align with the exact distance you want. The guide can be moved freely and easily by just lifting the lever in the back of the foot. The clear markings make certain you know exactly where you want your foot to go while lining the guide up on a edge or seam.
This Accessory of the Month has a bonus project for you to make.
Are you making a project for Christmas? Is it a patchwork tree skirt? A set of personalized stockings? Maybe an advent calendar to count the days to Santa’s big visit?
Share with us your handmade Christmas creations on Instagram or Facebook using the hashtag #janomechristmas, and stand to win a great Christmas pressie for yourself – our Good Design Award winner, the AirThread 2000D Professional!
The most creative one wins! 🎄🎅❤✂
Click here to get some Christmas project inspiration.
Competition ends 16/12/18. Open to Australian residents, aged 16 years or over only. Click here to view the full terms and conditions.
This foot works just like the standard 1-step buttonhole foot but larger. The button holder on the back of the foot takes a button from 2.5cm (1”) to 5cm (2”). The stabilizer plate holds and supports the fabric so it is very helpful in sewing buttonholes over the hem of thick fabrics. The buttonhole foot doesn’t just have to create holes for buttons, you can use this foot for other useful techniques to aid with your sewing projects.
This Accessory of the Month has a bonus project for you to make.
Sewing 101 – threading comes before sewing.
Threading the needle on the sewing machine is pretty straight forward for most of us, it’s threading the bobbin that’s a bit tricky at times.
Front-loading bobbin
First on the scene were the front-loading bobbin style where you put the bobbin into a metal bobbin case before inserting it into the bobbin slot, which is usually tucked away behind the accessory box on the front of the machine
Front loading machines can be challenging for some but luckily the drop-in or top-loading style bobbins came along, giving you an added choice in purchasing a front or top-loading modern sewing machine.
Top-loading bobbin
Found in most modern sewing machines, top-loading bobbins are easier to remove and replace, with the added benefit of a transparent cover so you can see just how much thread is left without opening the machine.
Threading a top-loading bobbin generally involves 4 steps:
Remove the bobbin cover plate. Place the bobbin in the case with the thread running counter-clockwise or form the letter “P” for Perfect.
Thread through the flat tension spring starting at the first notch (1) and draw the thread to the left until it slips into the second notch (2). Pull out at least 4” of thread to use in the next step.
Hold on to the machine thread (needle thread) while turning the handwheel to raise and lower the needle. This will pick up the bobbin thread – look for a little loop of bobbin thread just under the presser foot. Pinch this loop and pull gently to bring up the entire bobbin thread. Pull both threads to the back of the machine, under the presser foot.
Pop the bobbin cover plate back on and now you’re ready to sew!
The top loading system is great… but can it be even simpler? Can we skip the hassle of step 3 completely?
Glad you asked because that’s the new Janome easy set bobbin.
Janome’s easy set bobbin
With the easy set bobbin all you have to do is to drop in your bobbin, making sure it’s in the correct counter-clockwise direction, pull the thread along the guides, then pop the cover back on.
Yup, that’s all there is – it even cuts the excess bobbin thread for you!
The easy set bobbin style is on the following models – MC15000QM, MC15000, MC14000, MC12000, MC9900, MC9450QCP, MC9400QCP, MC8900QCP Special Edition, MC8200QCP Special Edition, MC6700P, Skyline Series (S9, S7, S6, S5, S3), DM7200, Sewist 780DC, Sewist 740DC, DC6100, DC6050, DC6030, DC3200.
It all began for Lisa Dopking when she first discovered the wonders of teddy bear making in the mid-eighties. Over the years as Lisa perfected her bear making skills, her artist bears grew in popularity. It wasn’t long before she was asked to teach the craft, and make and sell patterns.
On our Janome Maker series today, the award winning maker shares with us her sewing experience spanning over three decades.
How did your sewing journey begin?
I first discovered the wonders of teddy bear making in the mid-eighties and started constructing them from whatever fabric I could get my hands on. A few years later in 1990, I walked into my first ever craft show. Stopping by at Gerry’s Teddy and Craft Designs, I was introduced to the new and exciting alternative of German mohair fabric and immediately knew I was in bear making heaven.
Having such an array of different fabric suddenly available provided me with the inspiration to make a traditional teddy bear from German mohair and the distinct lack of available patterns, only fueled my imagination and supplied the motivation to experiment with designing my own.
From there, I continued to perfect my bear making skills and eventually began teaching a few friends. Soon I was selling my bears at local doll and bear shows as well as supplying several shops. As my artist bears grew in popularity, it wasn’t long before I was being asked if I sold patterns to make them.
Fast-forward a few years, and I now have a range of more than 40 bear making patterns. My work has been published both locally and internationally and I have won numerous awards for my Artist & One of a Kind (OOAK) Bears including a prestigious TOBY Industry Choice Award.
What do you sew or make these days?
These days, although I am semi-retired, I still enjoy teaching and conduct bear making and sewing circles 4 days a week (day and evening) for all skill levels, in my own studio at home.
I bought the Janome Quilt Maker Pro long arm quilting machine at the end of last year and am now thoroughly enjoying free motion quilting and using rulers on my long arm and loving the endless possibilities to explore. My only wish is that there were more hours in a day!
Where do you find inspiraiton?
My inspiration comes from the fabrics. Spend enough time with them and it is quite apparent that some fabrics actually do talk to you. There seems to be such a never-ending array of gorgeous quilting fabrics continually arriving on the market, that it is hard NOT to be constantly inspired. Often I will see a single fabric or even a range of fabrics and instantly know exactly what I would like to make from them, surprising even myself!
I had a panda design in my head for years and then one day I found the right black and white German mohair. I went home and made the Panda in about 4 hours. It just worked out perfectly.
What’s a typical day like for you?
A typical day for me starts with doing most of the usual ‘mum’ things, like putting on a load of washing, and tidying up a bit. About 9am I let the dogs out the back door and I walk down the hallway and across the breezeway to my studio.
Three mornings a week I have craft circle classes which finish around 1pm and most afternoons are spent with a little bit of sewing, catching up on some paperwork and maybe some gardening. I do love my roses, just about as much as fabrics!
What are your future plans?
This year I have two main projects I will be tackling. Apart from creating and launching my new website, I have also set myself the goal of becoming highly proficient on my new Quilt Maker Pro.
Your best sewing advice is…
The best sewing advice I think I could offer would be that there is no right or wrong way to sew. Work out what suits you best and create your own style.
Funny thing I found: I was interviewed in 1998 for The Australian Bear Creations Magazine and this was written: “When asked how much longer she sees herself being involved in the bear making world, the extent of Lisa’s commitment to bears is plain: “I don’t think I’ll ever stop making bears.” So true!
Follow Lisa on Facebook and her website.
Grab your holiday fabrics and sew your way through Christmas with our free projects.
Christmas Tree Plushie – Fast and easy to make project, it’s great for kids.
Christmas Tree Skirt – Sew a special touch for your Christmas tree with this easy modern tree skirt.
Folded Christmas Tree Napkin – why buy holiday napkin when you can make one with your favourite fabrics?
Free-standing Christmas Decoration – Hang them on the tree, leave them as ornaments, or use them as a gift tag!
T-shirt Dress – Start the holiday tradition of upcycling old T-shirts into new, fashion-forward wearable items.
Advent Calendar – Ready to start counting down the days to Christmas?
Count down the days to Christmas! Start a cherished holiday tradition with a handmade advent calendar to fill with sweet treats and trinkets for little ones and adults.
Click here to see project instructions.