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Member since 7/7/07
Posts: 761
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Posted on: 6/28/10 3:52 AM ET
Off to test out a machine tomorrow, its a Juki F600, and I know that they have fabulous reviews. But what are the main things I should be looking at while testing it? I'll take some denim to try I think, since I sew a lot of denim. But anything else
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http://snuzalsews.blogspot.com/

Juki Exceed F600, Babylock Imagine, Janome 300E.
  
Member since 1/19/10
Posts: 29
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Posted on: 6/28/10 4:18 AM ET
I would take some knits with me to see how the machine copes with those and I would want to try the buttonholes.

Have fun tomorow .
  
Member since 7/7/07
Posts: 761
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Posted on: 6/28/10 4:23 AM ET
Oh yes good idea, I'll have to cut some bits and pieces off, I'm not near home (several hundred kilometres away) so I might even go to the fabric store to get some remnants to use
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http://snuzalsews.blogspot.com/

Juki Exceed F600, Babylock Imagine, Janome 300E.
  
Member since 9/1/06
Posts: 59
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Posted on: 6/28/10 9:36 PM ET
I take several weights of fabric and with 2 layers of fabric, try the various stitches: buttonhole, hemming, straight, satin, basting, etc. I, especially, want to know if the two pieces of fabric are feeding evenly.
  
Member since 7/7/07
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Posted on: 6/28/10 11:45 PM ET
*sighs* its devine.

Button holes are beautiful. stitches through my denim like butter. Stretch knits not a problem.
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Juki Exceed F600, Babylock Imagine, Janome 300E.
  
Member since 10/23/08
Posts: 429
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Posted on: 6/29/10 0:59 AM ET
Have you decided to get it? I have one and love it. Two of my requirements were easy buttonholes that look professional, and the ability to sew through multiple layers of denim or other heavy fabric. The F600 does both tasks quite well, in my experience. I was also surprised to see how wonderfully it sewed knits. I used mine recently on some thin cotton jersey and the seams were perfect.
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Susie
Lady Kenmore 89, Juki MO-735, Kenmore 19606, Juki F600, Singer S16
  
Member since 7/7/07
Posts: 761
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Posted on: 6/29/10 3:42 AM ET
I'm sitting here debating. I made a huge mistake buying my Bernina years ago, and have never liked it from the day it arrived. My biggest regret was never trying it out.

The Juki is so smooth, and quiet, it stitched through my denim with ease, the thread cutting and automatic backstitch etc is fab.
But I'm just worried, making such a huge mistake with my Bernina, I don't want to make the same mistake twice.
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http://snuzalsews.blogspot.com/

Juki Exceed F600, Babylock Imagine, Janome 300E.
  
Member since 5/16/07
Posts: 1398
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Posted on: 6/29/10 3:50 AM ET
In reply to snuzal
Snuzal,

Okay you said the buttonholes are divine, but are they positioned where you want them e.g. I took along a sample of a front jacket (only a small sample) but it was fused, stitched, understitched and pressed ready for buttonholes. When they tried to demonstrate a buttonhole to me they wanted to start the buttonhole in too far from the edge for my liking and it wasn't until I found a machine that did the buttonholes just about on the edge of the jacket that I finally purchased my Janome. HTH
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Sharon
Sydney, Australia
http://petiteandsewing.com/
  
Member since 1/25/09
Posts: 5195
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Posted on: 6/29/10 10:14 AM ET
Sharon makes a good point as stitching perfect buttonholes near edges, collar bands, etc. is where they usually get hung up. Not in the middle of a swatch.
I was also going to say, and you may have done this, don't just stitch through denim... even multiple layers.... fold it up to replicate the seam you may be stitching over if hemming your jeans (I'd actually brought an old pair in with me). I've seen machines that could go through 5, 6, 8 layers of denim no problem. But going from a single layer to several as one might in "real life" on a real pair of jeans - different story.
If there are any fabrics you'd like to/wish you could sew that a current machine gives you trouble with, take those. My old SInger Swearomatic from the 80s dictated what I could sew, not I. So when I went shopping in the 90s I made sure the machines I considered could sew what I wanted to sew, not just what THEY could sew well.
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Member since 7/7/07
Posts: 761
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Posted on: 6/29/10 4:44 PM ET
Unfortunately being several hundred miles away from home for a few weeks means I didn't have access to take the fabrics I'd usually sew and use. Did find a few scrap bits of knits etc, and there was no bunching like I normally get, so that was a real positive.

I've seen reviews of people with the F600 sewing denim seams and they said it just goes over it like butter, with no skipped stitches etc.
Argh decisions decisions
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Check my blog :)
http://snuzalsews.blogspot.com/

Juki Exceed F600, Babylock Imagine, Janome 300E.
  
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