We are so excited that today is April 1st!! Not only because April 1st is full of pranks and laughter, but because it is the start of an extra special month we have planned for you all!April is officially THREAD month!
All of our amazing Janome machines could not work without thread. Thread is often the unsung hero in the sewing world. Thread keeps everything together for us and the integrity of our creations depends on the threads we use. So this month we want to talk all things threads with you. Not just any thread, but the best thread for Janome machines!
Did you know that Janome has their own threads? We sure do! Plus we have great Partner Products from Madiera and Hilos Iris that we can’t wait to tell you more about! These threads can take your projects from wow to WOW!!!! We all know that with all the time we put in to our sewing projects that we are going for the all caps WOW every single time.
There’s a Madeira thread for every type of sewing; general sewing, quilting, embroidery, serging/coverhem, and MORE!
What will this month include? Great question! We will have info about all the threads we carry, tips and tricks to get the most out of thread and how to solve thread woes! If there is a thread question, we will tackle it! Feel free to add your questions below and we will cover the answers throughout the month!
Where will all this be taking place, you ask? Over ALL of our Janome Canada social media and on our Janome Life Blog!
To make sure you won’t miss a thing, be sure you are following @JanomeCanada and @JanomeHQ on Instagram, and Janome Canada and Janome HQ on Facebook.
Plus, never miss a blog post by signing up for Janome Life blog email notifications. To do this go to JanomeLife.ca and enter your email where prompted on the right hand side.
We can’t wait to get this month started, and that’s no fooling!!!!
Janome Canada is excited to announce its support of a fabulous initiative to bring “our love of sewing” to children in remote communities. We’ve teamed up with the wonderful Canadian organization, I Love First People (ILFP) who’s mandate is to empower Indigenous children and youth through education and creative expression.
Look at those adorable smiles!!!
Janome Canada is donating a quantity of new Janome 2030 QDC-B sewing machines, which will be distributed to the schools in the northern Labrador area through the IFLP Sew and Sew Skills Program. Two skills labs will initially be established in Nain and Natuashish, Labrador, in time for the start of the 2021-22 school year, followed by labs in Nunavut and Quebec communities. The labs will serve students from grades 4 to 12.
Sewing machines are a welcome start for the ILFP initiative but sewing machines without thread and fabric is like a brush without a canvas and paint. We are asking for donations of much needed supplies to help bring the love of sewing to eager young students.
Janome 2030 QDC-B
We’d like to ask for YOUR help in collecting new and gently used sewing supplies which will be sorted and shipped with the new machines. This is perfect time and perfect excuse to clean your sewing room! I’ve started on mine – do I really need 5 seam rippers? I can only use one at a time, lol! I’ll keep the one and the other four will be donated. The students will learn soon enough for themselves the love/hate relationship we sewists have with our seam ripper, lol!
Donations may be dropped off at theJanome Sewing and Learning Centre in Oakville, ON Monday to Friday 9am – 4pm, or, at the three Janome Dealerships listed below.
The Sewing Café 118 Mill Street, Georgetown, ON TheSewingCafe.ca
Triangle Sewing Centre 386 Woolwich Street, Guelph, ON TriangleSewing.com
Share the love with your Janome dealer – perhaps purchase one of the above items from their store for yourself to use, and another item on the list to donate
Donations will be accepted until May 3st, 2021.
Once received, donations will then be sorted, packaged and shipped to the various schools so the students may share in the love sewing as soon as they receive their fabulous new Janome machines!
For more information on the donations drive, contact Michael Smith, National Consumer Education Manager of Janome Canada at classes@janome-canada.com (you may need to copy and paste in a new browser)
For more information about the I Love First Peoples organization, please visit their website HERE
Join us LIVE at 1pm EST @janomehq Instagram page every Wednesday afternoon for our series, “Janome’s Magical Machine Mystery Tour” as we highlight a different machine in the Janome line. From entry level to Top of the Line; embroidery machines; longarm quilting machines; sergers and MORE, including some fabulous partner products to compliment those machines!
What machine and Janome goodies will we talk about this week? It’s a MYSTERY so you must tune in each week for the big reveal! Don’t worry if you can’t make the LIVE presentation, though. They’ll be stored in the IGTV icon on the Janome HQ Instagram Page and later posted as videos on the Janome HQ You Tube channel.
