Darth Vader's Guide To The Janome 6600

Sigh. I've figured out that must be related to Darth Vader. I'm not evil though. At least not evil enough to try to take over the Empire. I just breathe like he does. Really. I do.

I do find Darth Vader a fascinating character. For me, "Star Wars" is truly about him and not Luke Skywalker. It's about the rise and fall of Anakin Skywalker. Without him turning into Darth Vader, the Emperor could never be defeated. I digress..sorry.

Why do I say this about my breathing? I tried THREE times to make a video about my Janome 6600 and all you could hear between my talking was this crazy breathing in and out sound. Is there such a thing as movie making asthma?

Here's my review on the Janome 6600 in print form.

DH bought this for me about 3-4 years ago. I paid 1800 for it brand new. I don't know what they cost now but I know they haven't lost value as Janome did a great job with it. Everyone that I know loves theirs. I've had a love/hate relationship with it.

FEATURES

* It's heavy and sturdy. It's not going to slide across the table on you. I have put this machine through tons of fabric and it keeps going. I'm rough on machines and it's taken every bit of it with ease.

* It's not picky. I've never had a problem with different threads, even while FMQ. It's never jammed on me, shredded thread, eaten it, or come out of the take-up lever.

* It's super quiet. My Viking machines sound like a 747 on a runway taking off. You can barely hear my 6600 humming away.

* It's easy to use. The screen is well lit with large, easy to read numbers.

From Quilted with Love

The buttons are large and well thought out. You don't have to go looking for what you need. Everything is right at your fingertips. The tension dial is manual making for precise tension adjustments.

I don't like the speed settings. For me it's worse than snail slow, slow and so fast you can't work with it. There are no other speeds between those.

From Quilted with Love

* You have the stitch numbers/pictures on top for easy viewing. Janome has "modes" that help you navigate through the stitch menus. The only thing Janome didn't do was label the stitches in the book. Some of these stitches I have no clue what to use them for or what they are called.

From Quilted with Love

*The dual feed system. Attach the built-in walking feet behind and you are good to go. You have a 1/4 foot, an open-toe foot and a regular foot. Just unscrew the front foot section, add the foot you need, pull down the back feed dog and you off you go. It's a little bulky, but it works.

From Quilted with Love

* It FMQ beautifully and with ease. I've done some incredible work with it. The Janome 6600 comes with an open toe spring foot. The foot sucks as I hate the bouncing. The idea is that it grabs the fabric for stability and then bounces back up for movement. If you can coordinate between the two movements..great. I can't.

Janome finally came out with a much better foot that lets you adjust the spring and gives better visability. The foot is worth investing in and makes this machine even better for FMQ.

Visibility is limited because of the walking foot. You learn to work around it, but it can be a pain for intricate work.

From Quilted with Love

* The knee lift. Finally, with the push of your leg, you can move the pressure foot up/down for hands free sewing. However; it's very loose. I have to push my leg extremely to the right to get the foot to move up. That really needs to be fixed.

From Quilted with Love

I LOVE the table that Janome made for this machine. GET ONE. I put a board over the opening for my Topaz and use it that way.

The stitch quality is great. You can adjust many of the stitches with both width/length. It does a beautiful straight stitch and a nice satin stitch. I don't like the extra stitches in the blanket stitch, but it's still beautiful.

My biggest problem I've had with this machine is piecing. For some reason my machine feeds to the upper left. I'm constantly fighting it to keep the fabric to stay straight and feed through correctly. I've had it looked at, had other people use it with no problems, changed how I've sat, everything. I've spent 3 years cursing it. No one else I know who own one has this problem.

It hates going over bulky seams. It goes up, moves the fabric to the left and gets stuck in place. I have to lift the foot and gently move the fabric until it gets over the bulk. Even with the walking foot, it does this.

It hates pins. When the front of 1/4 guide hits a pin, instead of going over, it jams up, moves the fabric to the left, and messes up all accuracy. A lot of times, I need to get much closer to the pin (not put the needle over it) and I hate having to move a little at a time to get that accuracy. Same with the walking foot.

The foot pedal is way too small and moves across the floor. It's very precise and responsive, I just have to keep moving it back in place.

The manual is pathetic. Don't bother opening it. Janome makes terrible manuals. My Janome 350e manual is terrible too.

Is it worth getting? YES. As with any machine, test it out. Make sure it's what you want. Give it a work out to see the stitches and how it pieces and FMQ. If I could figure out the crazy piecing issue, it would be one of my favorite machines.