Promised wife a sewing machine for her birthday. She likes to make blankets etc. and has been using an antiquated Singer 2210 given her by a friend. She likes the Janome MC9500 but its alot more than I expected. Is this a good machine for sewing layers of fabric or thicker fabrics like boat canvas? She likes the embroidery function but it seems like it would make the machine more vulnerable to damage on thick jobs but if we can only afford one machine is this the model? I'm clueless when it comes to sewing.

She will be able to do everything she wants with this one. Since it has an embroidery module, I would leave the boat canvases to be done in the old Singer.

What a nice thing to do for your wife!

My friend has 3 Janome machines and she loves them. I agree with Maride to leave the canvas sewing on the old Singer machine.

I loved my Janomes and the 9500 is a very nice machine.
It does have a 5x7 hoop which is nice.
My first Janome was a 350e which also has the 5x7 hoop.

The 9500 to my understanding does not transfer designs by usb thumb drive which to me is very important. I think the 9500 only does the cards?? That is a negative to me - and a deal breaker.

Some of the gals at work have janomes and they love their machines. As far as the price: It is negotiable. I treat sewing machine shopping very much like car shopping. I have never paid retail for a machine and sometimes it means driving a little further to get a better deal. Some sewing machine dealers are like used car salesmen and they think the consumers are stupid. Any savvy dealer knows the market and knows what the savvy consumer will do - that is go somewhere else. A little profit is still better than no profit. That argument has helped me in the past.

Hi James..
I would get her a janome 6600. It is an awesome machine..plus accufeed system. i have one and it is wonderful. i will never trade her in for anything else, not even an upgrade! lol! i paid $1,500 for her. (included soft cover and extension table.
go the janome website and compare them all side by side.
i had bought the janome 350e for Emb. and i didn't use it as much as i thought i would..so i sold it after a year.
The sewing machine dealer is just as important as the machine itself. IMHO
you can't go wrong with a janome no matter what you decide...

i think getting one that does both, is like getting a tv with a built in VCR,if one breaks, your out the other too,until you get it fixed!

This baby will do everything but make the coffee....guess you will be doing that for she will be busy sewing!!LOL Great gift and I love my janomes!! Never a problem w/anything for me!! Skeat

I have the 9500 and use it solely for embroidery. It's a fairly good sewing machine. Not the best, though.

In my opinion, it's much better to have seperate machines for embroidery and sewing.

For the same price, you could get the Janome 350e embroidery machine and a decent sewing machine.

Although, if you can only have 1, this would be a fairly solid choice.

Good luck!,
Lyn

I have a Janome 9000 it embroiderys but I never use it for that I just use it for quilting and sewing everything else I havn't tried canvas but I'm betting she could handle it.

I've been told multiple times to have different machines for sewing and embroidery.

The warranty is often based on machine time and, when quilting, you put a lot of time on the sewing machine. And, things are less likely to going wrong with straight sewing.

Then, when you have an problem with an embroidery function, your warranty may already be out because of the regular sewing.

Find yourself a good dealer and go check the machine (s) out. There are so many options for and against emb. versus regular sewing machines you really need to look at them all. I have the 9000 which only uses cards for emb. It never gave me a bit of trouble in the 13 yrs of have been using it. I updated, three years ago to Janome memory craft 10001 so I could download designs to emb from the computor. What ever you choose good luck. Marge PS, I still use the 9000 as a back up machine

If I had it to do all over again, I'd get a Janome 6600 for sewing/piecing, machine quilting, and then a Janome MB4 for embroidery. I currently own a Janome 11000 which I really like. It does everything I could want. I also have a Janome 1600P which I will use on a quilting frame. Now there's a machine that could sew through anything, but there are no fancy stitches. It goes forward and backward and that's it. I also have an MB4 which is outstanding for embroidery, but quite a large investment. Depends very much on what your wife decides to sew. If she like embroidery, go with the 9500, and sew the heavy stuff with that Singer.:)

Lynda

Hi, I have the Janome 6600 and that will sew thru canvas with no prob, I also have an embroidery machine Janome 350E. It was not worth my time to purchase the embroidery machine as I find that I didn't use the embroidery mach. only about 4 times so i gave it to my daughter for her birthday. But you can't go wrong with a Janome that is for sure. :wink: LOL

Liz

Amen Liz, and it is affordable too! my local sew and vac shop let me get both my machine on 12 months same as cash..which i had to do.
nothing against the higher end machines, i understand they are wonderful also..but i could not afford to drop 3 grand+ for a machine.

i have the 6600 ,and the jem platinum, i use for camping and classes..love them both! would not trade them of any other machine.

heres where i just got my machine free delivery and pretty good prices

did you forget the link? or am i missing it.

There is a shop in Dry Ridge Ky. that sells the 6600 for 1295.
Look them up on the net and have them mail it to you. It's a quilt shop. Can't think of the exact name.