I’m pleased to introduce Janet, my new (to me) Juki TL-98Q. She is a beast compared to my old machine! She’s mechanical, giving her heft and speed, and the throat space is really incredible. I can’t seem to get over how much room there is.
When my old machine went out, I started looking around to decide what type of machine I would want. There were minimums that I knew I wanted, and I really didn’t want to compromise on these, if I could help it. I was going to be weeding out most of the extras based on budget alone. This was a blessing in disguise as I really needed to stay simple since I just learned how to sew less than a year ago.
I knew that I wanted a few things including an up/down needle button, a much larger throat space for FMQing, and a really good straight stitch in a machine that was a bit of a work horse. These were my minimums.
Things that I really would have liked to have had include a blanket stitch specifically, a few decorative stitches, thread cutters, a needle threader, and a knee lift. But after doing a bit of research and reading a lot of posts about machine shopping, I realized that most of the things I wanted, including the extra stitches, I didn’t truly need and most likely, would never really use enough that it should become a factor in this decision.
Now given my limited budget, I looked for a used one first. I happened to find Janet here, and she matched all my minimums and had a few of the extras, so I snatched her up. I was glad to find that she has thread cutters, a needle threader, and a knee lift. I was a little sad to learn that the previous owner had not kept the knee lift, so I will have to order a replacement if I find that I can’t live without it.
It has taken me a while to do a post on her because she went directly into the shop before using her. I wanted to make sure she was serviced, oiled and given a good clean bill of health. The machine shop I went to was a recommendation from a gal at a LQS and I am quite pleased. The owner is extremely knowledgable, customer oriented and very helpful. Of course, as soon as Janet came home, we got to work and were able to finish up five smaller WIPs.
Nested Threads 