TeresaA

Hi,

Today I went back to my Pfaff 7550 from my new Janome 6650. It's a dilemma for me because my 7550 feels sluggish after working with the 6650, but I am not a huge fan of the quarter inch foot on the Janome (and I need a quarter inch foot with a seam guide because of eye issues). The 6650 doesn't come with a quarter inch foot, so I bought the clear view foot. The foot wobbles side-to-side until fabric is inserted, making it something of a pain to work with. I don't know if the "O-foot" would have been better, but I thought the clear view foot would be more like my 1/4 inch foot on the Pfaff. Sadly, not true at all.

So, do people with 9mm Janomes have a quarter inch foot that they like? Also, does this class of machine allow an industrial foot?

My other issue is the lack of dual feed on the Janome. I have been using my Pfaff with IDT for 20 years, and I just took it for granted that the top piece doesn't shift when piecing because it rarely/never happens on my Pfaff. On my Janome, my top piece often shifts about a sixteenth of an inch as I'm piecing. I know that many award winning quilters have pieced on machines without dual feed, given that for many years, only the Pfaffs had it, so it's possible to do so without shift. What do you do? I've tried decreasing the presser foot pressure and it seems to make little difference and sometimes makes the situation worse. What's the secret?

I wonder if it's time to decide that I need to see about upgrading to the Janome 6700 with dual feed. I hate to do that, partly because I don't think I'd be as happy with the Janome dual feed as I am with the Pfaff IDT (and I don't want a new Pfaff, as they are not appealing machines for me at all). I'd rather stick to the Costco machine, but I also hate the idea of only using the new machine sometimes. It quilts wonderfully, it's big and bright, has a thread cutter, a relatively large bobbin, isn't sluggish, is fun and pretty. But for piecing, it may not be the right machine. But there's gotta be a way to make it so.

So thoughts on how people get around the lack of top feed for piecing? And again, on the quarter inch foot?

Thanks.