When I was asked to write about my favourite thing I use for my Janome Quilt Maker Pro 20, it’s too difficult to name just one. The following are a necessity for me in my everyday longarm quilting. When shopping for a machine, these handy tools are a must have so they’re great to add to your Christmas List as it’s that time of year when your wish list gets a bit longer than usual.
The Janome Quilt Maker Pro Frame already comes with three canvas leaders; one for the Quilt Take Up roller; one of the Quilt Backing roller and one for the Quilt Top roller. The leaders are a firmly woven, sturdy twill cotton fabric. They have hemmed edges and extra-wide Velcro tape attached for use with all Janome Quilt Maker Pro Frame systems.
So, do you really need an extra Leader Set? Well, my answer, of course, is YES! I have often had to put a new quilt on the frame before actually finishing the quilt that was already in the works.
The leaders are attached to the rollers with Velcro; the “hook” side is applied to the rollers, while the “loop” side is stitched to the leader cloth. So instead of unpinning the quilt from the leaders, just replace the leader which quickly snaps into place because of the Velcro. When it’s time to go back to finish that first quilt, I can easily swap out the leaders with the quilt still pinned in place, so it saves a ton of time.
My next favourite accessory is an extra Bobbin Case M size. I always have two Bobbin Cases available and ready to go no matter which kind of thread I’m using. In one Bobbin Case I have removed the backlash spring from the inside and only use that bobbin case with magnetic pre-wound bobbins.
The other Bobbin Case is used for self wound bobbins, so I leave that backlash spring in. This way you never have to forget to remove the backlash spring when using a magnetic pre wound bobbin, and won’t have to adjust the bobbin tension as much. You won’t regret this little piece of advice! If you use a few varieties of bobbin threads, it would be a useful time-savers to have several Bobbin Cases in order to set the tension on each case to match that thread. You won’t have adjust the bobbin tension as often, or as much, though I still recommend checking your tension for each new bobbin, just in case.
Staying organized definitely saves a lot of time and frustration so there’s more time for quilting. The Pro Frame 4′ Drawer is what I call a luxury addition to your Janome Quilt Maker Pro Frame, but it’s well worth it as it’s such a convenient space saver. If you have your Janome Quilt Maker Pro Frame set up for 8′, you can have two 4′ drawers! If you have your Pro Frame set up for 12′, you have room for three 4′ drawers! Imagine everything you can put in these drawers to have all your tools; all your big cones of thread at your fingertips!
The Janome Pro Frame 4′ Drawer can be mounted to the underside of the frame so it opens to the front, or opens to the back, so it’s great to have the option whatever suits you best. If you quilt primarily doing free motion, or ruler quilting from the front of the machine, you may want one drawer to open to the front to hold your Ruler Base, rulers and marking tools so they’re more convenient to grab. If you primarily use a laser light following a paper pantograph from the back of the machine, you’ll likely want to mount the drawer so it opens to the back of the frame, so all your pantographs are at your fingertips. The easy-open glides on each side smoothly operates the drawer no matter how full it is. Each drawer can hold up to 100lbs, so you can hold all your longarm quilting accessories, quilts in progress; you name it.
Even though it’s after Christmas, our Janome Canada Holiday Gift Guide has lots of Janome accessories still on special until December 30th, 2022. Contact your local Janome Canada dealer for all these great accessories to add to your Janome Quilt Maker Longarm machine!
Enjoy and Happy Quilting!
Monique
Janome Life 