Monday, June 6, 2022

Mon Memory 132~ A New Machine: An Expensive Way to Mourn?

 

This sweet Babylock Ellisimo embroidery machine
has served me well.
However, no matter how well I cleaned it,
tried different needles and threads
there were still skipped stitches?
I could sew on a double layer of binding,
 but when I turned it over to top stitch
it was impossible. 
It would not go through all the layers
without skipping stitches.
I can't tell you how many needles have been broken.
 
It would no longer back stitch without bunching up under the pressure foot.
It couldn't stitch out letters or decorative stitches without
bogging down.
 
It had started a squeaking sound.
Despite the rules I had followed to 
not oil the machine
or use canned air,
I did!
 
I used canned air in the top and bobbin area
being sure to point toward the left
away from the mechanical area.
 Despite using a very strong vacuum,
you wouldn't believe how much fuzz
came out after using the canned air.
I oiled metal on metal places especially the needle lift
where I think the sound came from.
 
 
It worked much better after this treatment.
Meanwhile, I was falling in love with
The Janome Continental M7. 
 
My prognosis for Elli was she needed
new feed dogs after 6 million stitches
and 11 years of sewing over 250 days a year.
 I would dedicate her to the embroidery tasks.
 

I bought Jan!
It took 2 ladies to load her in the back of the car,
and the muscle man across the street to
take the box out of the car,
lift her out and carry her upstairs.
He's such a big help.
(Mr. G would have done that too. He was still that strong.)
Jan came with a monster size extension table which even has a drawer.
However, my shoulder range right now
doesn't allow me to reach that far.
Maybe if I had a lower table?
So I stored it away for quilting time.
It didn't come with an efficient box like Elli did
to store the feet and accessories in my drawer.

 
There were 3 reasons I bought Jan
that Elli can't do.
A foot peddle that allows me to use my foot to cut thread.
Elli used to have an additional expensive package
that would add tasks to the foot peddle,
but it's no longer available.

Jan can sew 1300 stitches per minute.
Elli sewed a 1000.
Faster sewing quilt pieces,
and imagine how fast those 650+ face masks
 could have been made.
There is also 2 more inches, 13" in all in the 
harp area, the area to the right of the needle.
 
Best of all,
Jan can stitch through MORE than 
7 layers of fabric and batting
WITHOUT skipping a stitch!
You can see above the beautiful job.
 ***
I stopped my projects, 
because they were going to be gifted
to make this hot pad to declare as my 
FIRST PROJECT
on Jan
for future memories.
Something Jan or Elli cannot do,
is manage human error.
Still learning on that.
Something Jan couldn't do was 
correctly stitch letters over a seam.
I even tried the dual feed dogs,
but it didn't work.
I did notice the top feed wasn't grabbing.
More research tells me,
the dual feed has to be turned on in settings?
 
Anyway, memories are being made.
More projects can get done,
and Jan will help me move on in life.
I miss him SO much.
 
**Memories**

 
 

 


4 comments:

  1. I still bemoan the demise of my most beloved Janome and seriously wish I could afford another. I've had three machines since and none of them would ever sew through the multiple layers of denim as the Janome did. Enjoy your new machine and playing with all the features.

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  2. Such a wonderful new machine - so many possibilities! Thanks for sharing and looking forward to more projects.
    Joy (from my unfortunately disappeared blog (avintagegreen).

    ReplyDelete
  3. Many happy days of creating ahead...

    ReplyDelete
  4. I absolutely LOVE my M7. I hope yours brings you joy like mine does. I love your blog, by the way.

    ReplyDelete

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