When you have the right tools for the job, it seems there’s never a limit to the amount of fun and creative expression you can have. With Janome, it can be done very quickly and easily, too.
Such is the case when I was recently playing with the Janome Quilt Maker Pro 18 long-arm quilting machine fitted with the Pro Stitcher Premium computer. The addition of the optional Pro Stitcher Premium software, it means you can free-up more time, have more fun, and exercise more creativity by allowing the machine to stitch by itself.
There are close to a thousand designs included with the software,
but you can also upload other digital designs purchased or downloaded from other sites. AND, with the included Art and Stitch software, which is already pre-loaded onto the tablet along with the Pro Stitcher Premium, you can also create and edit your own designs as well. There truly are no limits!
You can also FURTHER create and customize by COMBINING some of the built-in designs with your own free-motion quilting. Yes! The stock designs are beautiful by themselves, but some of them provide the ideal template; a framework which allows you to take that design – and your creativity – to the next level by adding your own free-motion touches. Think of the design as a page from a colouring book. It gives you the over-all shapes, then it’s up to you to fill it in however you wish.
This is what I did with the design stitched out in the photo below.
After Pro-Stitcher Premium had the machine beautifully stitch out the design on it’s own, I released the gears of the carriage so I could once again take control of the machine. With free-motion concentric curves, I filled in the centre tear drops and in the two opposite corners (top left and bottom right) as shown in the photo below.
I left the two remaining corners (bottom left and top right) blank as a before and after. It’s a subtle change, but a change none-the-less. It takes a stock design which anyone who owns Pro-Stitcher Premium has, and, with my additional free-motion quilting, I now have a totally unique, custom block design which only took maybe 10 minutes to stitch. Pro Stitcher Premium gave me the frame-work, now I can embellish as desired.
The Pro Stitcher Premium software has some tremendous editing capabilities, too. In this case I used the “Crop” feature to eliminate the parallel lines of stitching of the background with-in the centre diamond shape.
This is the perfect place for an applique, an embroidery design, (like those found on the fabulous Janome Quiltmaker 15000 or Janome 500E embroidery only machine) or for some fun and fabulous free-motion stitching of your own design, such as in the photo below.
YOU’RE the artist so whatever kind of free-motion filler design you use is up to you…… Again, there are no limits.
What makes this new approach to longarm quilting so enjoyable, so fun and sooooo easy to do is, again, having the right tools for the job. You can quickly and easily switch from free-motion quilting to Pro Stitcher Premium computerized quilting and back to free-motion again with just the touch of ONE button, or more specifically the “Gears” tab on the Pro Stitcher Premium tablet. NO tools required!
Tap on it once and the “Gears” icon turns orange and you hear the gears engage. The machine sewing head still moves easily but there is a bit of a drag; it’s not as smooth. That’s how you know the gears are engaged so Pro Stitcher Premium can later work it’s magic.
Tap on the “Gears” tab again and the icon turns purple with a slash through it and you hear the gears disengage. The machine sewing head now glides as if on air and it can easily be moved in any direction with just a finger or two to guide it. Now you’re ready to work YOUR magic with your free-motion quilting.
Janome always makes it “SEW” easy! What will you create today with your fabulous Janome tools?
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