Follow us on the Janome HQ Facebook page and click on link HERE for more information on our NEW ONLINE classes!
Write me at Classes@Janome-Canada.com (copy and paste in a new browser) for more information about eventual on-site classes (when it’s safe) at The Janome Sewing and Learning Centre in Oakville, ON; Janome Canada’s Head Quarters.
Not everyone has the luxury of having a dedicated sewing space where machines and projects can stay out indefinitely. Maybe you’re sewing on the kitchen or dining room table and need to clear away your machine and projects each night. You need a place to conveniently, and safely store your machine until you’re ready to use it again.
If you’re like me, you have more than one machine, but don’t have the room to leave them all set-up, so you need a safe place to store the others you’re not currently using.
These adorable NEW Tutto roller totes definitely fit the bill! Available now from your fabulous Janome Dealer, these 22″ Large Roller Cases in the Purple with Dahlia print or Red with Dot Circle print can store a variety of sewing machines and accessories.
Purple with Dahlia print and Red with Dot Circle print.
To find a Janome Dealer in Canada who’s near you, click the “Where to Buy” tab on our Janome Canada website. On other Janome websites it may say “Find A Dealer”.
The interior of the 22″ Large Roller Case measures 21″ length x 14″ height x 12″ deep. Perfect size to the fit the Janome Memory Craft 230E embroidery machine, for example. Don’t you love how the red accent of the machine’s faceplate matches the red of the Dotted Circle case? I always love to coordinate, lol!
Janome Memory Craft 230E – embroidery only machine.
Or, how about the Janome MC 9850 in the purple Dahlia print case? There’s room for the machine, all the presser feet and accessories; everything you need!
Janome Memory Craft 9850 – sewing, quilting and embroidery machine.
There’s sew much storage in the Tutto roller cases. The inside front cover has lots of pockets for extra needle cases, screwdrivers and tools, and of course, my new favourite notion, the Janome Mini-Duckling Applique scissors!
And, don’t forget the foot pedal! There’s ample room in the two side pockets for whatever power foot control you have with your machine.
Gusseted pockets on both sides of the Tutto Roller Case is a great place to tuck the foot pedal – don’t leave home without it!
The QDC range of machines, like the every popular Janome 4120QDC, is a perfect fit for the 22″ Large Roller Case. There’s room for the extension table, foot control, instruction book, all the machine accessories and MORE! The Madeira Cotona box of multicolour threads fits in quite nicely, for example. I love those threads!
Janome 4120 QDC – room for the machine and all the accessories – AND some fabulous Madeira Cotona thread!
Madeira Cotona multi-color thread is great to use with all those gorgeous decorative stitches in your machine!
The Tutto Roller Cases are easy to maneuver with the rugged 360 degree rotating wheels and comfort grip handle. Perfect to store your machine and accessories, and to also take to the cottage or a class. (Covid restrictions permitting)
For more information about all the Tutto bags available for your Janome machines, review previous Janome Life blogs (be sure to FOLLOW, so you don’t miss a post!) and check out the Janome HQ Instagram Live presentation which is part of our Janome HQ Janome’s Magical Machine Mystery Tour series; LIVE Wednesdays at 1pm EST @janomehq on Instagram. Don’t worry if you don’t have Instagram, the presentations are also available on the Janome HQ YouTube channel.
And, as always, contact any of our fabulous Janome dealers! There’s a Tutto case for virtually every machine in a variety of sizes, prints and colours to suit your style.
I’ve probably made over 100 quilts, but I could’t give you a solid number. However, I can tell you, of all the quilts I’ve made only 3 have labels on them. I really should have labelled all my quilts! Once the quilt is out into the world there is nothing to identify me as the maker. That’s a lot of time and effort put out there without recognition. Could you imagine an author, publishing a book and not taking the time to put their name on it? Well, I guess there are those authors who work under fake names.
I wanted to come up with a plan for labels that was quick and easy but also looked like I did parts of it by hand. Enter the Hand Stitch selections on the Janome Continental M7. These stitches stitch out with the character you see in hand embroidery This is right up my alley because I am a completely unskilled hand embroiderer!
First up, you really want to use a stabilizer behind your fabric for your label. Any decorative stitching on a mid weight to light weight fabric benefits from having a stabilizer added. I used Madeira’s Super Strong stabilizer which is a cutaway stabilizer. You could also use a tear away or wash away stabilizer.
