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Lightweight, Low Cost Janome Has Big-Machine Features
The modern equivalent of the old-fashioned quilting bee would have to be the quilting class. Today, quilters sign up to take classes not just to learn new techniques but for the contact with other quilters. One of the drawbacks of taking a quilting class, particularly a class that teaches sewing machine techniques, is dragging all the tools and equipment with you. That is one reason the old-fashioned Singer Featherweight sewing machines became so popular. Antique Featherweights are hard to find and expensive, but now you've got a good, modern alternative: the Janome Jem Gold. It delivered a few surprises during my testing, but overall I was quite impressed. Powerful But Portable The Jem Gold packs a powerful motor into a compact, lightweight package that makes a great sewing machine to take to class. All packed up in its tapestry-look carrying case with all its accessories, the Jem Gold weighs 14 pounds. My purse weighs more that that! Even though the Jem Gold is a small machine, it sews like a big machine. It can easily handle flat-felled seams on 8-ounce duck. And it handles equally well a single layer of cotton with nice, even stitches. Janome incorporated some of the features of their large sewing machines into the Jem Gold, including a jam-proof top-loading drop-in bobbin. Drop-in bobbins are much easier to use than the old removable bobbin cases, and they don't have little springs that break, and you don't have to adjust the tension. So having a drop-in bobbin on the Jem Gold is a big plus. Three Feet And More The Jem Gold comes with three snap-on feet: a zigzag foot, an overedge foot, and a sliding buttonhole foot. And, would you believe, a built-in needle threader on a $300 sewing machine! But the best of the extras is the quilting kit. The quilting kit consists of a 1/4" foot, a free-motion darning foot, a walking foot, a right-hand guide bar for lining up quilting, and a darning plate for covering the feed dogs. During my testing I found a couple of surprises. The first thing I looked for was a button to lower the feed dogs so I could do stipple quilting. I didn't find it. Later, I discovered the darning plate in the box of quilting accessories. I'd never used a darning plate cover before, so I wasn't sure what to expect. Cover The Feed Dogs Instead of dropping the feed dogs, the smoke-colored plastic darning plate cover fits on top of the original faceplate, raising the surface of the sewing area above the feed dogs. It accomplishes the same thing as dropping the feed dogs, but uses a different approach. I checked the amount of clearance between the raised sewing surface and the bottom of the foot to be sure I could get my quilting project under the needle without stretching or pulling. The Jem Gold has the same extra lift from the presser foot lifter that all the Janome and other more expensive machines have. There is plenty of room. Once I started my stipple-quilting test, I could not tell any difference between dropping the feed dogs and using the darning plate cover. My stipple quilting came out great. No Stitch Length Setting My next surprise stopped me for a couple of minutes until I thought things through. I couldn't find any way to set the stitch length. At first, I thought that was going to be a problem. But Janome came up with a pretty acceptable solution: The stitch length is built into the stitch pattern selector. At first I thought this might be a drawback, but then I realized how easy it makes this machine to use. The Jem Gold would be a perfect first sewing machine for your children or grandchildren. Stitch #1 is a small straight stitch that I counted at 18 stitches per inch. Stitch #2 is a regular size straight stitch at 12 stitches per inch. And stitch #3 is a basting size straight stitch. 
The Jem Gold provides two sizes of zigzag stitch: a regular size for typical zigzag sewing, and a small, narrow zigzag I'd use for machine applique. The small zigzag is not tight, like a satin stitch, but it finishes the edges pretty well. I tried to make them ravel but couldn't. I would also use the Jem Gold's blind hem stitch for machine applique. The Jem Gold has an overcast stitch and a tricot stitch. I like the tricot stitch for anything stretchy that needs to be sewn. It is a segmented zigzag that doesn't break when the material, like elastic, is stretched. Buttonholes A reader told me to test buttonholes from now on because of all the embellishments we do on our quilts. So I did test the buttonhole. Now, I want you to know that I am The Buttonhole Queen. I once did a project for our little sailboat that required 108 four-step buttonholes. So now I'm really good at buttonholes. The Jem Gold uses a four-step buttonhole. I put on the sliding buttonhole foot, which has registration marks on it. I lined up the starting position with a registration mark that would accommodate my button size. I'm spoiled already! In my sailboat project, I drew my buttonhole length on the fabric 108 times before I started sewing. Four Steps I set the stitch indicator to BH #1, which sews the left side of the buttonhole. It automatically stops advancing the fabric when it reaches the preset length of the buttonhole. I then used BH #2/4 to do the front edge. I choose BH #3 to complete the right side of the buttonhole, and finished with a BH #2/4 for the other end. That was the easiest manual buttonhole I've ever made. But I thought the stitches on the sides of the buttonholes were not sewn tightly enough. So I set the stitch indicator to BH #1 and sewed the left side again. Then I set the stitch to BH #3 and did the same thing to the right side. Now I'm happy with the buttonhole. Tight Under The Arm Because of the small size of this machine, I don't think I could machine quilt a queen-sized quilt on it, but