Help, my Janome Magnolia is sewing by itself.
 

Hi everyone. I'm relatively new on here and haven't posted much because I just finished a quilt that I've had packed away for several years. After finishing it I decided to finally make the 8 terrycloth potholders that I've had the fabric, batting, and Insulbrite packed away for at least two year to get rid of another UFO. Everything went along pretty well until I started sewing the bindings on one about an hour ago. My machine just took off sewing without my foot on the pedal and the only way I could stop it was to turn it off. That was quite a shock to say the least. I tried to work with it but I'm sure you know how that went trying to turn the curves on a potholder with a run away sewing machine. I decided to shut it off several time and start again but the same thing happens. I got tired of of ripping out those wild stitches and gave up. This has never happened on either of my older Sears machines or even on the treadle I learned on. Has this ever happened to any of you? I dread the hour and a half drive to the nearest quilt shop authorized service center in Columbus but I'm through with this mess. I'm too old for this. Any help or advice will be very appreciated. Excuse my typos I'm still stressed.

Seneth,

I agree with Tartan. Sounds like a wiring problem in the foot controller.

You may be able to order a new foot controller online and change it out yourself. That way you won't have to haul your whole machine in and pay a service fee. Good luck!

Usually, there's a part inside the foot pedal that just needs to be bent and put back into position.

Or the foot pedal might be dirty. My friend Cindi had a similar problem, she took the foot pedal apart and it was full of hair and dust. And she's NOT a slovenly housekeeper! I dread what mine looks like, because I AM a slovenly housekeeper! 🤣

Mine was walking on me and getting stuck under a board with the board pressing down on it. It wouldn't do it until I had been sewing for a while. It took me a few minutes to diagnose that one.

Before you take your sewing machine in you might want to call and check the fees. Our local repairman charges $175 just to look at it and clean it. It's extra if you need any parts. I am a do it yourself gal, unless it is a computer board. I found Sewing Parts Online has a pedal for a reasonable cost. Not sure if this is the specific one for your machine. You might find one cheaper elsewhere. https://www.sewingpartsonline.com/fo...033770217.aspx

Edited to add: This one popped up on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Sewing-Machin...68900178&psc=1

I had a similar problem with my (original) Pfaff 1222 - for years....
I'd take it in and the tech would "clean" the foot control. And after a few times of using it, away she'd go again. I bought a used Janome and packed the old machine away because the tech told me it was a resistor in the "column" and way too expensive to fix and not work the time - needed to be shipped back to the factory and let their techs work on it.
Dug it out seven years later, it sewed fine so gave the machine to my DD. She used it without problems for a couple of years. When I was visiting her - and doing sewing for new baby - it was like seeing an old friend. But after sewing for what seemed like 8 hours a day for nearly a month - I love to sew - it started running on again. So I bought her another Pfaff 1222 off Kijiji - my DGD is now learning to sew on it (she was the new baby). Packed the old machine away again.
It was returned to me a few years ago and runs just fine as long as its not asked to sew for many hours at a time. Someday I'll switch out the foot control (bought a new one last year) and see if that makes a difference. But I have two other Pfaff 1222s so it's only used for teaching 4-Hers to sew....
I love that machine.

I have had the same problem with my Janome several times. My fix is to thoroughly clean out the foot pedal. I have also found that using a rubber mat under the foot pedal cuts down on the lint that gets in the foot pedal.

That kept happening with my Pfaff Passport 2.0. It would just start to stitch and the only way I could stop it was to pull the plug. I brought it in to the repair person. He said he could find nothing wrong with it and had set it up and stitched on it for quite a while. He said the he thought there might have been a tiny speck of dust somewhere in the inside that was tricking the computer or sensors or something like that it was supposed to run. He said that he had cleaned the insides really well . I have it sitting in my sewing room and have not tried it again as I have other machines... (well I did have other machines until the Viking D1 screen froze last week and the Bernina 570 started jamming again) I bought a new Viking Topaz 40 to replace the D1 and am working on trading the Bernina 570 in after the tech said they would do that. Still waiting to hear the offer and also find out what machines are available. I have ordered an insert for my cabinet for the Topaz. So my sewing studio is in disarray at the moment.

Can you sew without the foot pedal? Unplug the foot pedal from the machine and use the start/stop button to sew. Set the machine speed to slow until you get familiar with the process. You can't do this on the 7318, but you can on the 7330.
Hope this helps.