To make my label I first did a practice stitch out of my lettering so I knew my spacing needs. Practice makes perfect. Then I stitched out all my words using the built in fonts (there are 5!!!) on Janome’s M7 Continental. For the message I’m stitching using a 12wt thread so I chose to use all upper case because I found the lower case you lost some of the letter shapes.
Next up the decorating stitches! This part I took a little time planning out. On a scrap fabric I marked out my starting point and the orientation of my fabric. Then I cut them out and laid them around my label to try out where I would like them. This would allow me to line everything up and there would be no surprises. For these accents I used a 50wt thread.
Once I had everything stitched all I had to do was fold under the edges and hand stitch them on my quilt! Now to just finish the binding on the other side and get this to my Mum!
I hope your are inspired to make some labels for your quilts!
Last month I shared a post on machine embroidery for stuffed animals featuring cats. I love almost all animals (sorry spiders and snakes) but those who know me well were wondering how I could feature a post on cats when I have three Basset Hounds at home. So, I’m here to redeem myself in this month’s post.
I have really grown to love this technique of making a full project using these machine embroidery files. My Janome Skyline S9 makes it so easy to set up and complete these projects in just a few hours.
You can find many of these projects by searching for machine embroidery stuffed animals. When using these on your Janome machine, you want to make sure the files are available in JEF format.
My last stuffed animal machine embroidery project was a one hoop project. This one is a two hoop project along with some appliqué techniques. It might seem overwhelming, but I’m here to tell you – don’t be scared of those projects with multiple steps!
And, even though there were quite a few steps for this project, it really came together quite quickly. I found these cute little dogs here.
This project starts with the ears. Gotta love those floppy ears! I used a lightweight stabilizer for both hoops. You want something that will be easy to tear away. Maderia Cotton Soft works really well for this.
With the ears done, you have the first hoop finished! Just trim around the ears, turn inside out and press.
After preparing the second hoop, the outline was traced and the next steps involved the appliqué pieces.
This file includes a step to trace the outline on the fabric and then you carefully cut away your excess fabric with appliqué scissors before moving on to the next step which is completing a satin stitch all around the appliqué piece to give it a nice finish.
The Janome AcuEdit app allows me to follow along at every step and also look ahead to see what’s next on my machine embroidery project.
The large screen on the Janome Skyline S9 also shows me exactly where I am in the project, right down to the stitch!
It also tells me how much time is remaining on the project. Just remember that changing thread and snipping around appliqué pieces will add to the time remaining.
There was some careful cutting in this particular project! I just went slow and it all worked out well. The great thing is the satin stitch which comes after this step means you won’t see any imperfections in my trim job.
And as we round the home stretch, we tack the ears onto the body of the stuffy and we are almost there!
The final steps are to place what will become the back of the stuffy right side down on the hoop and complete the outline, trim, turn right side out, stuff and close by hand stitching.
I used left over quilting cotton for this project. Those fat quarter pieces work great! But you can also use felt or fleece or pretty much any other fabric. Just remember you may have to adjust the weight of your stabilizer that you use in the hoop to ensure your fabric doesn’t stretch from the embroidery.
These stuffed animals were a little bigger than the cats I made last month but there are several file sizes included and with a little adjustment in the Janome AcuEdit app, you could make them small enough to use as a key chair or gift tag. You can also design your own stuffy used the Artistic Digitizer Software!
Join us LIVE at 1pm EST @janomehq Instagram page every Wednesday afternoon for our series, “Janome’s Magical Machine Mystery Tour” as we highlight a different machine in the Janome line. From entry level to Top of the Line; embroidery machines; longarm quilting machines; sergers and MORE, including some fabulous partner products to compliment those machines!
What machine and Janome goodies will we talk about this week? It’s a MYSTERY so you must tune in each week for the big reveal! Don’t worry if you can’t make the LIVE presentation, though. They’ll be stored in the IGTV icon on the Janome HQ Instagram Page and later posted as videos on the Janome HQ You Tube channel.
Follow us on the Janome HQ Facebook page and click on link HERE for more information on our NEW ONLINE classes!
Write me at Classes@Janome-Canada.com (copy and paste in a new browser) for more information about eventual on-site classes (when it’s safe) at The Janome Sewing and Learning Centre in Oakville, ON; Janome Canada’s Head Quarters.
