Janome 6600P sewing machine

by Ambimom
(New Jersey)

Every time I sit down to sew on my Janome 6600P sewing machine, I find myself smiling. The stitch quality is outstanding. Indeed, it is probably the best I've ever stitched in my 50 years of sewing on everything from a treadle to mechanical and electronic to computerized machines.

Yet, the Janome 6600P machine is not for the novice. The sewer must bend to its will and not vice versa. It took about two weeks of going through the manual page-by-page and trying each of its controls before I actually sewed something. Now after six months, I'm still learning its secrets.

It does everything it promises, but in its own way. The needle threader, for instance. There's a teeny, tiny little nub that must fit into the eye of the needle. If it isn't, the thread won't go through.

Same goes for the tension. The Janome 6600P machine must be threaded carefully so that the tension discs are engaged fully but the disc housing is not visible. If the discs are not engaged, the stitches will be uneven.

Before I realized that I wasn't threading properly, I thought there was something wrong with the machine.

I didn't think I'd find use for Accu-feed, but now I use it all the time. What a difference it makes! All my seams match perfectly. Same goes for the alphabets. I use them all the time. So much fun putting dates on crafts and garments.

The buttonholes are the most accurate I've ever had. Other machine buttonholers I've used worked sometimes, and often were uneven and ugly. These are uniform and flawless, as long as I use stabilizer.

I've sewn everything from cotton and jersey to leather and vinyl. The stitches were perfect -- of course I use the correct needle too.