A question about needle up/down on the Janome Horizon
 

After a year and a half of being totally frustrated with the pitiful performance of my Bernina 820, I sold it and purchased a Janome Horizon. Haven't had the Horizon long enough to say that I love it but my fingers are crossed that it will perform and sew like it's supposed to. I've only sewn a belt on it so far but it handled bulky areas much better than the Bernina. I held my breath as I came to the tip of the belt where I had to turn and start back down the other side. Whenever my Bernina would come to something like that and only the front part of the foot was on the fabric it wouldn't feed. It would just sit there stitching in the same spot, hung up and not feeding. I'd have to gently try and push it through to get it moving and though it would finally go, the stitches looked terrible in that area. The Horizon didn't seem to care that only the front of the foot had fabric under it. It fed right on through and the stitches were perfect the whole way. *whew* Sigh of relief. Another sigh of relief came from the tension. The 820 was a tension nightmare. I was skeptical of the auto tension setting of the Horizon because how could something be as easy as setting it to "auto"? But it seems it is that easy. I didn't move the tension off the auto setting and yet the tension was perfect while sewing two light pieces of cotton together and then while sewing through belt backing bulk.

But the purpose of this post wasn't to list all that I'm happy with on the Horizon so far. I've got one aspect I can't figure out and the manual isn't helping (Google isn't producing much either). It doesn't have an index and I rely heavily on an index to look things up. I'm trying to figure out how to make my needle stop in the down position each time. I figured out that I can push the needle up/down button and the orange light on it will light up and the needle will stop in the down position, so long as I don't touch that button again. But when I come to the end of a line of stitching and I need to lift the needle and foot to cut my threads, that kicks the needle out of the stopping in the down position mode. Seems like there ought to be some way to program the needle to always stop in the down position, regardless of whether or not you push the needle up/down button. If someone could either tell me how to set that up, or point me to the part of the manual that addresses it I'd really appreciate it!

Hi Rachel
I have the Horizon too and I love it :)
To make your needle stop in the down position, press the button below the little pair of scissors. The one with 2 arrows, if you just press it once the needle will stop in the down position. You have to do it every time you turn you machine on, but I find that I do it automatically when I put my fabric under the presser foot, I press the button and it's good to go.

Oooops sorry, I didn't read your post right to the end, no I don't think there is a way of programming it to always be in the needle down position (not that I have found anyway) but I have gotten used to pressing the button, sorry I wasn't help :(

Thank you, your reply was helpful! I suspected the button would probably always have to be pushed to keep it in the needle down mode. I'm sure I will soon get in the habit of doing it, just like I will soon learn to raise the foot with the lever in the back and quit searching for the button on the front (the 820 has a button next to the needle up/down button that you push to raise the foot). :)

You're doing everything right .............. except .... when you go to cut your thread, just cut it, without touching the needle up/down button. Just cut the thread, it'll move the needle up when it cuts. And then just start sewing again without touching the needle up/down, and it will end with the needle down (so long as you haven't turned the machine off or touched the needle up/down position.

To raise the presser foot, put the knee extension in, and move your knee. Then your hands are free to turn the fabric, or whatever.

Note ... re my previous post ... when I mention about cutting the thread, I'm meaning that you'd be using the auto-cutter on your machine, not manually cutting it.

I agree with QuiltE's first post. That is what I do on my Brother.

When you cut your thread, the machine assumes you're finished and will remove the fabric. That's why it raises the needle. :)

.........so long as she uses the auto-cutter on the machine, it will remember to end with the needle down, once she starts stitching again.

I also have the Horizon and love it. I finish myself turning the hand wheel to put the needle down out of habit. Love that when you start sewing everything is in place. Great machine.