As with any task, having a dedicated tool; piece of equipment or machine at the ready definitely speeds up your time and efficiency – and your overall enjoyment of the project.
In the kitchen, you might have a food processor or electric mixer to make meal preparation faster and easier. In the sewing room, one of our Janome CoverPro machines can be your “go-to” dedicated machine for quick and easy hemming – with professional results!
Janome CoverPro 1000 CPX – 3 needle
Janome has 3 CoverPro machines from which to choose; Janome CoverPro 900CPX; Janome CoverPro 1000CPX and Janome CoverPro 2000CPX. Use the “Model Comparison” chart on our Janome Canada website to see the differences between each of these machines.
Janome CoverPro 900CPX – 2 needle
The Janome CoverPro 900CPX has 2 needles, for example, while the Janome CoverPro 1000CPX and Janome CoverPro 2000CPX have 3 needles, but each model provides the same ease of use and professional hemming results.
Janome CoverPro 2000CPX – 3 needle
It’s the perfect machine to use for quick and easy hems, like on the pair of pajamas pants pictured below. My partner, Joe, is 5’5″, so I usually have to hem most of his pants and shirts, and the Janome CoverPro 1000CPX comes to my rescue!
Both Joe and I dislike the ribbed cuff on the bottom of some pajamas pants and track pants, so it is super easy to just cut it off and toss away (although, I of course, have to save it in case I need it for another project, lol!)
I folded up a 1″ hem and, using the free-arm available on ALL Janome CoverPro machines, I had the hems done in a flash! The machine stitches to secure the hem AND finishes off the raw edge in ONE Step! Brilliant! I demoed this on the Janome HQ Instagram Live series “Janome’s Magical Machine Mystery Tour“. Click on the link HERE to review that episode.
The Janome CoverPro machines stitch 2 parallel rows on the “right side”, and a ladder stitch/ cover-hem stitch on the “wrong side”.
To add to the fun, there are many accessories, like an extension table or several sizes of Tape Binders, for example, to help you get the most from your Janome CoverPro machine. Whatever the model, accessories are there to help you achieve professional results more quickly and easily. Check out our handy bilingual Janome Accessories Guide to see what accessories are available for all your fabulous Janome machines!
There’s also a special CoverPro Accessories Addendum for your Janome Presser Foot Workbook , so be sure to contact your fabulous Janome Dealer to order yours today!
Photo courtesy of our friends at Sew4Home.com – a terrific resource on all things Janome!
The bonus is that there’s SEW much more you can do with your Janome CoverPro machine, like to embellish fabric using decorative threads to make an Infinity Scarf, which is one of the online classes offered through the Janome Sewing and Learning Centre. Write me at classes@janome-canada.com (you may need to copy/ paste in a new browser) for more information!
With Spring in the air, I find it very satisfying to pack up the winter gear for another season, and look at creating some new, fun projects for the new season.
Temperatures are gradually increasing, so we no longer need to build fires in fireplace to keep warm. Rather than staring at the empty fire box for the next 9 months, create a fun and beautiful insert to add a little splash of style to your décor.
This is such a quick and easy project, and you can use whatever fabric you wish. I used one of my old practice quilting samples from the Janome QuiltMaker Pro 18 (which are typically just hunks of muslin or fabric I just want to get rid of) to cover the insert. The fireplace is in my sewing room so a quilted insert seemed appropriate. I wanted my insert to blend into the surrounding brick, which I had painted white, so I choose to use the plain muslin side of my practice piece.
However, you could use just plain fabric, or even leather or cork for something equally decorative, or how about using your embroidery machine? It’s always a good idea to stitch a test sample of a design, especially if you’re using a thread which is new to you, so this would be a great project to use those practice pieces. Ask your Janome dealer about all the fabulous Madeira threads Janome Canada offers. I particularly LOVE Madeira metallics!
Since I’m “that guy” who saves every little scrap of everything “just in case”, I used a scrap of Styrofoam insulation left over from another project as the base for the insert. You could use a scrap of plywood, or even layers of cardboard glued together for the insert, but I liked the idea of the Styrofoam since it’s super easy to work with; no special tools required. A good sharp utility or carpet knife is really all that you need.
Cutting the Styrofoam is easy, but I warn you, it is messy, so keep your vacuum cleaner handy!