I could easily piece a queen-size quilt and sew it together. The power is there but the area under the arm is considerably smaller than a regular size sewing machine. At $299 MSRP, the Janome Jem Gold is big on features and advantages and very small on weight and price. You can easily carry home one of these little gems and make only a small dent in your pocket. Thank You! A special Quilter's Review "Thanks!" to Sunshine Carousel Quilt Shop in Grantham, New Hampshire for letting me test sewing machines all afternoon in their newly expanded (April 2001) shop. Elaine and Chuck were very helpful getting me set up in Elaine's nice new sewing room. The shop has tripled in size, added several windows for great light, lots of new fabrics, and a great classroom. Sunshine Carousel Quilt Shop Readers' Comments: April 6, 2001 "I own a Janome Jem Gold and like it a lot for classes and workshops. "But do not buy it for the built-in needle threader, which is far from perfect. My machine has been in the shop for threader repairs and it still doesn't work well. I know of others with the same problem." April 7, 2001 "I also have the Janome Jem Gold. My threader works great! "I have used my machine mainly for piecing, but when I tried to use it for applique my instructor told me that the stitch wouldn't work. "You describe the zigzag stitches but fail to give the number of each. Can you please tell me which you would use and what I can expect?" May 3, 2001 "I would use the blind hem stitch (Stitch #7) to sew just at the edge of the applique so that the stitches are really on the background. The occasional zig in that stitch would catch the applique to hold it in place. "I have used this approach on a Dresden Plate using transparent thread on top and a light-weight bobbin thread. This particular quilt is a wall hanging, so it won't get much wear and tear. "To applique on a bed quilt that will get used and washed, I'd use the small zigzag stitch (Stitch # 10). I would stitch right along the edge with both points of the zig zag on the applique piece. "I would use matching thread on top and bottom so it looks like the piece is outlined. From a distance, it wouldn't be that obvious. I believe that cotton thread, over time, would be better than using the invisible thread. "If using this method for a wall hanging, it wouldn't matter if the edges of the applique piece were turned under. But I would definitely turn the edges under on a quilt that would get washed." May 7, 2001 "The Jem Gold is a sensitive machine and the keys to success are good sewing habits and techniques. "For example, always start and stop sewing with the take-up lever and needle in the highest position. This is especially important when using the automatic needle threader, which requires the needle to be at its highest position. "If the needle is not in the highest position, the fine wire hook of the threader hits the side or shaft of the needle, either bending the wire or forcing it aside and out of line with the eye of the needle. If not bent too seriously, that fine wire can be coaxed back to a center position with a pair of tweezers. "Another sensitivity I found is that the Jem Gold does not like to 'sew in the air' i.e. without a piece of fabric under its needle. This is important when starting to sew, and when chain piecing. "To start to sew, lower the needle into the fabric, then lower the presser foot. To chain piece, start as above, then stop halfway through the seam in the first piece. Feed the second piece under the lowered presser foot, snugging it up against the first piece. Then sew to the middle of the second piece and stop, with the presser foot still lowered, and repeat the process for the third and subsequent pieces. "Thirdly, a thread jam or nest may occur at the start or end of sewing if the take up lever and needle are not at their highest positions, ensuring that the machine is not in the process of forming a stitch. "Finally, users could be confused by the placement of the hand turning wheel and the stitch selector: They turn in opposite directions. To remind myself, I have drawn an arrow on the stitch selector wheel with a permanent marker to indicate that it turns away from the user (clockwise), opposite to the hand wheel above it which turns toward the user (counter-clockwise). "I hope these tips are helpful to Jem Gold owners and users. It is a great little machine and I love it for all its great features (even more than my Singer Featherweight!)" May 14, 2001 "The Janome Jem Gold is a great machine, but I have to agree with Diane about the needle threader. I have an expensive Pfaff that I sew on as well, and the Janome appears to have tried to imitate the threader from this machine. Not even close!!! "However, I can forgive this easily-bent-out-of-shape threader, since the other features are great. I use this machine exclusively when I do scribble-stitch applique, and I am totally pleased with the results." August 7, 2001 Not only do I love the Jem Gold, I sell it in my store. I sew on it all day long and prefer it over some of my machines that are 20 times the cost! The needle threader works perfectly as long as the needle is in the highest position - the same as any machine. It has never failed me! Use the button hole stitch as a satin stitch for applique -- it works perfectly. Using a rayon or embroidery thread, which is thicker than regular sewing thread, makes the satin stitch fuller. I find that I can turn the stitch selector wheel in either direction with no problem. As for stitching "on-air," I don't get the tangled mess that was mentioned. As with all my sewing, I use a quality thread (Mettler) and I don't get some of the problems mentioned. Give it another try, it's well worth the price! Questions? Comments? You can discuss this article with other Quilter's Review readers!
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