I hate to be the bearer of bad news but my Janome 6500 has not been the "wonder machine" that everyone else here is talking about. I've had many issues with it: balks, growls and jams at seam intersections (we're talking two-four layers of cotton), chipping paint, won't feed fabric in, jams and knots at the beginning of seams, feed dogs on a slant and won't return to proper position, changes tension and stitch length on its own, bobbin case jumps out of place causing needle to go through case ruining it, burning out lights very frequently and worst of all a dealer who claimed all of this was due to "operator error". This was the most expensive machine that I ever bought and the worst! Check any used Janome 6500 very carefully as there may be more lemons out there, (I swear my machine was made at ten to five right before a holiday weekend!)