Has anyone free motioned with a Janome Jem Gold 660?
 

Has anyone ever done free motion quilting with a Janome Jem Gold 660? I'm just curious, if you have how did it go? Any tips?

Thank you
Micha

The Jems are portable machines and probably won't hold up to heavy duty machine quilting for long. I have an older Jem Gold and wouldn't want to put that much stress on the gears or motor.

I have, just to prove that I could... it wasn't impressive, though. There isn't enough throat space to move the quilt enough for my style of quilting. I used the plastic plate to cover the feed dogs, which worked fine, and the stitch was good without much tension adjustment.

My biggest problem with FMQ on small machines like the Jem Gold or my featherweight is that your hands have to be really close to the needle because of the small throat. I quit trying to do this "just to prove that I can" when I sewed through my finger while free motioning on my featherweight.

From what I recall the internals of the Jem Gold are about as strong as on full size Janomes, so I wouldn't worry too much about it not being able to handle it... however, I think you might be a lot happier to look for a $20 old Singer on Craigslist than risking overstressing your Jem. The Singer 15, or a Japanese clone of it, are supposed to be great machines for free motion quilting on.

Jennifer23...Ouch! I hope you healed well.

Thank you. :) I have a Janome Horizon 7700 for quilting. I purchased a Jem Gold, off craigslist, to take to classes. I was just wondering how well it works on FM quilting. Hopefully, I'll have time to play with it before my next class.
~Micha

Ah, that makes sense. Yes, definitely try the Jem Gold; you might have better hand-eye coordination than me. If it's not going to be your main machine for FMQ, it should be fine. If you don't have the plastic plate to cover the feed dogs, just set the stitch length as close as you can to zero. That's what my Mom did for years, since she was never able to find the cover plate when she wanted it.

I was lucky in that when I stitched myself, I just hit beside my nail. It happened at a retreat, so I got lots of sympathy, and I was still able to cut and sew with no trouble, so no problems. I just like to caution people. :)