I measured the length and width of my fireplace opening then subtracted an inch from both of those measurements. This allows for the added thickness of my quilted sandwich to be wrapped around the sides and secured at the back. If I were using just one layer of plain cotton, non-quilted fabric, I’d only subtract maybe 1/4inch from the measurements as you still want a little wiggle room to place the insert inside the fire place opening.
With the right side, or good side of your fabric/ leather/what have you, facing down on the table, place your Styrofoam insert on top and wrap as you would a gift.
I secured the fabric to the back with T-Pins, but if you were using plywood as a base you could either use a staple gun or glue (or even duct tape) to hold the fabric in place.
A scrap of batting across the bottom of the fire place opening helps seal some of the gap around the insert and makes for easy installation.
The batting gave me a little extra wiggle room to position the insert which will also help when it comes time to remove it as nights cool down in the fall.
You might want to make your fireplace insert a subtle decorative element in your room so consider switching out the fabric seasonally. For fun, I think I’ll use some Christmas themed fabric next December. The insert will keep out the drafts whenever the fireplace is not in use, so it may even save a little money on the heating/cooling bills, which means more money to spend to fabric! lol! SEW many possibilities!
When we launched the ALEX fleece pullover, the first request we received was “how do we make it with snaps… you know… like we used to wear in the 90’s?”
Jalie ALEX in size F (2), with the snap option (add-on available online)
You spoke, we listened 🙂 We are glad to bring you an add-on to make the snap version of our popular ALEX fleece! Grab your neon fleece and nylon and get ready to color block and install snaps!
The add-on includes not only binding and placket, but also a new chest pocket with flap, and a simpler, easier-to-sew front piece without hand pockets. Of course, you can mix and match and combine pieces from the original pattern with the add-on to create your perfect, cozy fleece pullover.
Collar
We start by assembling the front and back yoke, at shoulder seams and then sew the outer layer of the collar. Then we attach the second (inner) collar piece to the neckline, right side of collar against wrong side of the neckline.
This sandwiches the yoke is between the collar pieces. We trim the neckline seam and then baste the collar pieces wrong sides together. Notice how we mark the notches with tailor chalk. It is faster than cutting notches in the thick fleece.
collar pieces basted together at the top (inner color is a lighter shade of fleece)
Collar binding
The first binding that we sew is the one at the top edge of the collar. Sewing nylon can be tricky, but it went really well with our Janome Memory Craft 6700P.
Button placket
The next step is the placket. It is important to clearly mark the fold lines on the placket
You can also mark the top placket seam, 1 cm (3/8”) from edge before attaching the placket piece, stitching in the crease.
Then fold the placket as shown and stitch across the top to close it. Then, you turn it right side out to wrap the edge of the fleece.
Note: if you want to reduce bulk (if your nylon is thick and your snaps have a short tail), we recommend you cut out the collar corner that is hidden under the placket.
Bring the folded edge against the visible seam, pin and edgestitch:
Repeat for the other yoke edge, overlap plackets, baste along bottom edge and set the yoke aside.
Chest pocket
To give more body to the chest pocket flap, we are using three layers of nylon. Sew together (curved and short sides) with the wrong sides facing out. Clip curve, turn and edgestitch:
Pin one of the pocket pieces to the front, matching notches, and stitch as instructed. Make sure you pivot, with your needle down, to have sharp corners. Clip and flip the pocket piece to the wrong side of the front piece.
Sew the second pocket piece to the first one, 6 mm (1/4”) from edge, catching only the pocket layers (not the front):
Baste the pocket flap in place and assemble the pullovers, following instructions in the original pattern.
For the pullover assembly seams, our Janome AT2000D Air thread serger works wonderfully. Perfect tension and a clean finish inside. The assembly follow the same steps as the original pattern.
Finishing touches
For this tiny pullover in size F (for a toddler), we decided to go with a regular hem (no elastic). We used the overlock stitch for the hem. Be careful not to stretch your hem as you sew. If your fleece is stretchy or fairly thick, you might want to use the walking foot to help feed the fabric and avoid a wavy hem.
You are now ready to install snaps! Make sure your snaps have a tail that is long enough to go through the fleece and nylon layers.
Have fun with colour combos!
You will find the link to the original pattern (with zip) and the add-on below. We look forwards to seeing your ALEX pullovers! You can upload photos of your creations directly to our pattern page 🙂
