Sewing machine question - Janome Jem

My mom has one. She uses it for class only...well, maybe also when her nice machine is getting serviced. It is a very basic machine. No bells and whistles. It's light which makes it nice for toting around. It has a nice stitch and you can buy a quarter inch foot for it (or use the one that came with another Janome you may have or an Elna - cuz Janome makes those too) It's not heavy duty by any means so it's not as sturdy nor quiet as her fancy Janome with embroidery and such.

marcella

I think it is a fine machine and perfect for classes and a backup when your regular machine is in for service. My oldest dd decided she did want to quilt after all so I loaned her mine. It works just fine. I was at a machine quilting class a month ago and a lady was using her Gem Gold for free motion machine quilting! It worked beautifully! I say go for it!!!!

Laurie G. in CA

I have a Jem Gold and love it. The only complaint I have is that it is a set stitch width and length. Makes doing a satin stitch out of the question. If you are doing machine applique in class you are sunk. I think maybe a sight upgrade to a Platinum or other Janome would be good. I did that and still have the Jem. As Tamare said, you would have needle up or down, and you could drop the feed dogs and not have to use a plate to cover them. Jem would make a perfect machine for a young person just learning to sew, we use them in the school classes. Anna Belle in Palm Bay

while I *love* my jamome 419S (see the site it's rather low down on the list) the satin stitch leaves something to be desired for how ever that might just be me not the machine LOL

this doesn't answer the question but the other janomes are pretty good too IMO :-)

On Mon, 9 Oct 2006 21:28:26 -0500, Ginger in CA wrote (in article ):

David gave me a Jem 760 for Christmas last year. I really love it. It has a very nice stitch quality, though it didn't really come with many feet or accessories. I did end up buying all the quilting feet.

I've taken it with me to several different retreats and it sews like a dream. I've even done some machine quilting with it on small quilts.

Maureen

Bernina is tops in satin stitches. They really are beautiful when compared to others. It is too bad that they don't make much effort to meet the needs of users though. No machine with a larger harp, no machine with classes in mind (lightweight and portable).

If you do a google group search on the Jem's there has been lots of discussions of them that might help. Taria

Jessamy wrote:

I bought a Jem Gold about 3-4 years ago, and I love it. It is perfect to take to classes/retreats. I have used it for quilting a twin size quilt a few times. I won a Marie Osmond Bernina e65 last year from the Houston show. It is larger than the Jem Gold, and much heavier so there is no danger of it being taken to a retreat. The feed dogs on it drop, and it has more stitches than the Jem Gold, but I really prefer the Jem Gold. I make myself use the e65 because I feel like I need to get more familiar with it.

Sherry Starr