Pages

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Janome 8050 Review and a Finish Finish

This is my Janome 8050.




You may recall I bought it in a pinch when my Memory Craft 6000 finally began to fail and was lucky enough to get it on sale etc. So far as I can tell it is sold only through one big chain fabric store.

The first think I noticed is that it is very light weight so be prepared if your used to a heavier or bigger machine. It sews well, has a nice tension, everything you'd expect from a Janome. It makes nice buttonholes, though being different from my old one it took me a second to figure out the foot.
Speaking of which, it only comes with the basic feet but luckily many of the feet from my Memory Craft 6000 do fit it. Yay.  Otherwise I would have probably had to order some in.
This machine took a little playing with to get it to sew knits properly, but part of that is me not being used to sewing a lot of knits. It doesn't have an overcast stitch, which I really miss, but the zig-zag stitch works just fine for that. I widened the stitch a little because it seemed skimpy.
It also come with a speed control so you don't have to use the foot pedal at all and I'm still learning that, but it is very handy on certain items when I want to go really slow. When I want to zip along fast it does it with no problems.
Actually the only real area of concern for me is that it doesn't like thick seams. It has been so long since I had to think about the thickness of my seams that I had forgotten it could be an issue. I just slowed waaay down and it went well but I'm thinking it wouldn't pass the test of jeans, though I haven't tried it yet.
Over all a nice machine for it's price range. The LED light is placed a little oddly but I not only adjusted to it quickly I love it now. At first I thought I'd have to add extra lighting but didn't.
I've only had ithe machine a short time so I can't say if it will be reliable or last but I can say that so far I like it a lot. The bobbin winder is a no brainer. The only thing I really don't like is the storage compartment. Poorly done and annoying since there is no closure on the end and things can just slide out. I just don't use it.

Now to my Finish of a Finish! I finally made up my God Bless and it will be ready to hang after I hand sew the seam closed where I turned it. I didn't have the type of cord I'd wanted for the hanger so just used an old bit of silk ribbon.


Nice country look to it.

I've got a busy evening coming up but I'm still hoping for some stitching time since I didn't get any yesterday.

Happy Stitching!
Karen

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Love your finish of God Bless Our Home. It is giving me ideas.
I haven't sewn since my early twenties but I think I'd love to have a go at it for my teenaged daughters, so reading the review of your machine was actually pretty interesting and needed. I'm thinking I could pick some of the easy patterns.
Love the chart you were gifted. If I ever tackle a big one it is almost certainly going to be from Tilton's. I'd never really heard of them and I'm in love with that site! Thanks for the link.

Rhonda

Mama Dog said...

Rhonda,
Thanks. I'm looking forward to seeing what sort of ideas you are getting.
If you decide to try sewing a few things for your girls then the patterns marked easy are definitely a good idea. You can always send me an e-mail if you have any questions and I will try to help. I usually just google or go to youtube when I need info on a technique.
As to Tilton's, have you seen the Yoda chart she just released? I remember that you are quite a Star Wars fan.

Anonymous said...

OK, saw you response on facebook and I just have to say, very lovingly, that you are just too kind to some people.

RR

Mama Dog said...

I'm not sure which post you are referring to, but I try to be nice to folks. Not sure I always succeed. But thanks, I'll take being 'too kind' as a compliment any day. So thank you.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for taking the time to explain this machine. I purchased it and am very happy with it. However, I wondered if you had sewed knit as of yet with it? If so, could you please let me know the settings you used. I am trying to practice my sewing knit skills with much frustration lol I even purchase the walking foot and have the ball point needle. Broke two already :( Thank you kindly for your post. Have a blessed day!

Mama Dog said...

I haven't stitched knits on it yet. If you have any tips please send them my way since I am wanting to do so soon and I'm inexperienced with knits to begin with. I hope you enjoy your new machine!